Best Cashback Cards Article Discussion Area

martyw

roddydogs wrote: »

Sorry if this has been asked before, but if i buy gift vouchers when the 4% Cap 1. cashback is in operation, is that OK? how would they know anyway?

I'd be interested to know this too (my Capital One card just arrived so is in for a bashing;))?

I guess it would depend if the transaction goes through as a cash advance type transaction, which presumably it shouldn't..?

OxfordMark_2

I was turned down for the Capital One card despite meeting all the criteria listed on their website. This shocked me as I have no debt, no CCJ's etc so I paid £13.95 for an Experian credit report, it seemed from that the only thing I could do to raise my credit score was live in my house longer (2 years currently). I sent the credit report to the appeals address at Capital One only to receive the same form rejection letter in reply.

My only conclusion from this is that despite what they say Capital One are not actually interested in the financially prudent because they won't make money out of them.

martyw

OxfordMark wrote: »

so I paid £13.95 for an Experian credit report

Tip: you can get these reports for only £2 if you order by post or phone. It's statutory for all the credit agencies to provide this. Obviously the agencies don't like it as it doesn't pay them well so they hide the option and don't provide online ordering, but more from Martin about it here:-
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/credit-rating-credit-score#check

It might be worth getting reports from the other 2 agencies to see if anything is awry there?

.

koru

Has anyone had a good look at the travel insurance that comes with the Cap1 Platinum card? On a quick skim through, it looks pretty good. It seems fairly comprehensive and includes everything I would normally expect to be covered.

Medical cover is £5 million, so it should be suitable for the US. Although it doesn't include particular ski cover (eg, for piste closure), it doesn't seem to exclude skiing, so you would be covered if, say, you break your leg while skiing or you fall ill while you happen to be on a ski holiday.

So, in many ways, it should be a real substitute for an annual family travel policy. Could save £50 or £60 per year.

Has anyone spotted any ways in which the cover is unsatisfactory?

The only problem I can see is that you have to pay for at least 75% of the total cost of transport and/or accommodation with the card. It is not unreasonable for Cap 1 to expect this, but you would need to watch that this did not mean you incur fees that are higher than the cost of buying separate travel insurance. For instance, flights for a family trip to Florida could easily be £2000, so if there's a 2% surcharge for credit card payments, that's £40. Or if you book your accommodation direct, you are probably paying in foreign currency, so Cap 1 will add a 2.75% loading to the exchange translation - it might be cheaper to save 2.75% by paying with Nationwide (who don't add a loading) and buy a separate insurance policy.

Of course, the cashback might offset these fees, partly or wholly. But once the cashback has dropped to 1%, I think some people (but not all) might be better off paying for a separate policy.

lisyloo

Sorry if this has been asked before, but if i buy gift vouchers when the 4% Cap 1. cashback is in operation, is that OK? how would they know anyway?

I think I've answered this before (perhaps on a different thread).

I went to waitrose this week and they went through as goods so that's fine.

They would only know if the till says so. Usually this means going to a different till e.g. the tills in the foreign currency section of M&S are set up differently to the ones where you buuy goods.

I got on fine buying John Lewis vouchers at Waitrose but be aware of you go to a different til.

woodhouseian

Just got a Capital One 4% Cashback card, very happy with it. My first transaction was to buy car insurance with Frizzell, cost £515 so only about £495 after cashback - and, I'd cancelled my old car insurance which was far more expensive (even though it was 'cheapest' on confused.com!) and got £664 refund from that when I cancelled it after 4 months...so I'm £170 better off...

Incidentally does anyone know how pre-existing medical conditions fit in with the Capital One travel insurance? It seems to say they are excluded, does this mean anyone with such a condition is not insured at all?

IvanOpinion

woodhouseian wrote: »

Incidentally does anyone know how pre-existing medical conditions fit in with the Capital One travel insurance? It seems to say they are excluded, does this mean anyone with such a condition is not insured at all?

Please do not take this as definitive, you should check with the insuance company but normally it means that an illness related to the existing medical condition is not insured however anything else is. The golden rule is o always check with the insurer.

Ivan

JohnG

kernowkarmann wrote: »

Does anyone know if there is a limit to amount of cashback that can be earned on capital 1 card during 4% promo period?

The limit would be set by the actual Credit Limit you are given - ie £5,000 credit limit = £200 maximum cash back - at least that would be my understanding.

I've just received my acceptance letter for this Cap 1's 4% cashback card :T so I'm just checking through everything before signing agreement.

Funnily enough though, I received a letter from Abbey promoting their new card managed by Satander instead of MBNA which our current Abbey card is through. This new Abbey credit card (which we have to apply for) offers a big 5% on all supermarket purchases till Jan 08 so sounds useful, especially with the run up to xmas.

Mind you, I'm not keen on having so many credit cards on the go - that would be 4 in total but I guess if I don't use them it's no big deal. :doh:

lisyloo

The limit would be set by the actual Credit Limit you are given - ie £5,000 credit limit = £200 maximum cash back - at least that would be my understanding.

Hi JohnG,

Can you tell is where this information came from.

I think you can spend your credit limit many times over during the 3 months.
i.e. you can pay it off and spend it again as many times as you like during the 3 months.

please can you clarify where your information came from.

I'm not aware of any limit (apart from what you can spend in practice).

easilyamused

OxfordMark wrote: »

I was turned down for the Capital One card despite meeting all the criteria listed on their website. This shocked me as I have no debt, no CCJ's etc so I paid £13.95 for an Experian credit report, it seemed from that the only thing I could do to raise my credit score was live in my house longer (2 years currently). I sent the credit report to the appeals address at Capital One only to receive the same form rejection letter in reply.

My only conclusion from this is that despite what they say Capital One are not actually interested in the financially prudent because they won't make money out of them.

Well that's very strange cos I've just applied online and got approved straight away. I've only lived in my house here for a little over a year and a year again for the one before that, have two credit cards already with nothing on them, no CCJ's and no other debt.