Airmiles CC not Amex

dean00_0

Hi,
New Year, new attitude!

My wife and I will be going to the States in 18 months time and I want to get a CC that will give me Avios or equivalent so we can upgrade the seats. However lots of places are not accepting Amex so my question is, is there an alternative ie. MC or Visa but still get the same reward?

Also, does anyone know what the best introductory offer is out there? I've had a look but can't see any that aren't Amex.

And finally (sorry) - does anyone pay all their direct debits with their CC? Because that looks a great shout as we would spend £15K a year as a minimum.

Thanks for reading

Dean

planteria

you can't pay DDs with a Credit Card i am afraid. if you could i would be all over it;)

dean00_0

planteria wrote: »

you can't pay DDs with a Credit Card i am afraid. if you could i would be all over it;)

Thank you so much for your prompt reply, I work for a High St bank & you can, but companies don't advertise it because they get charged 19 pence for each transaction. If you have a good enough reason they will allow it as my mate has a few on his. The big problem is that majority of utility companies don't accept Amex and that's why I ask about an alternative like MC or Visa.

w211

Most major places accept Amex, it's usually the smaller independently run shops, pubs and restaurants which don't.

I would get an Amex and a non-Amex for collecting Avios. I believe the Tesco Mastercard is one of the better non-Amex card for collecting Avios, you get 1 Clubcard point (=2.4 Avios) for every £4 you spend. However, be aware that you only get rewarded 1 Clubcard for every multiple of £4 you spend, so if you spend £7.99 in a shop you'll only get 1 Clubcard point.

I believe there's an HSBC card only available to its' Premier customers which offer a better rate.

There's more info on https://www.headforpoints.com

planteria

well, ok, this is interesting
i pay my water bill on my barclaycard, for example, Rather than paying by DD
but i would be very interested to learn how other DDs can be paid via a credit card.
DDs to Savings Accounts, for example, would be incredibly useful

planteria

w211 wrote: »

Most major places accept Amex, it's usually the smaller independently run shops, pubs and restaurants which don't.

I would get an Amex and a non-Amex for collecting Avios. I believe the Tesco Mastercard is one of the better non-Amex card for collecting Avios, you get 1 Clubcard point (=2.4 Avios) for every £4 you spend. However, be aware that you only get rewarded 1 Clubcard for every multiple of £4 you spend, so if you spend £7.99 in a shop you'll only get 1 Clubcard point.

I believe there's an HSBC card only available to its' Premier customers which offer a better rate.

There's more info on https://www.headforpoints.com

i tend to agree. i use Amex as my main card, and dont go to many places that dont accept it. i use a Barclaycard Visa as a back up.

and both are cashback generators, rather than using them for points.

dean00_0

Thanks for the heads up W211 I will have a look

Planteria - they are standing orders which aren't possible with CC's

dean00_0

Maybe Tescos is a good idea via MC as over a £1000 a month will be on dds.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

planteria wrote: »

you can't pay DDs with a Credit Card i am afraid. if you could i would be all over it;)

dean00_0 wrote: »

...I work for a High St bank & you can...

Are you sure you're not confusing Direct Debits with Continuous Payment Authorities? :huh:

dean00_0

Sorry yeah I didn't want to get too technical. The pymts must be of the same amount each month for this to work tho, from memory variable amounts cause problems as the company taking the amount isn't informed of the outstanding balance

[Deleted User]

If you're looking to upgrade flights for yourself and your wife you'll need 40,000 avios (I assume you want to upgrade from Premium Economy to Business).

Amex is the only real option for that kind of earning - it's the only brand that consistently provides big introductory bonuses. I'd recommend signing up for the Gold charge card - intro bonus of 20,000 amex points that can be exchanged 1:1 with avios. To get the bonus you must spend £2k in the first three months. You also get double points on all supermarket and travel spend. The card has an annual fee of £125 but this is waived for the first year. Get the card and cancel after the first year if you don't want to pay it.

You can get 22,000 points if you are referred by an existing cardholder - I can do this for you if you like (I get some bonus points too!)