AMEX Cashback vs Membership Rewards? (Which is worth more?)

Jlawson118

theburningcat wrote: »

That's quite a collection

If you want to use the cashback towards retail stuff (i.e. not travel) then I would probably recommend the Platinum Cashback Card. At £10k per year, I believe the free one will work out better for you.

Membership Rewards offers poor conversion to vouchers, stuff and cash (~0.45%). I would only recommend the MR and Avios cards if you want to use the cashback towards travel (probably via Avios or Virgin) and you have the time and motivation to work out how those schemes could fit in to your travels.

As for customer service, Amex have been flawless in my experience. The website and apps are great too. And there are various only offers that cover a bunch of retailers - this alone saves me ~£200pa. Gold and Platinum charge card holders tend to get the best choice but I believe they all have a selection. I also give a lot of weight to customer service and bank with FD - Amex's service is even better.

My recommendation for you would be the Platinum Cashback Everyday card. If you want to avoid FX fees and spread out your applications, you could get a Revolut card in the interim.

If you do decide to go for one of the charge cards, I'd love the opportunity to refer you - but I don't think it's the best option for you unless you travel a lot and want to figure out how to make the points work in your favour.

I was using the Lloyds Avios to earn travel rewards with Avios last year, I managed to earn about 10,000 points but only because it was double points for six months, so I guess I'm already kinda part of it hahaha. But I would contemplate using these for rewards to travel. I did apply for the Platinum cashback card but when I called them this morning to cancel, they told me I was rejected anyway. So I did later apply for the membership reward card with no annual fee, although I'll probably get automatically rejected for six months if I was rejected for the last one, if it still works like that..

theburningcat

IIRC the Lloyds Avios card is pretty good - it offers 0% FX fee, Avios on FX (and other purchases) and a companion voucher? Amex's BAPP could work out even better (this would be my choice for a "cashback" card if I didn't already have the Platinum card). You'll probably be rejected for any of their cards for 6 months.

Mr_Goodkat

Jlawson118 wrote: »

I was using the Lloyds Avios to earn travel rewards with Avios last year, I managed to earn about 10,000 points but only because it was double points for six months, so I guess I'm already kinda part of it hahaha. But I would contemplate using these for rewards to travel. I did apply for the Platinum cashback card but when I called them this morning to cancel, they told me I was rejected anyway. So I did later apply for the membership reward card with no annual fee, although I'll probably get automatically rejected for six months if I was rejected for the last one, if it still works like that..

You have been told on here so many times to calm down on the searches / applications for credit yet you have submitted two to American Express in as many days!

The Platinum Cashback Credit card is likely to be easier to get than the Gold Charge Card given it is a credit card and allows balances to rollover unlike the charge card that requires repayment in full by the due date and in theory does not have a limit but in practice authorisation is based on spending habits and account conduct.

You should continue to use your Barclays Rewards card for spending with the FD Gold Card as back up.

Your next step should be a fee free travel card - the Barclaycard one might be a good option as you have a relationship with them already and whilst it is only no fees for the next eighteen months that would buy you some time. If not Barclaycard then there is Creation but stop chasing Clarity and only apply for a card if you are getting very strong chances of approval on eligibility checkers.

Amex should be a longer term project and again only apply when the eligibility sings are very strong - you are still very young and very low income to be the type of customer Amex are wanting.

Overall just have some patience, maintain and manage what you have and only make further applications for credit when the chances and signs are positive.

Jlawson118

Mr_Goodkat wrote: »

You have been told on here so many times to calm down on the searches / applications for credit yet you have submitted two to American Express in as many days!

The Platinum Cashback Credit card is likely to be easier to get than the Gold Charge Card given it is a credit card and allows balances to rollover unlike the charge card that requires repayment in full by the due date and in theory does not have a limit but in practice authorisation is based on spending habits and account conduct.

You should continue to use your Barclays Rewards card for spending with the FD Gold Card as back up.

Your next step should be a fee free travel card - the Barclaycard one might be a good option as you have a relationship with them already and whilst it is only no fees for the next eighteen months that would buy you some time. If not Barclaycard then there is Creation but stop chasing Clarity and only apply for a card if you are getting very strong chances of approval on eligibility checkers.

Amex should be a longer term project and again only apply when the eligibility sings are very strong - you are still very young and very low income to be the type of customer Amex are wanting.

Overall just have some patience, maintain and manage what you have and only make further applications for credit when the chances and signs are positive.

I know my credit checks are too high, but my chances of being accepted for AMEX were 85% and 90% so that was a high chance, thought I'd try my luck and then I found I was rejected. My income isn't low to be fair, and is over the requirement for an AMEX.

However, the idea about sticking with Barclaycard sounds like a good one. Maybe in a few months I'll give them a call and see if I can switch my current credit card

Candyapple

Jlawson118 wrote: »

I know my credit checks are too high, but my chances of being accepted for AMEX were 85% and 90% so that was a high chance, thought I'd try my luck and then I found I was rejected. My income isn't low to be fair, and is over the requirement for an AMEX.

However, the idea about sticking with Barclaycard sounds like a good one. Maybe in a few months I'll give them a call and see if I can switch my current credit card

Why do you keep lying?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/71913031#Comment_71913031

Jlawson118 wrote: »

I am a student, counting just short of £3000pa maintenance, I've found myself a permanent job opposed to the Royal Mail one paying around £13,000 per year as well as I earn approximately £2000/£3000 doing a little work for myself slowly starting up a little business for the future within media (which is also what I'm studying) and then whatever else comes in

To be honest with you the amount of lies you tell on here and you even admitted to playing around with details on the Halifax eligibility checker to see if your chances of eligibility were higher, who knows why you were 85-90% eligible for an AMEX. Possibly perhaps because you entered false information whereas if you told the truth, you wouldn't have added yet another hard search to your file.

You are a student. You are not in full-time employment. Those facts are what you should be putting in your eligibility checker forms and then see what the true results would be.

Stop wasting your time (and hard searches) trying to be someone you are not because if you carry on the way you are, you will end up with a CIFAS marker against you for application fraud.

Mr_Goodkat

Jlawson118 wrote: »

I know my credit checks are too high, but my chances of being accepted for AMEX were 85% and 90% so that was a high chance, thought I'd try my luck and then I found I was rejected. My income isn't low to be fair, and is over the requirement for an AMEX.

However, the idea about sticking with Barclaycard sounds like a good one. Maybe in a few months I'll give them a call and see if I can switch my current credit card

Did you put fully accurate information into the eligibility checker or did you try and increase your chances and that is why you got 85% and 90%? What did you put as your occupation?

Trying one Amex was not the worst decision if you put in accurate information and got the chances above but learning you had been rejected for the platinum cashback card then applying for the gold charge card was madness!

Your income is low by Amex standards and whilst they have removed the published eligibility criteria of income above £20k they will still use income as part of their credit scoring on applications.

Young age, low income and a lot of searches will be putting you to the back of the queue when Amex are profiling their ideal customers.

You shouldn't need to switch' your rewards barclaycard for the fee fee travel platinum as they will let you hold more than one card. You should give it six months so you have no recent searches and then try - as an existing customer with good account conduct on your rewards card and no recent searches they are more likely to accept you than Halifax Clarity and for the next year or so the BC is actually a better card anyway.

Jlawson118

Mr_Goodkat wrote: »

Did you put fully accurate information into the eligibility checker or did you try and increase your chances and that is why you got 85% and 90%? What did you put as your occupation?

Trying one Amex was not the worst decision if you put in accurate information and got the chances above but learning you had been rejected for the platinum cashback card then applying for the gold charge card was madness!

Your income is low by Amex standards and whilst they have removed the published eligibility criteria of income above £20k they will still use income as part of their credit scoring on applications.

Young age, low income and a lot of searches will be putting you to the back of the queue when Amex are profiling their ideal customers.

You shouldn't need to switch' your rewards barclaycard for the fee fee travel platinum as they will let you hold more than one card. You should give it six months so you have no recent searches and then try - as an existing customer with good account conduct on your rewards card and no recent searches they are more likely to accept you than Halifax Clarity and for the next year or so the BC is actually a better card anyway.

Well I was wondering if I could switch to the other Barclaycard without them searching my score and leaving a footprint on there? Because you're right in saying I need to stop the searches. I'll probably just stick with what I have now until maybe this time next year when I'll change it all around. I'll be nearly 22 at that point and had no searches for a year. Can I ask why the Barclaycard is deemed the better card?

Jlawson118

I recently read a common thread on here about appealing for credit cards. I remember asking Halifax themselves what the eligibility was for the Clarity, and they just said to be 18+ and have a regular income. Which I'm both. Yet I was always rejected. But last week, I sent off a letter to appeal the rejection and received a reply today saying they will accept me for it! It does go to show that credit scores mean nothing whatsoever.

I did also send one to AMEX but I'm still yet to hear back

theburningcat

The more I believe read your posts, the more worried I am for you. Credit scoring is the most important part of a credit card application. Appealing is a good idea if you need to give them some extra information, for example, if you have recently moved house, if your income is a bit complicated etc.

Amex automatically rejects anyone who puts student as their occupation. This may be why you're being rejected, rather than credit scoring. If this is the case, there may not have even been a search.

However, you already have several good cards so I don't know why you're so adamant you need to keep applying for new ones. Take a break and use the ones you have LOL

Jlawson118

theburningcat wrote: »

The more I believe read your posts, the more worried I am for you. Credit scoring is the most important part of a credit card application. Appealing is a good idea if you need to give them some extra information, for example, if you have recently moved house, if your income is a bit complicated etc.

Amex automatically rejects anyone who puts student as their occupation. This may be why you're being rejected, rather than credit scoring. If this is the case, there may not have even been a search.

However, you already have several good cards so I don't know why you're so adamant you need to keep applying for new ones. Take a break and use the ones you have LOL

Don't get me wrong, I know where you're coming from. Although I didn't put my occupation as student on any of them as I'm actually working more than I'm studying these days. I know there's been quite a lot of searches on my report which I'm assuming is having an impact, but these are for different things, there's about one current account, a phone contract and a credit card on there. That's hardly being desperate for these facilities (as many searches make the banks consider you're desperate) but more I'm just starting my own contract and opening facilities. In which were over six months ago

I ran the eligibility checkers on both, the Halifax Clarity was 50% and the AMEX was 90% likely I'd get it. I've posted numerous threads over the last few months regarding the Clarity as it'll come in handy for my travelling, as I previously had the Lloyds Avios for almost a year until closing it when I knew the £24 yearly fee was coming up and it didn't seem worth the fee to me. I did enjoy earning Avios points on there to earn towards future travel, although after the six months double points promotion, I was barely earning any points.

I switched to the Barclaycard reward scheme which is actually a good card in itself and I've claimed rewards a good few times but I'm tired of their terrible and unhelpful customer service. And since the new year, I've been getting a stupid amount of letters from them advertising promotions. I already have a card with them, what more do they want?! I keep getting more and more. I've changed my preferences and even tried to ring them but nobody understands what I'm saying in their Indian call centre. Although this is probably the fifth time I've had to contact them since having the card, and I don't think they've ever managed to help me out without transferring me to the wrong department or things like that. This is why I think it's time for me to move on