Tandem Cashback ending 9th March

chistery

Occam's_Razor wrote: »

Used my Tandem card to book some hotels booked for a USA trip in April. Is it wise for me to not sign up to the ‘new’ Tandem deal and allow the account to expire, or cough up the £12 required to keep the card open until the end of my trip?

If you do change to a new card, try and follow up with the hotel to let them know. With Hilton for example, if you update your booking on the web site, the hotel can't see the new card details, and may threaten to cancel your booking if they validate it a few days before you arrive.

csgohan4

Aqua is only worth it if you spend max 2000 pounds in 1 year as their cashback is capped a £100 a year.

Gerry1

csgohan4 wrote: »

Aqua is only worth it if you spend max 2000 pounds in 1 year as their cashback is capped a £100 a year.

You've got your sums wrong !

csgohan4

Gerry1 wrote: »

You've got your sums wrong !

looks like i missed a 0, 20000 it seems for the year, indeed you are correct

but your not going to get 20K credit limit, Best i could get was 1500, so your going to get less than £10 cashback for the year most likely anyways

the Amex everyday looks a good bet but it's not accepted everywhere sadly

epm-84

Malkytheheed wrote: »

Tandem failed / had to Introduce monthly charge (they will fail and I will explain why), because they were so strict with their acceptance policy. They were so risk averse that they only wanted only the best of the best customer with impeccable credit history. Their plan was, offer a class leading product and offset the risk by only accepting top credit customers.

The problem?
Because of their strict acceptance policy tandem soon found out that 99.9% of customers were paying off their cards in full every month and getting cashback. Which wasn't making them any money! If you offer a no frills credit card then these people make you money via retailer fees, or if you charge more retailer fees like AMEX then you can still make money this way. But tandem had a customer base of people making them no money. They had written their own downfall by being so strict with their entrance policy. Why will they fail? Because this group of people with impeccable credit histories are typically money savy and not be stupid enough to pay £6 a month for a credit card that's just not worth it. That's the catch 22 for tandem. They created a customer base of customers that made them no money and are too savy to be fooled by a monthly charge.

I got rejected for a Bank of America managed credit card a few years back despite having a perfect credit history and a regular income.

I thought the idea was their cashback card was for people with good credit history and their journey card was for people with poor credit history.

Tandem actually bought Harrod's Bank who had a target market of those with large savings balances. I believe the Harrod's products were discontinued for new customers as soon as Tandem took them over.

epm-84

Lumiona wrote: »

So it begs the question, who is likely to stay with Tandem with those fees? Customers who like the app and card and see changing cards as a faff? I cannot see many people wanting to pay a premium for a previously free service.

But doing nothing - the easy option will see your Tandem card being cancelled. You either have to contact them to upgrade to the premium option or apply for a new credit card with someone else. It is unusual for a financial services provider to cancel non-subscription products for existing customers opposed to withdrawing some of the benefits or moving them on to an alternative non-subscription product.

Perhaps those who stay will be those looking to apply for a mortgage and who don't have another card currently as a new application will be a mark on their credit file. Although, saying that those looking to apply for a mortgage who have 2 or more credit cards might have been looking to cancel one of their cards anyway!

Gerry1

csgohan4 wrote: »

but your not going to get 20K credit limit, Best i could get was 1500, so your going to get less than £10 cashback for the year most likely anyways

Still wrong ! Your credit limit is not an annual spending limit.

epm-84

Gerry1 wrote: »

Your credit limit is not an annual spending limit.

Indeed. However, you're unlikely to be able to spend anything near 12 times the credit limit annually if you pay off in full using the direct debit every month.

Say your statement date was the 15th of the month. If you have a credit limit of £1500 and a balance of £1500 on the 15th January then you won't be able to spend 1p on the card until your direct debit is taken in February.

Even if you pay the balance in full by making a manual payment from your bank account as soon as your statement is released you're unlikely to be able to spend the full credit limit every month. Even if you spend well over £1500 a month you could be in the situation where you have a balance of £1460 and you need to make a £50 purchase, which then will have to go on another card. Then you might have small temporary holds put on the card, which haven't yet been removed so even if it was a £40 purchase then it may be rejected.

Nick_C

You can pay your Tandem Credit Card at any time. You don't need to wait for a statement. You can easily spend much more than your credit limit each month if you want to or need to.

Nick_C

epm-84 wrote: »

But doing nothing - the easy option will see your Tandem card being cancelled. You either have to contact them to upgrade to the premium option or apply for a new credit card with someone else.

No. I, and many others I'm sure, will just stop using the Tandem card and use one of the other credit cards I hold. I don't need another credit card. I have plenty.