Tandem Cashback ending 9th March

Nick_C

gwapenut wrote: »

Is curve overseas as good a rate as other MasterCards such as clarity? I know Revolut has a slight edge except at weekends

Curve and Revolut both charge the interbank rate.

Curve is only free up to £500 a month (foreign transactions) and charge 2pc above this.

At the weekend, Curve use the Friday closing rate plus half a percent (GBP, EUR, USD) or 1.5% (all other currencies).

https://support.imaginecurve.com/hc/en-gb/articles/214124809-What-foreign-exchange-rates-will-I-pay-?mobile_site=true

Revolut has a similar charging structure at the weekends, but you can avoid this by setting up foreign currency accounts and doing your own conversions when the markets are open. Revolut is free for foreign transactions up to £5k a month.

https://www.revolut.com/help/getting-started/exchanging-currencies/what-foreign-exchange-rate-will-i-get?p=branded_campaign&gclid=CjwKCAiAu9vwBRAEEiwAzvjq-_Z9wrHmTkrsnfwReway6el0tM74ixW_90Flm_BNjrcQIgCK6vs1BBoCqDQQAvD_BwE

Both Curve and Revolut let you take £200 a month from ATMs with no fee.

If £400 a month cash is not enough, there is also Monzo and Monese.

I have Halifax Clarity and Nationwide, but have not used them for more than a year. I prefer Curve and Revolut.

chistery

One nice feature of Tandem (and JaJa and Tymit) is the instant notification which is lacking from a lot of the existing cards. I tend to use a rewards card when in the UK, but a fintech card when abroad, as I like the instant notifications to confirm how much I've been charged.

I've also got the MBNA Horizon card with 0.5% cashback as well as no FX fees, will dust that one off.

callum9999

SuiDreams wrote: »

No hence why I got the Tandem and stopped using it, but will go back to using that one for now, I was told by someone I know who works in a local store that if they are doing further closures they will get 6 months notice and she will let me know. Could be a good temporary option for some.

If the company is solvent and decides to close a branch in the future it MIGHT keep its word and give 6 months notice.

If the company runs out of cash and collapses, it absolutely won't keep its word - and your voucher will be worth nothing.

While I've never looked at their finances, I'm amazed they're still around!

Nick_C

SuiDreams wrote: »

No hence why I got the Tandem and stopped using it, but will go back to using that one for now, I was told by someone I know who works in a local store that if they are doing further closures they will get 6 months notice and she will let me know. Could be a good temporary option for some.

The risk with Debenhams is the whole company could still fail. If all the stores were to close overnight, your vouchers would be worthless.

18cc

The John Lewis card, as well as giving 'cashback' (in the form of JL/Waitrose vouchers) gives you instant notifications. It can be linked to Curve, Samsung Pay, etc etc. Obviously, don't use it abroad - fees etc.

IvanDP

chistery wrote: »

May be worth getting in the queue for Tymit or JaJa and see what happens in the next few months, if anyone is looking for a replacement card.

In theory a good idea, but don't hold your breath.
I joined the waitlist for both about 3 months ago, and am still no closer to getting in on their act.

Nick_C

18cc wrote: »

The John Lewis card, as well as giving 'cashback' (in the form of JL/Waitrose vouchers) gives you instant notifications. It can be linked to Curve, Samsung Pay, etc etc. Obviously, don't use it abroad - fees etc.

Although using it abroad via Curve, or using it to top up Revolut, should be fine.

chistery

IvanDP wrote: »

In theory a good idea, but don't hold your breath.
I joined the waitlist for both about 3 months ago, and am still no closer to getting in on their act.

I have both, I think Tymit looks more promising, though neither do apple pay or google pay so far. Hopefully they'll start accepting more people soon.

gwapenut

Nick_C wrote: »

Although using it abroad via Curve, or using it to top up Revolut, should be fine.

Does this not count as a cash transaction?

Vampgirl

At £11.98 per month (because we need one each) its also a no from us - we only earned £75 cashback between us last year so the numbers just don't stack up. Most of our spending at home is on Amex so we only used them where Amex isn't accepted, and of course for everything overseas. We still have Post Office, Halifax Clarity and Nationwide for abroad, but what I liked about Tandem (apart from the cashback) was that it was really nice not have to to do the whole change your wallet over each time we went away.

Aqua looks like it could be the closest alternative - but I'm a bit concerned about the reported low credit limits....does anyone know how low we are talking about here? We'd need a minimum of £3k to allow for holiday spending. Also they don't appear to support Google Pay, which is a shame. Though would it work to add it to Curve, then add Curve to Google Pay?

I need to look into whether Curve will work for us abroad - the £500 per month spending limit abroad is very low (and the fee for the higher limit card is even higher than Tandem), [STRIKE]but presumably that would only apply to contactless payments. So I need to work out how much of our spending abroad is contactless and how much is chip & pin - more research needed![/STRIKE]
Edited: Curve won't work for us for abroad spending....I was forgetting that its also a physical card (too much thinking about contactless/Gpay). So looks like we're back to having to get one card for home spending and back to using Halifax etc. abroad. Unless we get a high enough limit on Aqua.