Aqua Cashback Card

afis1904

I just got accepted for a card (pending fraud checks) but have not received any email from Aqua. Is that normal?

blue.peter

djjd70 wrote: »

Have looked at Amex, but worried there'll be places in my town I can't use it which will make it annoying having to use 2 cards each month for regular spending.

Yes, there are places that don't accept AmEx, but not (in my experience) too many. Those that won't are usually the smaller retailers where I'd guess that you probably won't be spending a lot. I reckon that I can put 90%+ of my spending on AmEx. I'd say get one of these, but have any old MasterCard or Visa (say, Virgin or MBNA) as backup for the places that won't take it.

Ben8282

Rightly or wrongly, Aqua are known as an issuer of bad credit/credit builder cards and for that reason many people would prefer to avoid getting a card from them. There is also the probability of a low credit limit and the limitation on the maximum cashback provided.
Certainly if cashback is the desired reward then Amex is definitely the better option. As others have said, acceptance for Amex is now pretty good so for those seeking cashback they are probably the best choice.
Alternatively, Tandem cardholders could consider alternative rewards to cashback, such as a supermarket (Tesco or Sainsburys) card.

IvanDP

Unfortunately for me, it was the "no overseas fees" which attracted me to Tandem.
The cashback though very nice, was just a bonus.
Whilst the cashback with Amex is quite generous, using it abroad would negate any benefits I would get from the card.
Hence my choice of Aqua.

Jakerrs

djjd70 wrote: »

- push notifications

I know that it's not quite the same, but Aqua let you set up text notifications for payments over an amount of your choosing, and you can set this to £0 (or close to), so that everything is notified. I found that these texts were instant every time as well.

hgt

What I do is use a Curve card linked to an Aqua reward card as the funding source.... then I get the best of both worlds... cashback, no foreign fees and instant push notifications (thanks to the curve app).

jbryce

blue.peter wrote: »

Yes, there are places that don't accept AmEx, but not (in my experience) too many. Those that won't are usually the smaller retailers where I'd guess that you probably won't be spending a lot. I reckon that I can put 90%+ of my spending on AmEx. I'd say get one of these, but have any old MasterCard or Visa (say, Virgin or MBNA) as backup for the places that won't take it.

The garage where I get my car repaired / serviced doesn't accept Amex. I had a repair bill of £1,450 last month, and if I had a low credit limit card, I would not be able to put it on that card, even though I have plenty of cash in my repair/maintenance fund, I only had to take £500 out to cover it, and that was because it was December which is a big spending month for other reasons.

john1002

Don’t forget with Aqua cashback it is rounded down to the nearest £5 so £54.60 at your anniversary would yield £50 paid onto your card and the rest carried over to next years cashback amount.

John

Malkytheheed

hgt wrote: »

What I do is use a Curve card linked to an Aqua reward card as the funding source.... then I get the best of both worlds... cashback, no foreign fees and instant push notifications (thanks to the curve app).

Ditto, double cashback in Aldi is a win. :money:

Missus_Hyde

djjd70 wrote: »

..........Would I be harming my score by applying to Aqua (implying I need to rebuild it)?

Absolutely not; I've got an Aqua card with which I'm very pleased and we have a various assortment of different CC's all with different functions, including a couple of odds and sods as backups.

As long as the card is paid in full every month, I've found the Aqua card just as good as any of the others.