Help to choose my first credit card.......

Lambino

Hi.

I am 51 yrs old and never had a credit card!!. I am looking to book a holiday in ther near future and feel that the way forward would be to pay for it by CC - for the protection alone.

Also my OH pays for his fuel for company car by debit card, and is reimbursed to his bank account the folllowing month - it would improve our cash flow to pay by credit card and pay it all of each month when his expenses are paid. How do you work out when your payment is due??

We were thinking that perhaps the Tesco Credit Card would be the best one as we shop at Tesco's anyway - but we already use our reward card when paying for fuel anyway - so would this be the right one for us, or are there any other CC out there that would suit us better.

Monthly spend on fuel approx £300. Good credit rating (I hope)!. We bank at Barclays.

Many thanks for your help

camuk81

From my understanding the telco card acts like a club card.

For £4 you spend you get club card points back, this can used in any transaction.

As regards payments you will get a bill either online or by post, giving you a date to pay on. You must pay off in full to avoid debit interest but please note you can change the date only if you speak to the credit card company. Either could apply in their name and have the other person as a second card holder giving them access to spend on the account.

Best have a look at a comparison and see what you like. Personally I have always thought the Santander cash back was a nice idea but have never looked into the full extent so I could not compare against the Tesco card

McKneff

And as far as I know, only the primary card holder has the S75 protection.

You also dont need to pay for all the holiday by cc, to avoid charges, pay as little as £1 and the rest by debit card and you still have the protection.

camuk81

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases

Lambino

Many thanks for your quick replies

McKneff - I had not thought about the CC Fees for paying for the holiday so would be a good idea to pay a minimal amount on the CC and the rest on the Debit Card - although by clicking through to the link that Camuk81 sent; section75 notes say that I would need to pay at least £100 on the CC to be covered for the protection? Am I reading this correctly?

[Deleted User]

No - the item needs to cost £100 or more. But the credit card payment can be less, and you still get the S75 protection.

(Important to note that each item needs to cost >£100, not the transaction. So a £100 chair gets covered, two £50 chairs don't.)

Lambino

OK - yes, read it again - properly this time!!

Think I will go for the Tesco CC as we will use it for fuel each month and they are offering 5 points for each £4 spent, which is twice the amount of points they are offering for the ordinary clubcard.:j

aleph_0

Lambino wrote: »

OK - yes, read it again - properly this time!!

Think I will go for the Tesco CC as we will use it for fuel each month and they are offering 5 points for each £4 spent, which is twice the amount of points they are offering for the ordinary clubcard.:j

I recommend having a read of:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/cashback-credit-cards
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/best-credit-card-rewards

I think it helps to think of the Normal Clubcard and CC Clubcard functionality as two separate things when comparing. I'm pretty sure you haven't fallen for their double-counting tricks, but to be clear, you are only getting an extra 3 points/£4 spent on fuel, or an extra 1 point/£4 spent elsewhere. I agree, if you are mainly spending on fuel, and you use the points on rewards, this might be the best deal. But it's worth considering the other options. It depends how much of your spending is on the fuel.

But otherwise it might be worth considering a different card. Remember, it's a good idea to put all your purchases on the card to earn the most cashback. The Tesco scheme rounds to the nearest £4, so on a £7.99 transaction you would still only earn 1 point. Other schemes either round to the nearest pound, or calculate the cashback on the statement balance.

There are a few cards that offer 1% back, but to spend at a particular retailer. If you are spending a lot on fuel, the Santander 123 card gives 3% back on fuel (and 1% back on supermarkets), but has an annual fee, so you need to be spending enough to make it profitable.

camuk81

Aleph, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that looked like a good deal.

aleph_0

camuk81 wrote: »

Aleph, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that looked like a good deal.

As someone who doesn't own a car, I'm not particularly keen on it myself, but it sounds like the OP might be purchasing quite a bit of fuel, so worth pointing out and then they can calculate. The OP's going to end up getting cashback when previously they were getting nothing, and they'll be able to work out which is better based on how much and what type of spending they will put on the card.

I've just noticed, the Santander 123 card is limited to cashback on the first £300/month spent on fuel, worth mentioning. I think it is designed to be a confusing product (see other friend where Santander staff claimed 3+2+1=6% cashback!), but potentially useful to some people.

Lambino

Thanks all for your replies.

I bit the bullet last night, and ordered the Tesco CC - in my OH name, as he will be using it for fuel. The only other time we will use the card is for a "small" deposit on a holiday later this year.

So, it turns out - still have not/won't have a CC...... lol. I'm sure i will get over it!!