To Amex...or not to Amex!

Nick_C

Curls2208 wrote: »

Is there any other service like 'Curve' that will allow Amex? i got Amex for this and then realised it wont work. ( I can use my curve abroad you see and could have still gotten AMEX cashback)

Short answer is no. Curve worked with Amex as a Beta trial for people who got in early. When Curve extended the trial, Amex quickly blocked Curve because they felt people were abusing it (as indeed we were!)

For on line purchases, add your Amex to your PayPal account. You can often use Amex this way with retailers who do not take Amex directly.

For some big retailers, such as B&Q, you can buy their Gift Cards at supermarkets etc using your Amex.

Where there is no other way of using Amex, use a different cashback card. Tandem is one of the best ones around at the moment. 0.5% cashback taken off your monthly bill, and no fee for foreign currencies. AFAIK, it's the only card that gives you cashback on forex with no fee.

trient

Tandem is one of the best ones around at the moment.

NatWest/RBS rewards might be better, if you bank with them (no fee). Same 0.5% for all purchases but 1% for supermarkets spend.

Only until 1 February though.

jasdev

Nick_C wrote: »

Where there is no other way of using Amex, use a different cashback card. Tandem is one of the best ones around at the moment. 0.5% cashback taken off your monthly bill, and no fee for foreign currencies. AFAIK, it's the only card that gives you cashback on forex with no fee.

There is this card

https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/credit-cards/rewards-credit-cards

which for one day was featured on the MSE homepage and ranked higher than Tandem; however, the day after, it had been removed. I applied before it was removed, but noticed that Barclaycard advised me "The card you have been approved for is no longer available; here is a similar card we think you'll like."

I couldn't identify any difference in the Terms & Conditions or Agreement between the first and the second card, so I kept it.
I would rather this than Tandem as I don't need another current account.

I don't know why MSE removed it, but hopefully it is because Barclaycard wanted to prevent too many applications for it.


Oh and for Amex, paying via Paypal or buying gift cards does not earn reward points, as far as I know. These were loopholes closed off by American Express.

Nick_C

@Jasdev

OK so the Barclays CC gives you 0.25% cashback on Forex. Didn't know this. But you get twice as much cash back with Tandem.

You dont need a Tandem Current Account to take out a Tandem Credit Card. In fact Tandem don't offer current accounts!! They offer savings accounts and credit cards.

You are wrong about Amex. You can get Avios or Membership Reward Points if you link your card to Paypal, or if you buy gift cards in supermarkets. I do those often and have done in the last week.

Please don't say I'm wrong when you are wrong and simply guessing.

jasdev

Nick_C wrote: »

@Jasdev

OK so the Barclays CC gives you 0.25% cashback on Forex. Didn't know this. But you get twice as much cash back with Tandem.

You dont need a Tandem Current Account to take out a Tandem Credit Card. In fact Tandem don't offer current accounts!! They offer savings accounts and credit cards.

You are wrong about Amex. You can get Avios or Membership Reward Points if you link your card to Paypal, or if you buy gift cards in supermarkets. I do those often and have done in the last week.

Please don't say I'm wrong when you are wrong and simply guessing.

Mm, correct on Tandem. I misread Savings account as Current Account when I was looking to apply, for some reason. Oh, and I didn't want a purely app-based bank.
But I believe that MSE placed the Barclaycard above the Tandem card because Barclaycard does not charge interest on cash withdrawals overseas if you make the full payment by the due date each month. Very handy for me, travelling in South America, or Germany and Japan, both countries that prefer cash over card payments. It's just a mystery to me that MSE then removed the card from their best travel credit cards list.



And I will do a bit of Googling to find out but I am not guessing, I had read that somewhere! So if you're correct, fine, I just haven't linked mine to Paypal nor have I purchased gift cards with them.
Ah okay, my mistake. It is pre-paid cards which one cannot purchase with American Express for the purpose of earning Membership Rewards points, as per their Terms & Conditions here:
https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/rewards/membership-rewards/about-earning

1. How do I earn points?
You earn Membership Rewards Points for every full pound of eligible spend on your Card. Simply use your American Express Card for your everyday purchases and watch your Points add up.

Please note that the following are not eligible spend, so will not earn Membership Rewards Points:

• interest;
• all fees (including annual membership fees and default fees);
• balance transfers;
• cash advances (including transactions treated as cash);
• loading of pre paid cards;
• American Express Travellers Cheque purchases;
• foreign exchange transactions; and
• any amounts that are subsequently credited to your Card Account by way of refunds or other types of credits.

loveka

It depends how much you are going to spend on the card, and how many Avios points you already have.

Last year as I sat in Business Class with my partner sipping champagne we toasted our Amex card. Several times actually! We had got the bonus reward flight. We had enough Avios for one business class flight, the bonus meant we got another flight for 'free'. We had renovated a whole house though, using Amex or PayPal for every transaction.

ratechaser

loveka said:

It depends how much you are going to spend on the card, and how many Avios points you already have.

Last year as I sat in Business Class with my partner sipping champagne we toasted our Amex card. Several times actually! We had got the bonus reward flight. We had enough Avios for one business class flight, the bonus meant we got another flight for 'free'. We had renovated a whole house though, using Amex or PayPal for every transaction.

Well given BAs typical generosity with the champagne, I'm sure you did have to sip it, very slowly...!

And just to point out that this is a reply to a year old thread..

jerrydan

Yes go for it

But there are places it is not accepted and you can also get your other cards as alternative.

Nick_C

ratechaser said:

Well given BAs typical generosity with the champagne, I'm sure you did have to sip it, very slowly...!

And just to point out that this is a reply to a year old thread..

Well the question posed in post one is as relevant today as it was a year ago. 

And loveka did not resurrect this thread. There were two other posts earlier today which have now been deleted.  So before you start criticising people, consider the fact that you may not have seen the full picture.

As for BA champagne, I've always received a full glass and refills whenever I've wanted them.  I particularly enjoyed the Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle last time I flew in First, courtesy of Amex. 

ratechaser

Nick_C said:

ratechaser said:

Well given BAs typical generosity with the champagne, I'm sure you did have to sip it, very slowly...!

And just to point out that this is a reply to a year old thread..

Well the question posed in post one is as relevant today as it was a year ago. 

And loveka did not resurrect this thread. There were two other posts earlier today which have now been deleted.  So before you start criticising people, consider the fact that you may not have seen the full picture.

As for BA champagne, I've always received a full glass and refills whenever I've wanted them.  I particularly enjoyed the Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle last time I flew in First, courtesy of Amex. 

It was an observation, not a criticism. Generally responses to old threads are commented on in much more 'direct' language than I chose to do here.

Glad you enjoyed the LPGS, there are however plenty of tales of BAs parsimony with champagne (and many other things) on Flyertalk, especially pre-flight in club. Cost cutting is in their DNA, apparently...