Best Visa or Mastercard for large payment?

steve99

Hi,

Mid October I need to pay the balance for a cruise that will be around £18,000. The cruise company only accept Visa or Mastercard.

I wondered what is the best reward credit card for me to pay this? I realise that I may not get that high a limit but my credit score is pretty good so want to try or perhaps get two cards?

I will be paying this off IN FULL as soon as I have to so do not need any 0% offers.

I do have Tesco Bank and John Lewis cards but wondered if there was something better out there?    

TIA

Steve

[Deleted User]

It depends what you value. Tesco is good if you shop there, others value air miles, or some other retailer oriented reward, or just straight cashback.

Rewards cards tend to be for those with better credit histories (not credit scores) - how does your look? What limits do you have on your existing cards?

You might want to try an eligibility checker before applying.

steve99

I think straight cashback would be the best so one option  I found is the Santander All In One Credit Card but I'm not sure if I can cancel it after a couple of months as it is £3 a month.

My credit history is very good and limit on Tesco is £10,000, Amex card £12,000 and JL £8,000

eskbanker

steve99 said:

I wondered what is the best reward credit card for me to pay this?

There's a summary at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-credit-card-rewards/

born_again

steve99 said:

I think straight cashback would be the best so one option  I found is the Santander All In One Credit Card but I'm not sure if I can cancel it after a couple of months as it is £3 a month.

My credit history is very good and limit on Tesco is £10,000, Amex card £12,000 and JL £8,000

TBH. Unless you have a really high income. I can see issues getting a decent limit on another card.

They will look at you income to debt ratio.

pjread

UK mastercard and visa rewards are typically not huge these days; have you got (or would you be happy to open) a chase UK account and use a debit card?  They're giving 1% cashback which I suspect is as good as you'll get without getting in to murky territory.

steve99

pjread said:

UK mastercard and visa rewards are typically not huge these days; have you got (or would you be happy to open) a chase UK account and use a debit card?  They're giving 1% cashback which I suspect is as good as you'll get without getting in to murky territory.

I didn't think of that - great idea as I already have a Chase UK account I use for my savings. I will do that.

Many Thanks

NoodleDoodleMan

"I will be paying this off IN FULL as soon as I have to so do not need any 0% offers."

We paid off a new kitchen last year in two quick successive payments on our Barclaycards Reward - our credit limit was not enough for a single payment settlement.

Paid half, it quickly showed up on the card balance and I transferred that amount immediately from the bank, then repeated same procedure.

I had called the kitchen company a few days in advance to ensure they were onside - no problem, as long as the full balance was paid  by the date due.

Got the full cashback credited at the end of the month.

Not 100% sure if that would work with other cards - worth a try.

Marchitiello

NoodleDoodleMan said:

"I will be paying this off IN FULL as soon as I have to so do not need any 0% offers."

We paid off a new kitchen last year in two quick successive payments on our Barclaycards Reward - our credit limit was not enough for a single payment settlement.

Paid half, it quickly showed up on the card balance and I transferred that amount immediately from the bank, then repeated same procedure.

I had called the kitchen company a few days in advance to ensure they were onside - no problem, as long as the full balance was paid  by the date due.

Got the full cashback credited at the end of the month.

Not 100% sure if that would work with other cards - worth a try.

If the vendor is ok to take separate payments, that should work with anyone. Unfortunately most website does not allow split payments but anything that can be managed manually should be possible. 

For the OP, Chase at 1%, pre-funded, should work

steve99

steve99 said:

pjread said:

UK mastercard and visa rewards are typically not huge these days; have you got (or would you be happy to open) a chase UK account and use a debit card?  They're giving 1% cashback which I suspect is as good as you'll get without getting in to murky territory.

I didn't think of that - great idea as I already have a Chase UK account I use for my savings. I will do that.

Many Thanks

Thinking about this again, if I use my Chase card I won’t have the Section 75 protection that a credit card would offer. I may have the option of splitting the final balance into 2  payments so perhaps that way might be the best. 

Any thoughts?

RobfromCornwall

Did you pay the deposit on credit card?  If so, my understanding is that Section 75 would cover the whole purchase.