The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

Nick_C

MisterMotivated said:

A 0% purchase credit card would, however, allow you to keep the money you would have otherwise spent, in a savings account earning more than 1% interest (aka stoozing)

Absolutely, and that is a really good point which is easily overlooked.

Two things to consider though.  An increase in your debt and only making minimum payments might damage your credit rating, so will not be suitable for everyone.

Chase gives you 1% CB on foreign currency transactions.  Most 0% purchase cards don't.  So again Chase CB is a better option sometimes.

Patrington

Nick_C said:

MisterMotivated said:

A 0% purchase credit card would, however, allow you to keep the money you would have otherwise spent, in a savings account earning more than 1% interest (aka stoozing)

Absolutely, and that is a really good point which is easily overlooked.

Two things to consider though.  An increase in your debt and only making minimum payments might damage your credit rating, so will not be suitable for everyone.

Chase gives you 1% CB on foreign currency transactions.  Most 0% purchase cards don't.  So again Chase CB is a better option sometimes.

And don't forget the 5% interest on the roundup

jak22

If the Coventry limited or Zopa accounts aren't suitable then maybe Chase is the next best rate, but having a 1% cashback card doesn't make it an any better savings account. The 1% cashback is better than nothing but it is just £50 after spending £5000 and the roundup isn't that much either.

AmityNeon

jak22 said:

If the Coventry limited or Zopa accounts aren't suitable then maybe Chase is the next best rate, but having a 1% cashback card doesn't make it an any better savings account. The 1% cashback is better than nothing but it is just £50 after spending £5000 and the roundup isn't that much either.

I use all of them, but transfers from Zopa to Chase (especially from Boosted pots) are not as fast as internal Chase transfers so I keep small float amounts in the Chase Saver, and 2.7% is far less of a convenience penalty than 2.1%.

MisterMotivated

Nick_C said:

Two things to consider though.  An increase in your debt and only making minimum payments might damage your credit rating, so will not be suitable for everyone.

You could pay a fixed monthly (above minimum) amount if you're worried about this.  Having had more credit cards, current accounts and mortgages than I can count throughout my lifetime, I can't say I've ever noticed a significant impact arising from only making minimum repayments.

Nick_C said:

Chase gives you 1% CB on foreign currency transactions.  Most 0% purchase cards don't.  So again Chase CB is a better option sometimes.

A reasonable point, but people talking about spending are, 99% of the time, referring to purchases in their own country using native currency (this seems to include Marvo, though I apologise if I've misinterpreted and he/she was referring specifically to foreign currency transactions in the previous post). 

As with most things in life, one particular option won't suit all of the people all of the time. A Chase current account could be a great complement to a 0% purchase card for those times when it has greater benefits.

[Deleted User]

jak22 said:

If the Coventry limited or Zopa accounts aren't suitable then maybe Chase is the next best rate, but having a 1% cashback card doesn't make it an any better savings account. The 1% cashback is better than nothing but it is just £50 after spending £5000 and the roundup isn't that much either.

It's the whole package. I've earned £679.94 in cashback so far with 3 months of my year to go. That's not to be sniffed at. 

I don't think anybody would be putting £85,000 in CHASE but it will be handy to have a couple of grand in there once the rate increases on January 4th to 2.7%, which you can transfer instantly to your current account when you have something to pay out.
If you kept the £2000 in AL Rayan you'd get 18p more a month in interest, for me that "advantage" is not worth the hassle but each to their own.

refluxer

Deleted_User said:

jak22 said:

If the Coventry limited or Zopa accounts aren't suitable then maybe Chase is the next best rate, but having a 1% cashback card doesn't make it an any better savings account. The 1% cashback is better than nothing but it is just £50 after spending £5000 and the roundup isn't that much either.

It's the whole package. I've earned £679.94 in cashback so far with 3 months of my year to go. That's not to be sniffed at. 

If you don't mind me asking, how on earth did you manage that, considering you don't get cashback for the usual big expenses like buying cars and houses, plus many other things like insurance etc ?

For reference, I've had my Chase account for a similar length of time, have been putting all of my purchases on it (including family Tesco shops and a new fridge-freezer and washing machine) plus I've got one £25 referral and have yet to reach £100 and, while we obviously all spend differing amounts on different things, I'm wondering if I'm missing a trick somewhere ?!

Nick_C

MisterMotivated said:

As with most things in life, one particular option won't suit all of the people all of the time. 

That's exactly my point.

[Deleted User]

refluxer said:

Deleted_User said:

jak22 said:

If the Coventry limited or Zopa accounts aren't suitable then maybe Chase is the next best rate, but having a 1% cashback card doesn't make it an any better savings account. The 1% cashback is better than nothing but it is just £50 after spending £5000 and the roundup isn't that much either.

It's the whole package. I've earned £679.94 in cashback so far with 3 months of my year to go. That's not to be sniffed at. 

If you don't mind me asking, how on earth did you manage that, considering you don't get cashback for the usual big expenses like buying cars and houses, plus many other things like insurance etc ?

For reference, I've had my Chase account for a similar length of time, have been putting all of my purchases on it (including family Tesco shops and a new fridge-freezer and washing machine) plus I've got one £25 referral and have yet to reach £100 and, while we obviously all spend differing amounts on different things, I'm wondering if I'm missing a trick somewhere ?!

Of course I don't mind you asking, that's what we're here for. 

I'm going round the world in January for 3 months, that was over £20,000 so a couple of hundred back.

I also run a golf society. People pay me for their trips, I then pay the travel company with my CHASE card. As an example we are going to Malaga next year, 32 of us, total cost £23,750. On top of that if people want I'm happy to book their flights, already did that for 6 people, that was over a £1000. As was my golf club membership.

We went on a cruise around the Greek Islands. That was £2500 so another £25.

There's also little things I do. For example our family is going out for Christmas dinner. £50 each. They all paid me, I then paid the restaurant.  It all adds up. 

I know you believe me (why would I lie) but just in case....

[Deleted User]

I think people need to realise we are the odd ones out here, not many people are willing to do what we do.

I have a perfect example of that. Two years ago AMEX brought out an offer. Get a new card, spend over £1000 in the first three months and get £150 back. Now obviously I did this but because as previously mentioned I run a golf society I informed the members (47 of them) that if anybody would like to get themselves an AMEX card, I was happy to send them £1000 which they could then pay off of one of the trips. Free money guys. Only four people could be bothered to do it. Perhaps things aren't as bad as they seem.