Aqua Reward Credit Card - 3% cashback up to £100/year

Gromitt

premierfella wrote: »

I think you'd best do that on the phone when activating. I prefer to do that online (to avoid errors and time on the phone) so didn't do it during the call, which now means I'm going to have to phone them again

Have to agree. I didn't do it for that reason, then found out you couldn't do it online, rang them again and they now say they need to send me out a DD form to fill in and post back!

I'll probably call again tomorrow and hope they'll say something different.

This card really needs a DD as one missed payment could be a £112 fee!

lisyloo

This card really needs a DD as one missed payment could be a £112 fee!

I think that should be £12.
Where did you see £112?
It's £12 here
http://www.aquacard.co.uk/credit-cards/reward-card/

aleph_0

lisyloo wrote: »

I think that should be £12.
Where did you see £112?
It's £12 here
http://www.aquacard.co.uk/credit-cards/reward-card/

I guess Gromitt meant that one pays a £12 fee, plus loses the £100 earned cashback, which could be considered effectively a fee.

jo-bo

I think he/she means that you will also lose out on the cashback offer

Gromitt

Exactly. Failing to pay any statement on time gives you a £12 charge as well as losing all the cash back you earned (£100 max), so upto £112 in total.

lisyloo

Sorry, got it.
Yes you are right you have to be careful to pay on time else you can forfeit offers. Also happens with 0% offer, so you must be fastidious.
As you say DD is a good idea.

Milarky

Some questions:

Can you [is there anything in the terms to say you can't] earn more than 3% of your credit limit in any given month (i.e. by crediting the account after each use to free it up)?

To generate £3300 of spend in 12 months implies, in practice, a minimum credit limit of £550 - not £275 - since the balance is taken by direct debit some time into the month and the card can't be used for the whole of the month unless the limit is therefore twice average monthly spend.

Gromitt

I don't understand what you just said, Milarky.

You need to spend £3334/year to get £100 cashback. (£3300 would give you just £95). £3334/12 = £278 per month (rounded up to nearest pound).

Payment is required on the same day each month.

So you have to spend £278 per calendar month (eg. from the 17th one month until the 16th the next month, assuming your statement date is the 17th. Could probably play it safe and do 18th - 16th if your statement is generated on the 17th, but you can check it online, so meh.).

No idea where you got £550 from.

Yes, you can make an early payment by debit card.

aleph_0

Gromitt, now you've confused me. I think Milarky was worried that if the Direct Debit is only taken (for example) 21 days after the statement date, then one has to wait most of the next statement period for the balance to clear.before spending again.

I guess you're suggesting to bring the direct debit date earlier (so just after the statement is received). Can they do that (I know some places just timed the statement cycle appropriately for people who wanted the DD coming out a certain day)? If they can, I'd expect there to be a requirement to leave a couple of days between the statement and DD, and if the date lands on a non-working day, aqua will just pull the money on the next working day instead.

I'd guess the best solution would be to have the DD as a backup, and make manual payments by bank transfer/debit card.

luci

I understand where Milarky's coming from.

If you have a credit limit of £500, spent £278 in Month 1, then you could only spend £222 in Month 2 until the DD for Month 1 is credited to the account

You would need a credit limit of twice your expected expenditure to allow for both the previous month and the current month's expenditure to be on the account at the same time.