Top Cashback Cards Discussion Area

lisyloo

As I understand it, this is an ordinary Mastercard credit card

You can use it that way (non paypal retailers).
But you can also use it to fund your paypal account (I think that's where the 2% rewards kick in and also how you use your rewards).

I think that if you use your credit card to fund your paypal account then you lose section 75 protection but get the paypal protection instead.
I'm not 100% certain, but I think I've read posts where people have not been able to get their credit card companies to help after funding paypal.

You are right though that if you use it as an Mastercard then they can't waive statutory rights. You will then be down to 1% rewards and should compare with Captial one 1% cashback (that costs £8 per year but gives free Equifax) or Egg 1% cashback (that costs £12 per annum but comes with some useful insurance).

It all comes down to where you shop and which benefits are most useful to you.

Doc_N

lisyloo wrote: »

I think that if you use your credit card to fund your paypal account then you lose section 75 protection but get the paypal protection instead.
I'm not 100% certain, but I think I've read posts where people have not been able to get their credit card companies to help after funding paypal.

You are right though that if you use it as an Mastercard then they can't waive statutory rights. You will then be down to 1% rewards and should compare with Captial one 1% cashback (that costs £8 per year but gives free Equifax) or Egg 1% cashback (that costs £12 per annum but comes with some useful insurance).

It all comes down to where you shop and which benefits are most useful to you.

You're absolutely right about using your credit card to fund the PayPal account - the S75 protection goes out of the window and you're reliant on PayPal Protection.

I thought the 2% reward from the PayPal card applied to all purchases, but obviously not:



For every £1 you spend with a PayPal retailer online you earn 2 points
For every £1 you spend with a non-PayPal retailer you earn 1 point

500 points = £5 PayPal Rewards Voucher


Not worth having then, and PayPal (in true payPal/eBay tradition) hide this information away so that all you see is the 2% headline rate!

The Capital One card looks right for me - now I need to find a way of getting Quidco-type cashback for applying for one.............

lisyloo

Not aware of anything, but I think there is a £10 bonus so it's only £8 you end up paying.

lisyloo

BTW - there is an anecdote of the failure of paypal buyer protection here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=30154049&posted=1#post30154049

post #13 by jehavni

Picasso7

I got a new Amex platinum card in October, ready for Christmas, and it has served me well. But I'm going to be doing a lot of work on the house, buying furniture etc. I don't want to cancel the Amex as I know you have to wait until the anniversary of the card. But does anyone know if you can just apply for a second platinum card and still get the introductory 5% offer?

Money_Man_Steve

Picasso7 wrote: »

I got a new Amex platinum card in October, ready for Christmas, and it has served me well. But I'm going to be doing a lot of work on the house, buying furniture etc. I don't want to cancel the Amex as I know you have to wait until the anniversary of the card. But does anyone know if you can just apply for a second platinum card and still get the introductory 5% offer?

You can't get a second one in your name unless you cancel the first one and wait at least three months. BUT if you have a partner (and they don't have Amex Platinum already) they could apply (and get the 5% cashback deal) and you could then get an additional card on their account.

I have had an Amex Platinum for a few years and no longer use it cos I don't spend enough in a year to ensure it's worthwhile, however I have just been approved for an Amex Express Rewards card that comes with 0% for 6 months on purchases and gives reward points worth up to 1.5% (1.5% in supermarkets, 1% in department stores and 0.5% elsewhere). The rewards are vouchers that you can spend in Amazon, HMV, Boots, Comet, M&S etc, and they promise 6000 bonus points (worth £30) if you spend £500 on the card in the first three months.

(NB. Apply for Amex Rewards through TopCashback for £5 cashback, or through Quidco for £10 - which I did as I wasn't already a member and the extra £5 covers their annual fee).

My plan now is to cancel my Amex Platinum (and reapply again at some point in the future, hopefully to get the 5% cashback offer again), use the Amex Express Rewards card for all spending for a few months (to take advantage of the 6 month 0% deal while stoozing the equivalent amount in the best savings account I can find). Then I'll pay the balance off before the end of the 0% period and just use it for supermarket shopping (at 1.5%) after that. I checked with Amex and it seems that supermarket petrol stations do not qualify for the 1.5% rewards rate, but online supermarket shopping does qualify.

I have an Egg Money card for non-Amex retailers (to get 1% on those purchases), and to use for everything apart from supermarkets once I wind down the use of the Amex Express Rewards card in a few months time.

Money_Man_Steve

The Virgin Charity card pays 0.8% cashback on purchases. You can choose to keep the cashback for yourself, or donate it to charity. Charity donations can be boosted to an equivalent of 1% by using Gift Aid.

The card also has a 8.9% APR 'life of balance' deal for balance transfers made within 60 days of account opening (2% fee) and a standard 'typical' APR of 12.9%. More details here.

If you spend £4000 per year on this card, you would get £32 cashback.

The Capital One World Mastercard beats the Virgin Charity card on cashback for annual spends in excess of £4000, as it pays 1%, but has a net fee of £8.

glaw5

Have had hugely bad experience with the egg cashback card, which began when, because of returns, my account was in credit. I'd set up a direct debit to pay of the maximum on my card yet because my account was in credit their computer system read this as a direct debit not being taken. After nearly three months of attempting to close my card down as a result they are still contacting me. I have filed a letter of complaint to them and one will be following the ombudsman if nothing more is done. I've added the letter I've sent which explains everything that has happened and why I will never touch them with a barge pole again. Apologies it's so long but thought I would include everything that was relevant.

Dear Sir/Madam
After complaining so many times about egg.com’s amateur services I feel I now have no other option but to contact you through the formal channels.

I opened an egg.com credit card account at the start of the year and set up a direct debit so the full balance would be paid off. However my problems began when, because I had returned some items bought with my card, my balance was in credit. On February 14 I sent a secure message questioning this fact and got the following reply the next day:

Your Direct Debit is set up to clear the full statement balance each month.Your January statement balance was ?26.48 however you had a refund on 25 January 2010 from MOUNTAIN WAREHOUSE for 29.99. As this was credited to your account at least 5 working days before the Direct Debit was due the Direct Debit only took the ?1.00 monthly fee as the refund has effectively cleared your January statement.
However on February 16 I then received the following message:

Subject line - Your card payment is overdueYour Egg Money World MasterCard balance is currently overdue and we require an immediate payment of ?5.00.What to do nextSelect the 'Move money' tab and choose the 'Make a one-off payment' option and then follow the on-screen instructions.If you're having trouble finding the money to make your monthly payments you don't have to worry on your own you can talk to us about this or any aspect of your borrowing. Our Collections Specialists can talk to you about alternative payment options and help you to get on top of your finances on 08456 000 296 (8am - 9pm Monday to Friday and Saturday to Sunday 9am - 4pm).If you have made a payment in the last seven days please ignore this message; your payment will update your account shortly.I immediately rang customer services and spoke to a male member of staff who told me this was an automatic message sent out because egg’s computer system was not sophisticated enough to work out that, as my account was in credit, a direct debit did not need to be collected. He told me to ignore the message, which I did.

There then followed what can only be described as a massive spate of calls to my mobile phone from a number I later discovered to be from egg.com. Due to my working hours I was unable to take any of these calls. By the end of the day the number of missed calls must have been close to or in double figures. When I got home my girlfriend told me there had been numerous calls on our landline as well. She had answered one call, from a female member of staff. The conversation went as follows:

Woman: “(My name).”
Girlfriend: “I’m sorry he’s not here at the moment. Can I take a message?”
Woman: “No.” (then immediately hung up)

As you can imagine, subsequent calls from the same number were ignored by my girlfriend. As you can also imagine, I was very angry at the whole episode. I tried calling back the number there and then but as I was back so late from work I got a message saying the offices were closed.

Next morning, prior to leaving for work, I got a call on the landline from one of your customer service advisers. On answering, he asked me to hold while details of my account were accessed. After a few seconds I got a message along the lines of “Oh, I’m sorry sir, there is nothing wrong with your account. This call was made in error.” It was at that point that I angrily told him about the previous day’s experience, which amounted to hounding. He apologised and said he would pass the feedback on.

However on February 20, at approximately 8:30am I was woken up on the only day off I get during the week by a call which, by the time I had properly woken up, I had missed. I called back immediately to get a message saying the egg.com offices were closed and quoted the opening hours. When I called back later I spoke to a male member of staff and told him I was fed up with the service I had got and I wanted to settle my balance and close my card there and then. I was surprised he did this immediately without trying to persuade me to stay. He also told me I was wrongly informed initially and that, even though my account was in credit, a £5 minimum charge had to be made because of the type of computer system egg.com use. I asked for my disgust at the service to be passed on.

That same afternoon I received ANOTHER call from a female member of staff who asked me to wait while my account was accessed. Again, on accessing my account, the woman apologised and explained it was a call made in error. I told her things were now becoming laughable. She ensured me I would receive no more calls.

Then on March 17 I accessed my own online current bank account to discover a payment of £2.62 had been taken by egg.com. As you can imagine I was baffled by this. I wrote the following secure message through my egg account:

Date: 17 Mar 2010Time: 09:31Subject: Egg Card / Payments and Direct DebitsI am writing to alert you that I am now on the verge of complaining to the financial ombudsman about the shocking service I have received from Egg. I have just noticed you have taken a direct debit of £2.42 from my account. The size of that might be small but it is the straw that has broken the camel's back. I closed my account last month after a series of phonecalls to me on both my mobile phone and home phone. I had set a direct debit upon my card yet because my first month finished with me in credit your shambolic computer system fired off automatic calls to me claiming my card payment was overdue despite me originally questioning what might happen prior to this and being assured everything was alright. I spoke to various people all of whom were singing from diferent hymn sheets before eventually losing my tether and closing my account at which point I paid off my full balance at that point. Despite closing my account and received a further call that afternoon only to be told there was a fault on the system. Now having found I have been charged for that month's 'use' of the card and also that my balance is ?2.62 I feelI have no choice but to report your unbeilevably bad service towards me. I'm sure you can understand my frustration from this whole sorry episode from a company I had once believed to be of a high standard.

I received the following reply:

I'm sorry to hear you feel this way.
I can see that theres nothing more to be applied to the account and it will automatically be closed. The ?2.62 on the account was just the trailing interest that was applied.I have logged you dissatisfaction in our complaints system.If you've any further queries please don't hesitate to contact me again.
I replied:

Date: 17 Mar 2010Time: 23:04Subject: RE: Egg Card / Payments and Direct DebitsI instructed my account to be closed with a customer service adviser the day I made my last payment on my card. However this seems to be evidence of further incompetence. This ?2.62 should NEVER have been taken from me and I will now be raising this with the FSA also.
To which I got this message:

I can see the last payment of ?2.62 was interest on your account. As you can imagine my frustration was now increasing further so I sent this message:
Date: 18 Mar 2010Time: 11:55Subject: RE: Egg Card / Payments and Direct DebitsI realise that! But I have never been late with a payment paid by direct debit then closed down my account at which point I paid upmy outstanding balance so how can it be interest?!!!!!!To which I got this:
I'm sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction with regards to this matter.As a gesture of goodwill I've had the ?2.62 credited to your account and you'll see this within five working days on your account.Once this has been credited you can request that it is sent back to your bank account.I hope this helps and I'm sorry for any inconvenience that this has caused you.I was going to make a formal complaint at this point anyway, although by now I should have known this would not be the end of the matter.

On March 19 this message arrived:

We have received your request to close your card.Before we can action your request we need to speak to you. Please call us on 08451 233 233. Our opening hours are Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm.My patience snapped further and I sent this reply:I AM WRITING IN CAPITALS IN THE HOPE THIS MESSAGE GETS THROUGH. I AM ABSOLUTELY FED UP TO THE BACK TEETH WITH YOUR SERVICE. I RANG AND CANCELLED MY CARD AND AT THE SAME TIME SETTLED MY BALANCE ON FEBRUARY 22 AS CAN BE SEEN FROM MY STATEMENT. THEN I GET A STATEMENT NOTICE SAYING I OWE ?2.62 IN INTEREST CHARGES AND MY MONTHLY CARD CHARGE AFTER FEB 22. AFTER FEELING LIKE I WAS BANGING MY HEAD AGAINST A BRICK WALL I EVENTUALLY GOT MY MESSAGE THROUGH AND HAD THIS REFUNDED. NOW I DISCOVER A MESSAGE SAYING I HAVE REQUESTED MY CARD BE CLOSED AND TO CALL YOU TO CONFIRM. YET I DID THIS NEARLY ONE MONTH AGO. I HAVE ALREADY MADE MY COMPLETE DISSATISFACTION WITH YOUR SERVICE KNOWN ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION AND HAVE BEGAN THE COMPLAINTS PROCEDURES THROUGH THE PROPER CHANNELS. I CANNOT BELIEVE THE AMATEUR APPROACH YOUR COMPANY HAS DISPLAYED ON SO MANY OCCASIONS. I SHALL BE WARNING EVERYONE I SPEAK WITH NEVER TO BANK WITH EGG. PLEASE NOW LEAVE ME ALONE.

It is at this point I am writing this letter.

I have been hassled and pestered, while my girlfriend was spoken to in the rudest way possible to the point she worried there might be something wrong. It was simply a horrific level of service that I never knew could exit.

As far as I can see I’ve been dealing with a bad egg, with a scrambled computer system and staff that have no concept of consumer appreciation. It also appears they have not been trained to provide a united understanding of problems and how they should be tackled.

I am sure you can appreciate why I have felt it necessary to contact you regarding this matter. I have wasted numerous time answering calls, making calls and writing emails and this letter. I have also been stressed out and angry at this whole sorry episode.

I look forward to reading your comments on this matter and I am also putting in writing that I will now be ignoring anymore messages from the secure egg messaging system demanding I do this or that.

CannyJock

Never had any problem with Egg and my account's regularly in credit, like yourself DD setup for the full amount. If you've not already, you should look at your credit report to see if they've reported missed payment.

footboy

Just spoken with Argos Mastercard customer services and they have confirmed that no further Foreign Exchange Fees will be made if using your cashback Argos Mastercard on Paypal.

Cheers
Steve