Optimising Cashback with Aqua Credit Card

adindas

I managed to get Aqua card but with annoying credit limit of £500.00.
I understand that even with small credit limit we could optimize the cash back by using manual occasional faster payment in the statement month to keep the credit limit within £500.

1. I wonder if people who has done that confirm that it work in that way without jeopardizing the earning from cash back.

2. What is the best way to do occasion payment.

3. The best way to avoid the Aqua IT system to get confuse with the full balance direct debit as It might happen that they still take the full amount and ignoring the previous payments that have been made.

4. Pitfall that I might not aware of

Thanks for your time

aleph_0

adindas wrote: »

I managed to get Aqua card but with annoying credit limit of £500.00.
I understand that even with small credit limit we could optimize the cash back by using manual occasional faster payment in the statement month to keep the credit limit within £500.

1. I wonder if people who has done that confirm that it work in that way without jeopardizing the earning from cash back.

2. What is the best way to do occasion payment.

3. The best way to avoid the Aqua IT system to get confuse with the full balance direct debit as It might happen that they still take the full amount and ignoring the previous payments that have been made.

4. Pitfall that I might not aware of

Thanks for your time

1. Yes, it does. Usually with FPs the available amount is updated quite quickly, and you're probably fine to spend again, but I've always been cautious and waited for the balance to update.

2. Well, faster payment, it should be reflected in the available balance immediately, but takes a working day or so to show up as a transaction (so, if you want to wait for this, do the FP early in the week).

3. I don't use DD, but as I understand it, the amount printed on the statement will be the amount taken, regardless of anything else. If you want to be uber-cautions and avoid confusion here, you could make a payment for most of the balance a few days before the statement date, leaving quite a small amount to be taken by DD, and only make extra payments after the DD is taken, but before the next statement. With a £500 limit, you should only be really looking at one manual payment a month anyway (I'm playing the game on the £250, which is a much tighter game!).

Gromitt

adindas wrote: »

I managed to get Aqua card but with annoying credit limit of £500.00.

Same here. £500 limit, spent £700 last month. Statement says I got £20 cashback

adindas wrote: »

1. I wonder if people who has done that confirm that it work in that way without jeopardizing the earning from cash back.

Confirmed working.

adindas wrote: »

2. What is the best way to do occasion payment.

Faster payment. Effect shows up within hours typically. Next day at most. Don't whatever you do use the online payment. That can take 3 - 5 days to show up!

adindas wrote: »

3. The best way to avoid the Aqua IT system to get confuse with the full balance direct debit as It might happen that they still take the full amount and ignoring the previous payments that have been made.

Ask for a DD for the minimum payment. When your statement is printed, pay off everything apart from whats written as the minimum payment on your statement. That'll be taken by DD. You can make as many interim payments as you like.

Your "available credit" is the one to look out for. This is updated immediately on spend, and within hours after a payment. The "current balance" is typically quite useless as it updates too slowly (anything from 2 - 4 days). To figure out how much to pay on an interim payment, simply subtract the "available credit" from your credit limit. If paying after the statement has been produced, don't forget to leave the minimum payment on the account.