MSE News: Aqua axes 3% cashback credit card – should you ditch and switch?

StressedSam

Grr just got a letter today, hadn't seen the forum before so had no prior warning. Going to try the Amazon Credit Card as we spend a lot of money on there. If rejected will probably try Capital One Classic Extra, this only gives 0.5% same as the new Aqua but the new Aqua is limited to £100 cashback a year where as Capital One is unlimited and you also get £10 yearly bonus for keep your account in good order. We only got the Aqua card so we could get the cashback, we've been putting the max allowable on it and then paying it off every month. I suppose it people like us who've made the card close as they were hoping for everyone to be paying 35% interest!

Atidi

StressedSam wrote: »

...I suppose it people like us who've made the card close as they were hoping for everyone to be paying 35% interest!

I think only 51% of cardholders get that rate. Some people are paying more like 50% APR.

lisyloo

Sam - could you get Amex? (they have a salary minimum).
If you can spend £2000 in 3 months, then you can get £90 in cash or £100 in vouchers on the Gold rewards card.

ice_babe

I think I have just got the full £100 cash back. I had £88 cash back showing on my last statement and have spent £420 this month soo far which I believe is another £12 cash back :j

Perfect timing as now have the new Luma card :beer:

zerog

lisyloo wrote: »

I've found Aqua to be one of the most ethical e.g. refusing transactions that took me over my limit and advising me by text when I got close.

Why are you even attempting to make transactions that take you over your limit?

pineneedles wrote: »

This is my only credit card, got it specifically to improve credit score (in the hope of being able to find a flat to buy and get a mortgage) but enjoyed the cashback, too, had it for a year now.

Applying for a new card now would be counterproductive re: credit score, wouldn't it? But would quite like to have a credit card for payment protection reasons so don't know what to do.

Keep it and get 0.5% cashback for a while.

Nessie23

zerog wrote: »

Keep it and get 0.5% cashback for a while.

Just bear in mind that you actually need to apply for a new card and will still have to undergo a credit check. So you might want to consider instead a Luma card which can give you up to 4% cashback on supermarket and petrol spend - your choice

lisyloo

Why are you even attempting to make transactions that take you over your limit?

Thanks for asking a question to get the facts.
I had an order cancelled by one retailer due to items being out of stock.
This resulted in them holding a reservation for an amount on my credit card and I don't believe there's anyway I could have been aware of that (short of verifying available credit limit for every single purchase).
I sourced the items elsewhere without knowing about this reservation.
Fortunately I never went over my limit - thanks to Aqua themselves.
So my point was that this is anecdotal evidence that Aqua aren't out to cynically rip people at every opportunity.

I did express my dissatisfaction to the first company but they weren't particularly interested in the potential affects on me.

In future should I get a cancelled order l will check on the available credit now that I am aware it can happen, but I don't think they should hold a reservation if they haven't accepted an order, so it's an IT glitch of which I was not aware.

Had this resulted in an actual loss I believe I could have sued the first company as I believe they are ion the wrong, but of course it's much better to avoid these things happening if you can. I don't think I could have avoided it the first time as I was not aware of the possibility of cancelled/aborted orders holding a reservation.

StressedSam

lisyloo wrote: »

Sam - could you get Amex? (they have a salary minimum).
If you can spend £2000 in 3 months, then you can get £90 in cash or £100 in vouchers on the Gold rewards card.

Thanks for the suggestion but we've always stayed clear of Amex ad there are so many retailers that don't accept it.
We managed to get the Amazon Card we wanted with no trouble. 2% in Amazon vouchers back from all Amazon spend and 1% everywhere else.

reclusive46

StressedSam wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestion but we've always stayed clear of Amex ad there are so many retailers that don't accept it.
We managed to get the Amazon Card we wanted with no trouble. 2% in Amazon vouchers back from all Amazon spend and 1% everywhere else.

Amex acceptance is really quite acceptable these days. Much better than it used to be. Most major retailers accept the card as do many medium and smaller retailers. Although for small retailers it does depend on where you live.

lisyloo

Amex acceptance is really quite acceptable these days.

It really does depend on where you live (if not on-line) and where you shop.
I struggled initially to use my Amex card.
Most smaller and even medium retailers would not accept it.
I'm talking about cooking/diving/motorcycle shops and also a major insurer (Carole Nash).

I have now managed to spend the £2K required, but it did require doing it at Xmas, getting my OH involved (using his spending) and putting business spending on it and booking a holiday - so required some effort.

I also found that I could not use ANY of the rewards so I took £90 of cash instead. I was fairly happen with that but I just couldn't find a reward that worked for us (no Tescos near us).