Natwest & Airmiles

Maximillion_Miles

I've just got letters from Natwest and Airmiles saying that Airmiles has moved to Lloyds

Natwest are making a big deal about their new scheme with Easyjet (which costs £3 a month!) and saying that Airmiles doesn't have much choice

Last year I used my airmiles to book a Thompson holiday and this year I've used them to book both a Virgin flight and a hotel - seems pretty good choice to me???

My advice - ditch Natwest now! It is not worth paying £3 a month for this crap scheme when you can get double your miles for free with Lloyds!!!!

ultrak3wl

I never got the letter from WetNast but did get the Lloyds one. It is a shame because I quite like my existing account especially the way they don't charge you up the wazoo for foreign currency transactions like other cards do.

But you're right Airmiles was the reason I got the account in the first place. I don't fancy the Lloyds deal though as the 1-airmile-per-£10 only applies to their Amex card and as everyone knows you can't hardly use these anywhere. The Mastercard on the dual-card account is 1-per-£50.

Lastly, I have never redeemed any Airmiles because I started to think that what use is a free flight when you will have to pay a huge amount these days for half a dozen taxes and surcharges. Are Airmile actually worth bothering any more I mean should I be looking for a replacement card with a different kind of freebie?

MrsGrey

There is a discussion going on here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=5035469&posted=1#post5035469
about this.
I am quite confused by how the forums are organised. The other discussion linked from "Credit Card Freebies" article. I guess it is more of a Credit Card Rewards issue

King_Of_Fools

ultrak3wl wrote: »

I never got the letter from WetNast but did get the Lloyds one. It is a shame because I quite like my existing account especially the way they don't charge you up the wazoo for foreign currency transactions like other cards do.

Yes they do...

ultrak3wl

No really... it is worth remembering this before making the decision to ditch them. Here's an example

02 APR USD 12.00 charge, exchange rate 1.923077 = GBP 6.24

A single charge at a reasonable rate. Some of my other cards go on about adding a currency conversion fee and all sorts.

jonesMUFCforever

ultrak3wl wrote: »

No really... it is worth remembering this before making the decision to ditch them. Here's an example

02 APR USD 12.00 charge, exchange rate 1.923077 = GBP 6.24

A single charge at a reasonable rate. Some of my other cards go on about adding a currency conversion fee and all sorts.

I would bet that the 2.75% fee is included in the exchange rate and hidden.

King_Of_Fools

ultrak3wl wrote: »

No really... it is worth remembering this before making the decision to ditch them. Here's an example

02 APR USD 12.00 charge, exchange rate 1.923077 = GBP 6.24

A single charge at a reasonable rate. Some of my other cards go on about adding a currency conversion fee and all sorts.

The 2.75% is hidden in the exchange rate used:
http://www.natwest.com/personal02a.asp?id=PERSONAL/DAY_TO_DAY/CREDIT_CARDS/RATES_CHARGES

"Foreign exchange transactions are subject to a conversion fee of 2.75%"