Which credit card for big purchase?

Spanishsunawaits

I am going to be making a big purchase soon approx £5000. I do have the cash in savings so I could use that but I was thinking that if I used a credit card, and pay it off straight away, I could benefit by rewards.

So my question is, assuming I get accepted for a new card, which one would give me the best rewards? E.g air miles, hotel points?

I have a M & S card, a Tesco card already.

Thanks.

eskbanker

See http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-credit-card-rewards

datlex

You are of course assuming you will be accepted for one with a £5000 limit. Which card you go for depends on what reward you want.

Nasqueron

If you get one with a big enough limit, sure, though it's also worth considering a balance transfer card so you could transfer the debt from one of your existing cards (if they have such a limit) and pay it off over a period of 0% and earn interest on the cash in the mean time if you have a decent savings / current account - go for one with zero fee otherwise any savings would be eaten up by the fee

Kay16Tee

I was recently refused a loan of £8k from M&S Bank despite having an unused £10k credit limit on my M&S card. I applied for a Virgin Balance transfer card and was accepted and given a £9k credit limit. I then paid a car balance on my M&S card and had the balance transferred to the Virgin card for a fee of around £45. I now have an £8k interest free loan for 30 months.

RememberMe

Definitely sounds like a good idea.

My personal rewards card is the Lloyds Choice Rewards. I believe in the first 6 months you get 10 points per £1 on the Amex card so it may be worth checking out if where you're purchasing from accepts Amex.

You can exchange points for store vouchers, magazine subs, convert to Avios or cashback.

Lemonsqueezer78

Kay16Tee wrote: »

I was recently refused a loan of £8k from M&S Bank despite having an unused £10k credit limit on my M&S card. I applied for a Virgin Balance transfer card and was accepted and given a £9k credit limit. I then paid a car balance on my M&S card and had the balance transferred to the Virgin card for a fee of around £45. I now have an £8k interest free loan for 30 months.

....but I strongly suspect you would also have been charged a "processing fee" for paying off a car using a credit card for that kind of sum...

pvt

What's the nature of your £5,000 "big spend"? Are you sure the vendor will accept a CC payment, and if they do are there any additional fees for taking the CC?

MallyGirl

Spanishsunawaits wrote: »

So my question is, assuming I get accepted for a new card, which one would give me the best rewards? E.g air miles, hotel points?

It will depend on which rewards you value most. I do have a BA avios balance but have found it a challenge to spend the miles when I want and on what I want because I have a school age child and have to stick to school holidays when there is more competition for the few air mile seats. So I would not choose to earn any sort of air miles. Ditto hotel points.
I would rather take the cold hard cash as a reward so I have a 0% Amex card giving 1.25% cashback (till the rate drops).

splatt30

Or get a 0% on purchases card. Keep your £5000 in accounts paying decent interest i.e. TSB current plus it's regular saver. Pay the minimum amount each month and then use the remaining money to clear the bill before the interest free period ends. Could bag yourself a couple of hundred quid in interest - far more than you'd get from any reward card

Deadbeat

If you're after flight / hotel rewards and the merchant takes Amex you may want to consider the Gold card as it give a 20,000 point bonus if you spend over £2000 in the 1st 3 months.