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

Gromitt

sammyz1 wrote: »

I read on the review centre that AQUA charged a couple of it's customers interest if they paid there balance early. I don't know if that's true but it made me a bit cautious.

These people made a payment before their statement was printed, and then assumed that since they had made a payment that they didn't have to make the minimum payment specified on the statement. That indeed gets you interest and a late payment fee.

boobbby

luci wrote: »

You have to have been actively using the card, not just be a card holder.

I have earned about £50 in cashback over the last few months so I reckon I am using it a fair bit !!

sammyz1

http://www.reviewcentre.com/Best-Credit-Cards/Aqua-Credit-Cards-www-aquacard-co-uk--review_1531845

That's the one review that really put me off, and there was another in there that gave it a low review for paying early.

Thanks for all the information guys. Really helped me a lot. :beer:

Uplink wrote: »

Err... link please? Charge interest for early repayment? If that's true, it's a huge bullet point in my "staple" theory, and I'll upgrade the title "staple gun and sellotape", and puts their standard CC services into a time before computers were invented, and I'll be downgrading THEIR credit score in my personal Credit Provider Rating [STRIKE]Agency[/STRIKE] Sticky Note so I avoid them in the future (not that it's not on a downwards trend anyway).

luci

I can't see how you can "pay early". There is a date when payment has to be made by, any later than that date will incur fees, but you can pay at any time before that date.

There is not enough information in that review to be of any use. Did they pay off in full before the due date? Did they make a partial payment and was it more or less than the minimum requirement payment?

welshmike_2

I knew that the cashback offer was (a little) too good to be true.
My credit limit is £500, my direct debit dates are around the 24th of the month and statement dates are around the 7th of the month.
So if I spend up to my limit by my statement date I cannot spend any more on my Aqua card until the direct debit takes place when I pay in full.
So I have just the number of days between the 24th of one month and the 7th of the next month, some 14 days to spend up to £500 on my card.
Since mid July when my card arrived I have accrued some £50 cashback so I will have a bit of a challenge to accrue the maximum £100 cashback by July 2013.

Gromitt

You can make interim payments at any time, you don't have to wait for the DD.

welshmike_2

Gromitt wrote: »

You can make interim payments at any time, you don't have to wait for the DD.

Thanks. However I am not sure that somewhere in Aqua's Ts&Cs states that paying early invalidates cashback.

Gromitt

Even if that were the case (it isn't), you could pay off your statement on the day of the statement production, you don't have to wait until the due date.

I've regularly spent £300+ on the card and paid it off that night so I've got the full £500 to spend the next day.

When I first got the card, I didn't have a DD setup and they said I could pay at any time. The only thing that would jeopardize my cash back would be putting the card into credit by a high amount. Since I only made payments after debits, that never happens.

I've since setup a DD for the minimum amount, and this is only to get perks from a bank account requiring DDs for the perks.

SolvingDebtCrisis

Received the card today. It took approx 3 weeks for application to receiving card. Credit limit £250. Will only spend £200 per month to not go over limit and pay off in full monthly.

Uplink

welshmike wrote: »

Thanks. However I am not sure that somewhere in Aqua's Ts&Cs states that paying early invalidates cashback.

Ts&Cs not at hand, but the way I remember it, the only ways to lose your cashback are: close your account, go over the limit, pay late, fail a DD, they withdraw it (not so sure on the last one).

Paying early or going into credit aren't in this list. For going into credit, they reserve the right (not the obligation) to send the money back where it came from. Paying early also doesn't count against the DD specified on your statement, so if you do pay early, but don't spend until the DD is in, you'll go into credit - and you better have the DD money, because if you don't, it will still count as a missed payment as far as I can tell, even if your balance was paid off at the time they request the DD.