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

exponential

grumbler wrote: »

No, it isn't the safest way and you should know already that you have to pay before the due date, not before the next statement is produced. These dates never are the same.

Fair point. You have a payment due date and a seperate new statement date.

Ooopps.

Should know better!!

DK2010

Just to update.. I have been accepted (don't know what credit limit i will have yet) and I am a student and have no job so on the standard £6k student finance as income and was still accepted to problem!

Time to start building credit!

Uplink

exponential wrote: »

Just been accepted for this card after the 10 day waiting period.

They offered a £250 limit but an absolutely horrendous 44% APR!!!!!

I decided NOT to sign and return the agreement as that rate is ridiculous and any cashback would be cancelled out by the APR!

Shame but never mind. Just wanted it for credit building purposes anyway.

This doesn't happen to me all the time, but reading your scared-deer-in-headlights reaction made _me_ physically sick (stomach, to be precise). This is a reaction I get when people appear to be putting themselves, and, by society extension, those around them, in danger, and not realising it. Excuse the hyperbole, but it's not that far fetched.

You obviously applied for this card without doing any homework at all. I know, you're a student, and by direct implication you hate homework, but in this specific case you'd be better off doing a lot of it. It will be boring, and it will cut into your gaming/party time in unpleasant ways, but you will be better off if you do. You'll probably need to force yourself to do it, because it just isn't fun and you'd rather do something else entirely.

Please, please read around this website (both forum and main site) in the credit and debt sections. Please don't wave your hand at the debt articles. There are plenty of people screaming in the forums that they got themselves into a mountain of debt because they didn't do their homework either and _assumed_ everything will sort itself out rather than planning ahead (and many of those screaming weren't thrown into trouble by the recession). Once you see the stupid things people do because they "thought" (notice the quotes), your stomach will turn too.

The banks, the credit card companies, they're not there to help you. They're there to help themselves. When you get into trouble, they'll still help themselves and wring you dry while pretending to be your friends.

As a head start, each time you apply for a credit card, look for a clause like the following in a "Interest rates, APR and fees" section of your agreement (yes, you should try to read it - several times, at various intervals):

We will not charge interest on card purchases and any associated foreign exchange fees, card fees and
service charges if every month you always pay the whole outstanding balance shown on your statement by the payment due date and your payment is not returned unpaid (a ‘full payment’).

This is from the a MBNA Credit Card agreement I found on their website's application page (no particular reason for choosing this one, it's just the first one that popped into my head, and I googled it). Other agreements have different wordings, and rumour has it that credit cards without any such interest waving clause may exist. The Aqua application page says "You will not pay interest on purchases if you pay your balance in full and on time each month. See section 3.7 of the terms and conditions for full details." so please check section 3.7 for Aqua's wording for comparison.

In particular, please notice how "cash advance" (taking cash out of an ATM, feeding gambling websites, anything else they consider to be non-purchase) isn't covered by that clause, and if you do get money out of an ATM they'll hit you with a processing fee (percentage of the amount you withdraw, subject to minimum) and also charge you interest from that very second on too.

Things aren't as scary as I may have made them look, but I hope you get the idea. And sorry if I came off too hard. I'm going through some "grumpy old man" and "get off my lawn" moments, although I'm nowhere near that age

exponential

Uplink wrote: »

This doesn't happen to me all the time, but reading your scared-deer-in-headlights reaction made _me_ physically sick (stomach, to be precise). This is a reaction I get when people appear to be putting themselves, and, by society extension, those around them, in danger, and not realising it. Excuse the hyperbole, but it's not that far fetched.

You obviously applied for this card without doing any homework at all. I know, you're a student, and by direct implication you hate homework, but in this specific case you'd be better off doing a lot of it. It will be boring, and it will cut into your gaming/party time in unpleasant ways, but you will be better off if you do. You'll probably need to force yourself to do it, because it just isn't fun and you'd rather do something else entirely.

Please, please read around this website (both forum and main site) in the credit and debt sections. Please don't wave your hand at the debt articles. There are plenty of people screaming in the forums that they got themselves into a mountain of debt because they didn't do their homework either and _assumed_ everything will sort itself out rather than planning ahead (and many of those screaming weren't thrown into trouble by the recession). Once you see the stupid things people do because they "thought" (notice the quotes), your stomach will turn too.

The banks, the credit card companies, they're not there to help you. They're there to help themselves. When you get into trouble, they'll still help themselves and wring you dry while pretending to be your friends.

As a head start, each time you apply for a credit card, look for a clause like the following in a "Interest rates, APR and fees" section of your agreement (yes, you should try to read it - several times, at various intervals):

This is from the a MBNA Credit Card agreement I found on their website's application page (no particular reason for choosing this one, it's just the first one that popped into my head, and I googled it). Other agreements have different wordings, and rumour has it that credit cards without any such interest waving clause may exist. The Aqua application page says "You will not pay interest on purchases if you pay your balance in full and on time each month. See section 3.7 of the terms and conditions for full details." so please check section 3.7 for Aqua's wording for comparison.

In particular, please notice how "cash advance" (taking cash out of an ATM, feeding gambling websites, anything else they consider to be non-purchase) isn't covered by that clause, and if you do get money out of an ATM they'll hit you with a processing fee (percentage of the amount you withdraw, subject to minimum) and also charge you interest from that very second on too.

Things aren't as scary as I may have made them look, but I hope you get the idea. And sorry if I came off too hard. I'm going through some "grumpy old man" and "get off my lawn" moments, although I'm nowhere near that age

Thank you for your very informed and precise post.

I appreciate your comments and will take the advice on board.

I consider myself quite lucky to have such valuable information from yourself and the many people on this forum who have "guided" me in the past.

aleph_0

I've had the card for 6 months, and hadn't received an automatic increase letter, so requested an increase from £250 to £600. In response I received an increase from £250 to £350, not a huge increase, but is still useful in avoiding having to clear the balance multiple times a month.

Not sure what this tells us, or if I was right in my request (I expected no more than a doubling of the limit, so asked for a little more, but maybe asking for too much is harmful, I don't know).

fleetwoodguy

aleph_0 wrote: »

I've had the card for 6 months, and hadn't received an automatic increase letter, so requested an increase from £250 to £600. In response I received an increase from £250 to £350, not a huge increase, but is still useful in avoiding having to clear the balance multiple times a month.

Not sure what this tells us, or if I was right in my request (I expected no more than a doubling of the limit, so asked for a little more, but maybe asking for too much is harmful, I don't know).

i received exactly the same increase after asking.

myth123

Just got my statement and I have reached the £100 cashback, i'll stick the Aqua card in the drawer until June

aleph_0

myth123 wrote: »

Just got my statement and I have reached the £100 cashback, i'll stick the Aqua card in the drawer until June

Might be worth an occasional transaction to make sure it still counts as active (not sure how much they care, but not worth the risk).

myth123

aleph_0 wrote: »

Might be worth an occasional transaction to make sure it still counts as active (not sure how much they care, but not worth the risk).

Hmmm, good point! Will make the occasional small purchase on it!

izsushant

myth123 wrote: »

Just got my statement and I have reached the £100 cashback, i'll stick the Aqua card in the drawer until June

When do you get paid your cashback?