How to maximise cashback on Halifax Rewards and Aqua Cashback cards?

Jaxer

I've recently applied and received both have the Halifax Rewards and Aqua 3% cashback cards.

The Halifax card gives £5/mth on a minimum monthly spend of £300 and the Aqua is 3% on all spending (up to an annual max of £100).

This is probably a stupid question but I just thought I'm going about this the wrong way. I was originally planning to use the Halifax card up to the first £300 of monthly spending and then use the Aqua card - but I've realised the Halifax card is effectively less than 2% cashback on a monthly £300 spend.

My monthly average spend is between £250 to £500 so I think I'd be better off using the Aqua card for everything?

opinions4u

Aqua for the first £3,333.33 spent.

Then let Halifax take over.

Gromitt

If you are guaranteed to spend £3600 per year (£300 per month), then Halifax will give you approx 2%, so use the Aqua card first, then switch over to the Halifax.

Piotrf

Is the Clarity Reward still available to new customers? I can't seem to find the link.

Jaxer

Piotrf wrote: »

Is the Clarity Reward still available to new customers? I can't seem to find the link.

http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/low-rate-no-fee/clarity-card/?pagetabs=4#Clarity_Rewards_Credit_Card

Scroll down to the bottom. I don't know if you can apply as a "new" customer but if you have an existing (standard) card, you can phone them and ask if you're eligible to upgrade to the Rewards Clarity one (I didn't have to go in-branch even though that's what it says).

I don't know their criteria, but I had a bog standard "All in One" card which I used for a balance transfer for about a year and then paid off. Called them up and she checked the system and said I could be upgraded to the Rewards card.

pqrdef

It's more complicated, because the trick with the Halifax card is to spend either £0 or £300 in any given month (crazy). Having maxed out the Aqua, if you end up spending too much on the Halifax, you're then making nothing, so you'd have done better to have put £300 on the Halifax in an earlier month.

The trick would be to estimate how much you're going to overshoot the Aqua limit, and spend that much on the Halifax in £300 chunks.

Robbo_The_Observer

Aqua pays £100 (PAID ANNUALLY) per year maximum. They round the cashback down to the nearest fiver, therefore you must spend £3334 per year. (£3333.33 will give you £99.99, which will be rounded down to £95).

Halifax Clarity pays £5 (PAID MONTHLY) per £300 spent every month, (£3600pa)

Therefore, to maximise your return you must spend £277.84 on the Aqua and £300 on the Clarity EVERY MONTH for a year. (Total £577.84 spend per month).

This will give you a cashback return of £160pa (£100 + 12*£5) on a spend of £6934pa which is an overall cashback percentage of 2.307%

And that is the maximum which you can make out of an Aqua/Clarity combo, which to my mind is a fine return. (TO GET THE £5 REWARD ON THE CLARITY CARD ANYWAY, you MUST have a halifax reward current account as well, in which case there is another fiver per month as long as you fund the account with £1000 per month, which need only be in the account for seconds). This brings the cashback up to £220pa.

Simples.:p

Gromitt

Robbo_The_Observer wrote: »

Aqua pays £100 (PAID ANNUALLY) per year maximum. They round the cashback down to the nearest fiver, therefore you must spend £3334 per year. (£3333.33 will give you £99.99, which will be rounded down to £95).

£3333.34 will give you exactly £100, so no rounding necessary

But a higher figure is better, just in case rounding occurs each month when cashback is calculated, so your best spending £3336.

Robbo_The_Observer wrote: »

Halifax Clarity pays £5 (PAID MONTHLY) per £300 spent every month, (£3600pa)

So if I spend £600 in a month, I get £10 ? I think the correct wording is that you get £5 once you have spent £300 per month. Of course, refunds reduce the amount you have spent.

Then you have stoozing cards. I've just been sent a letter saying I've been pre-approved for a Nationwide Select card with a 7.5K limit. I don't want it, but if I spent 7.5K on that in the first month and didn't pay it back (apart from monthly minimum; 12 months free on purchases) and put the money in a 3.17% savings account, threes another £237 (£190 after basic rate tax).

Robbo_The_Observer

Yes Gromitt, I agree that your idea of spending £3336 per month is probably the wisest option, and also that my wording was poor, Clarity pays £5 per month on £300 max, anything over counts for naught. Agreed.

However, this thread is not about stoozing on interest free credit cards, it is about Clarity/Aqua cashback and how to maximise the potential.

Very good for you if you have £7500 to spend in a month and then stooze it for 12 months, but that is for another thread. I am currently stoozing £5500 on a tesco 16 month 0% card and it took me over three months to max it out............

Nice trumpet Gromitt.

td_007

If you are spending at the minimum £7K anually, then put the first £300 pm on Halifax and the next £300ish pm on Aqua - this way you will be able to maximise the cashback. If you have other cashback cards - I have Capital Mastercard (1% cashback on all spend) and MBNA Amex (1.5% on supermarket and fuel spend) then these come into play when the spend goes beyound £7K.

Gromitt

Robbo_The_Observer wrote: »

Yes Gromitt, I agree that your idea of spending £3336 per month is probably the wisest option

:eek:

Robbo_The_Observer wrote: »

Very good for you if you have £7500 to spend in a month and then stooze it for 12 months

It was just written as an alternative to show people that you don't need a cashback card to make cash with CCs. I have filled a 10K card to 6K before, but that took me over 3 months and then I stopped due to my Credit used/available percentage.