0.5% Barclaycard, Freedom Rewards or actual Amex?

calicosquare

Hello.

Classic case of long time lurker, first time poster.

I treated my Barclaycard Duo Cashback card as my main card. However, now that's coming to an end, I was wondering which would (out of these three cards) would be the best for me going forward.

Does the Barclaycard Freedom Rewards work out better than the soon to be 0.5% Barclaycard Cashback Visa? Or would I be better off applying for an actual Amex?

I am not a big spender (hence my doubts for the Amex) however, I do have a couple of spendy purchases coming up such as car insurance, holiday and new boiler. However, the rest of the year may not be quite as spendy and I know you have to spend a certain amount in a year to get ANY cashback compared to the Barclaycard Visa which has no minimum spend to get the cashback.

Can someone with better math skills than myself help me work this out, please?

stevenhp1987

There are free (no annual charge) Amex cards you can get? You could save lots of money on events such as Small Shop in addition to collecting, say, cashback or Avios.

0.5% cashback will be better than freedom rewards. If you can get an Amex, do the Maths, as 0.5% is a good backup and might be better than the free Amex cards if you don't frequently fly etc.

Applying for an Amex-issued card will depend on your credit record, as you will need a full-clean record to get one.

WillPS

I had a 5 year old default and a couple of missed payments on my record at the point I got accepted for an Amex, so doesn't need to be totally clean. If you don't spend £5000+ at Amex accepting retailers there is really no point though, as you'll only get 0.5% from them.

0.5% is about as good as it gets for a fee-free product. Depending on whether you use Asda, you might find their product more useful as it gives you 1% back on Asda purchases - although you do need to use Asda at least occasionally as the "cashback" is actually paid in Asda vouchers.

With a fee you can do better, but if you're a low spender you're unlikely to earn back the fee in enhanced rewards.

One I'd take a look at - Natwest Reward, for a £24 annual fee you get 0.5% cashback as standard, boosted to 1% at all supermarkets (including Aldi and Lidl). The annual fee is waived if you take the Natwest Reward current account, which itself is worth looking at (costs £3/month and gives 3% back on many direct debits, falling to £2/month and 2% back from June). I've made over £200 from the Natwest Reward current account and credit card since taking them in November 2015 - all from just normal spending.

steffangl

Freedom Rewards gives you 0.29% back on the lower standard rate, and 0.57% back on the boosted supermarket, petrol and TFL rate. (If my maths is correct).

Amex themselves is 0.5% cashback for their fee-free cashback card. If you're spending more than £415 a month on average then anything over this would earn 1%.

Amex also have an exclusive Rewards card via moneysupermarket.com which gives the same 0.5% rate as the cashback card (although by exchanging points for shopping vouchers rather than actual cash off your statement), but it comes with £50 free if you spend £1000 in the first 3 months.

IMO, given Amex isn't accepted everywhere you're probably better sticking with the 0.5% Barclaycard.

calicosquare

Thanks, everyone - for the advice.

Even though I have a few expensive purchases coming up, on average I'm not a very high spender. I may not be able to meet the £5,000 requirement annually so I'll be paid 0.5% for all spends (assuming I spend over £3,000). In this case, Barclaycard Visa wins as there is no minimum spend required.

I was unsure whether Freedom Rewards or the Visa cashback was better so thank you, steffangl for working that out for me,

My direct debits tend to be very low as well - so I don't think the Natwest Rewards will work for me in the same way the Santander 123 account didn't. I found I was paying a monthly fee and not getting much in return.

All in all, I think I will stick with that new Barclaycard for now. Thanks again, everyone!