Wedding Spending - which card?!

acecilia

Hello!

I have never had a credit card, and have never wanted one. However, I am getting married in September 2012 and would like to do all my wedding spending on a credit card as it seems sensible and will be good for my credit rating in the future.

The actual spend on the card will only amount to around £5000 which we have saved in an account currently (we are having a moneysavingexpert type of wedding!) Therefore we can re-pay the card in full every month. We also want to buy flights to India on the card and get the insurance but it would also be good to have travel insurance for the time we are over there and a card that is usable in India.
My question is: What is the best card for this type of spending? I only want it for 6 months (spending from now until Nov when we travel to India), I'd like travel insurance/flight insurance/ability to use card abroad safely, rewards or cashback would be a nice bonus!

I have been persuaded by Natwest who I bank with to take out a YourPoints World Points Credit Card which has:
- interest free purchases for 13 months
- 2.5k 'points' for free when I join and 1 point per £1 spent.
- flight insurance
- I have been given a credit limit of £2,900

Having never had a credit card before and not knowing what is good or not I don't really know what any of this means! These mysterious points are intriguing for one thing...

PLEASE can someone advise me?

Thanks

A

Stereo

Just checked out the NatWest website, 2000 points = £10 voucher for M&S, 4000 = £20 voucher for Amazon etc. You earn 1 point for every £1 you spend, so to get 2000 points you need to spend £2,000.

The Capital One Aspire World card gives cashback of 1.25% after the promo period, so with that you'd earn £25 for £2,000 spent. You also get ID Alert which makes you aware if there's any attempts at identity theft. You don't get that with the NatWest card.

If you currently have the money saved in a bank account, ignore the 0% on purchases and look at the other benefits

DavidDebt

Have you ever had a loan or a mortgage?

If not with no credit card history your lack of credit history may go against you.

Perhaps go for barclaycard or nationwide as they both have a pre-application soft search approach.

With no credit history (if that's the case) many prime cards may decline you.

bouncydog1

With 13 months free on purchases, you could save the equivalent of what you spend on the card in your account for 13 mos and get interest on the money. You would need to ensure that you set up a direct debit for the minimum payment back to the card each month. I would also suggest that you set up a standing order to pay back an extra £10 each month in case Nat West put minimum payment markers on your credit record (some providers apparently do this).

You could also see if any banks are giving enhanced savings rates - I know that HSBC were offering a regular saver where you could save up to £250 per month and providing you didn't touch the money for a year you earned 8%. E.G. you set up this savings account and transfer the max you can each month to get enhanced interest and after 12 months the money is available to pay off your credit card bill.

Look on the site for comprehensive travel insurance - go over to the insurance or travel threads for more info. Ignore the points that are issued. On most cards you have to spend so much that the points aren't worth a lot.

Your own bank is your best chance of getting a card and as they have already offered one, I personally wouldn't run the risk of further credit searches on my record with the very possible chances of declinature.