MSE News: Amex to cut cashback rates on best buy credit cards from August

MSE_Helen_K

ratechaser said:

...the table's still wrong on the £25/year card at the 20k spend level for years 2+ - how can there be a £50 difference between the old and new rates when all that's changing is the first £10k being at 0.75% rather than 1%?

Hi ratechaser, 
Apologies, you are indeed correct. We've re-checked the table figures and the £25 annual fee hadn't been taken into account in the calculations. That's now fixed. 
Best wishes,
Helen

sausage_time

I had the older no fee Platinum credit card

• 0.5% for the first £5,000 of purchases
• 1% on purchases between £5,001 and £10,000
• 1.25% on purchases over £10,000

Moving to 

• 0.5% for the first £10,000 of purchases; and
• 1% on purchases over £10,000

My typical £400 cashback will drop to £310 (more than the £25 move for more recent cards).  Won't be moving because there's nothing better out there.  Just need to maximize offers like Shop Small!

davidexmachina

sausage_time said:

I had the older no fee Platinum credit card

• 0.5% for the first £5,000 of purchases
• 1% on purchases between £5,001 and £10,000
• 1.25% on purchases over £10,000

Moving to 

• 0.5% for the first £10,000 of purchases; and
• 1% on purchases over £10,000

My typical £400 cashback will drop to £310 (more than the £25 move for more recent cards).  Won't be moving because there's nothing better out there.  Just need to maximize offers like Shop Small!

wouldn't it make sense, at the level of cashback you are getting, to switch to the £25 per year version?

jbrassy

davidexmachina said:

sausage_time said:

I had the older no fee Platinum credit card

• 0.5% for the first £5,000 of purchases
• 1% on purchases between £5,001 and £10,000
• 1.25% on purchases over £10,000

Moving to 

• 0.5% for the first £10,000 of purchases; and
• 1% on purchases over £10,000

My typical £400 cashback will drop to £310 (more than the £25 move for more recent cards).  Won't be moving because there's nothing better out there.  Just need to maximize offers like Shop Small!

wouldn't it make sense, at the level of cashback you are getting, to switch to the £25 per year version?

Exactly, at that level of spending it would make sense to get the card with the £25 annual fee. 

crumpet_man

The free (no annual fee) British Airways Amex is looking good IMO, especially if you qualify for the sign up bonus.  5,000 bonus Avios welcome offer, if you spend £1,000 in your first three months of Cardmembership

Plus you get 1 Avios per pound which may be better than 0.5% cashback if you do a lot of small purchases.  On sub £2 purchase you don't get any cashback at the 0.5% rate.

adamp87

crumpet_man said:

The free (no annual fee) British Airways Amex is looking good IMO, especially if you qualify for the sign up bonus.  5,000 bonus Avios welcome offer, if you spend £1,000 in your first three months of Cardmembership

Plus you get 1 Avios per pound which may be better than 0.5% cashback if you do a lot of small purchases.  On sub £2 purchase you don't get any cashback at the 0.5% rate.

Honestly the past few months I’ve racked up so many nectar points by converting the Avios it’s really worked well for me for shopping in that regard.

Especially if you use the nectar card with other stores and offers too, I’ve got a 4x points offer until June with the BA card I’ve been really happy with it.

sausage_time

davidexmachina said:

sausage_time said:

I had the older no fee Platinum credit card

• 0.5% for the first £5,000 of purchases
• 1% on purchases between £5,001 and £10,000
• 1.25% on purchases over £10,000

Moving to 

• 0.5% for the first £10,000 of purchases; and
• 1% on purchases over £10,000

My typical £400 cashback will drop to £310 (more than the £25 move for more recent cards).  Won't be moving because there's nothing better out there.  Just need to maximize offers like Shop Small!

wouldn't it make sense, at the level of cashback you are getting, to switch to the £25 per year version?

Oooh - had not spotted that.  That would be £375 after the fee.  Can you switch (and keep the same card numbers), or is it a new application?

davidexmachina

Not sure but if you call them, I'd be interested to know myself! If it does need a new application, do you by any chance have an Amex-less OH that could apply instead and get the benefit of the introductory bonus (and a referral bonus too...)?

sausage_time

davidexmachina said:

Not sure but if you call them, I'd be interested to know myself! If it does need a new application, do you by any chance have an Amex-less OH that could apply instead and get the benefit of the introductory bonus (and a referral bonus too...)?

I do!   Old regime is live until 4th August, so probably wait a month or so and hope the referral/intro bonus is still around.

jbrassy

sausage_time said:

davidexmachina said:

sausage_time said:

I had the older no fee Platinum credit card

• 0.5% for the first £5,000 of purchases
• 1% on purchases between £5,001 and £10,000
• 1.25% on purchases over £10,000

Moving to 

• 0.5% for the first £10,000 of purchases; and
• 1% on purchases over £10,000

My typical £400 cashback will drop to £310 (more than the £25 move for more recent cards).  Won't be moving because there's nothing better out there.  Just need to maximize offers like Shop Small!

wouldn't it make sense, at the level of cashback you are getting, to switch to the £25 per year version?

Oooh - had not spotted that.  That would be £375 after the fee.  Can you switch (and keep the same card numbers), or is it a new application?

I recently spoke to Amex about this. I don't think switching between the free and £25 card requires a new application. You will only need to do a new application if you switch to a new type of card, e.g. if you want a BA Avios, or Gold card. I think it's quite straightforward and you can keep your old card, but I'm not 100% sure on that.