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

Blue_Max

I have heard that with some Credit Cards, they get automaticaly get cancelled if not used for a few months.

Can this happen with Aqua Card?
And any cashback earned lost in the process?
Thanks!

boobbby

Blue_Max wrote: »

£250 is the credit limit. Not how much you can spend every month.
Keep an eye on 'available to spend' at your web page. This is the figure not to exceed.

You can increase 'available to spend' to whatever you like by making Faster Payments from your bank account to your Aqua Card account. You need to do this before using the card for more expensive items.
This way you can spend as much as you like and without exceeding your credit limit.
I did this last month without any probs and got cashback on all purchases.

I wanted to spend £300 on a single item but was told I could not load my account with an extra £50 and was limited to the £250 per purchase. I do realise once i have used the card for £200 then i can use faster payments to credit my account with £200 and again use it for up to £250

lisyloo

Can this happen with Aqua Card?

Haven't heard of any examples but it's possible so I would suggest keeping the card active. Every one needs to buy food don't they? so shouldn't be a big deal to use it say once a month even if you want to divert your spending elsewhere.

And any cashback earned lost in the process?

Yep you'd forfeit the whole lot, so not worth taking the chance of it happening. Keep using the card, but you don't have to spend a lot on it. A sandwich would qualify.

lisyloo

but was told I could not load my account with an extra £50 and was limited to the £250 per purchase

You probably could get away with it in reality.
Whether you want to chance it is up to you as they could say it's against Ts&Cs and cancel your card and forfeit your cashback.
For small amounts it's unlikely to be a problem but for large amounts it might trigger money laundering checks that all lenders are required by law to have in place.
Is it worth the risk of going against Ts&Cs?

Surely many things you buy like food and petrol are a lower amount?
You do have a whole year to accumulate the cashback and if you rush to get it early then you still need to keep the card active, so there isn't much point in a mad mush.

Roger1

waqasahmed wrote: »

Hmmm the Halifax clarity card seems to definitely be worth it for the first £300 of spending on a credit card, as long as you consistently spend that amount every month. It seems to give more than the top cashback credit cards, on that amount of money.

Don't be misled.

The Halifax Clarity credit card only offers the £5 cashback when the card is linked to the relevant Halifax current account, a significant fact that the other poster hasn't mentioned.

I find the Halifax Clarity credit card great for all sorts of reasons but I don't get the £5 cashback simply because I don't bank with the Halifax.

Of course, people may wish to switch to a Halifax current account to get the £5 cashback on the credit card, but for me it would be a hoop too many.

The Aqua credit card offering 3% cashback and 0% foreign loading can't be beaten for expenditure within account limits IME.

lisyloo

The Halifax Clarity credit card only offers the £5 cashback when the card is linked to the relevant Halifax current account, a significant fact that the other poster hasn't mentioned.

Agreed.
Usually these have conditions which mean having your salary paid in or going through the rigmorale of transferring a lump sum each month (ok, that's got easier with faster payments).
Our household accounts are with one bank and I don't want to move the entire household just for a £5, So I agree with Roger1 it's a hoop too many for me. Might be ok if you were looking to switch bank anyway.

After Aqua I use CapitalOne (old version) with 1% cashback and £8 fee (£18 fee but £10 bonus).
I've had 2 successful chargebacks on Capitalone so I've found their service pretty good. Also get the free Equifax service although really that's only worth about £4 (2 free reports).

Blue_Max

Roger1 wrote: »

The Halifax Clarity credit card only offers the £5 cashback when the card is linked to the relevant Halifax current account, a significant fact that the other poster hasn't mentioned.

I find the Halifax Clarity credit card great for all sorts of reasons but I don't get the £5 cashback simply because I don't bank with the Halifax.

Of course, people may wish to switch to a Halifax current account to get the £5 cashback on the credit card, but for me it would be a hoop too many.

The Aqua credit card offering 3% cashback and 0% foreign loading can't be beaten for expenditure within account limits IME.

Thanks for pointing that out. I happened to have a halifax reward account. so was not aware of this condition. I have used Halifax credit card abroad. It also offer 0% foreign loading. So I guess I will use it again after reaching the £100 limit with Aqua or need to spend more than £500 credit.

Money_Man_Steve

Blue_Max wrote: »

My suggestion is to use Halifax Clarity Card after hitting £100 cashback with Aqua.
Their £5 reward is for monthly spend of £300 or more. Reward is paid is on a monthly basis. As far as I know, it is not necessary to spend £300 every month.

Interesting discussion about Halifax Clarity and Aqua. I usually spend £10-£12k per year on cards, so I maximise my cashback as follows:

1. I spend the first £300/month on Halifax Clarity to get £5 cashback (on the basis that the £5 is 'lost' if you don't spend the £300 in any given statement month) - the cashback rate is up to 1.67% (as the reward is fixed at £5 when you spend at least £300, the rate is a bit less if I happen to spend a bit more than that).
2. I spend any excess over £300/month on my Aqua card (up to £3333.34 per year) to get the max £100 cashback at the 3% rate.
3. when I reach the £3333.34 annual spend on my Aqua card I will use my Amex 'Express Rewards' card for supermarket shopping (it gives the equivalent of 1.5% cashback in shopping vouchers) and my Barclaycard cashback card [which was previously an Egg Money card] for any other UK spend, which gives 1% cashback on the first £20k spend per year.

The Barclaycard is also useful for any large purchases that I can't use my Aqua card for due to its low credit limit (such as the Ikea kitchen I bought yesterday!)

I don't spend that much overseas, so it's not really worth my 'saving' the Aqua card for my overseas spending, but when I do travel, I use the Halifax Clarity and/or Aqua to make purchases and the Halifax Clarity to withdraw cash (as it has no cash withdrawal fee and 12.9% APR).

I also have the Capital One cashback card, but after making use of the initial 5% cashback in the first three months, it's no longer worth using as I get a better rate on the cards mentioned above!

Blue_Max

lisyloo wrote: »

After Aqua I use CapitalOne (old version) with 1% cashback and £8 fee (£18 fee but £10 bonus).

I also hold an old CapitalOne MasterCard World with 1% cashback.
I wondered about the £18 fee that they later introduced.
I messaged them and got this reply:
6 Apr 2010 : Service Request Details : annual membership fee of £18
"I can confirm that at present the annual membership fee of £18 will not be added to your account as it is applicable only for new cardholders."

Since then I received cashbacks in Jan 2011 and Jan 2012.
£10 bonus was added both times but no fees were deducted.

callum9999

lisyloo wrote: »

Agreed.
Usually these have conditions which mean having your salary paid in or going through the rigmorale of transferring a lump sum each month (ok, that's got easier with faster payments).
Our household accounts are with one bank and I don't want to move the entire household just for a £5, So I agree with Roger1 it's a hoop too many for me. Might be ok if you were looking to switch bank anyway.

After Aqua I use CapitalOne (old version) with 1% cashback and £8 fee (£18 fee but £10 bonus).
I've had 2 successful chargebacks on Capitalone so I've found their service pretty good. Also get the free Equifax service although really that's only worth about £4 (2 free reports).

Though you don't have to "move the entire household". Just open it up as a spare account and shift £1000 in and out every month (in one lump sum seconds apart should you wish).

You say it's a lot of hoops to go through for "only" £60 (plus whatever you can get on the Clarity) a year in cash, but it involves virtually no effort - far less effort than you put into this forum!