Rewards Credit Card - cash back?

MattTK

I am I am going to be spending up to £500 every month on fuel. I will be paying it off in full every month, and so I’m looking at a rewards credit card. I have an existing credit card (no balance on it) with my bank but no rewards.

I think I would prefer cash back to other rewards such as points/airline rewards etc. This seems to take me to Amex only, but the cash back only being paid annually towards your balance doesn’t seem very drawing, and I’ve read a lot that the amount of cash back on transactions has dramatically decreased recently.

Does anybody have an idea what my best option might be before I apply for a card?

jay1804

The amex cashback rate will be changing from 4 August and will still be higher than other cashback cards. Also most cashback from cards are paid annually apart from the Santander all in one that I know of. 

FaceHead

Yes the way in which you have to wait up to a year for the cashback to be paid out does seem a bit tight, but as Jay says it's the way it works. Agree with you that Amex (probably the £25 fee one, depending on your other spending) is the way forward.  

On top of cashback, you need to be looking at the rewards places offer (e.g. nectar points can now be converted to avios etc.) and most importantly the price of the fuel! The petrol prices app sounds like a must-have. 

WillPS

@MattTK - it would be helpful to know where you fill up normally, and if you could commit to one retailer (e.g. just Tesco, just Sainsburys).

Also, do you have a Costco membership and a Costco filling station within range?

jbrassy

You can get Barclaycard Rewards to pay cashback monthly, but its rate of cashback is far inferior to Amex so you would be better off sticking to Amex.

davidexmachina

How much in total would you expect to put on the card each month (ie everyday spend on top of the £500 in fuel)?

As already said, the amex platinum rewards card is overall the best on the market anyway, but if you could make your spending up to £2500 in the first 3 months then you'd get the full introductory bonus of £125 (5% cashback). 

Plus get someone (*ahem*  ) to refer you and you could get another £40 for taking the card out. So a decent up front payment to go with the best long term rate on the market.

May not sound like riches, but it adds up...

MattTK

WillPS said:

@MattTK - it would be helpful to know where you fill up normally, and if you could commit to one retailer (e.g. just Tesco, just Sainsburys).

Also, do you have a Costco membership and a Costco filling station within range?

Pretty much exclusively fill up at Tesco. I use the Peterol prices app. Sometimes Morrison’s is 1-2 pence cheaper  so will fill up there if I am passing. Although the the recent changes to Morrison’s more card mean that you can’t get points on your fuel anymore; whereas you can get Tesco points on fuel 

WillPS

MattTK said:

WillPS said:

@MattTK - it would be helpful to know where you fill up normally, and if you could commit to one retailer (e.g. just Tesco, just Sainsburys).

Also, do you have a Costco membership and a Costco filling station within range?

Pretty much exclusively fill up at Tesco. I use the Peterol prices app. Sometimes Morrison’s is 1-2 pence cheaper  so will fill up there if I am passing. Although the the recent changes to Morrison’s more card mean that you can’t get points on your fuel anymore; whereas you can get Tesco points on fuel 

I'd suggest using a Tesco Credit Card in that case.

You will get 1 point per £ spent on fuel from Tesco Stores (rather than 1 point for every £2 as you'd get with any other Clubcard)
You will also get 1 point per £4 spent on fuel from Tesco Bank.

Effectively the Tesco Bank Credit Card will get you 0.75 points per £ extra benefit, so long as you fill up in multiples of exactly £4.

I know this is a points/reward product, but it's a particularly flexible one with the multitude of rewards available at 3x face value. I personally value a Clubcard point at 2.5p as I use points mostly at Hilton/Hotels.com, and I'm satisfied that is the value I get when compared to the best cash rate. Even if you use the vouchers at face value at Tesco, 0.75% effective cashback isn't bad - 1.875% is unbeatable.

It's not a credit card, but for the first 3 months Clubcard Pay would be even better value - https://www.tescobank.com/clubcard-pay/

You would get:

1 point per £ from Tesco stores (as with the credit card above)

1 point per £ from Tesco Bank for the first 100 days.

The product also has no 'hard check' so could be a pretty frictionless way of trying Tesco Bank and seeing if the rewards work for you, or if you'd be better with an Amex of some flavour.