Which credit cards have apps with instant notifications and which classify expenses by categories? 29 September 2022 at 8:53AM in Credit cards 3 replies 135 views

SouthLondonUser

I'd like to understand which non-Amex credit cards have Android apps which:

• send instant notifications for every expense, and
• let you classify your expenses into categories, the way many banking apps do (e.g. Sainsbury -> groceries, restaurant -> eating out, British Airways -> travel, etc)

I have obviously searched this forum and others, and I did in fact get some useful feedback on another thread I had posted about banking apps: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6390166/instant-app-notifications-for-both-debit-and-credit-cards-only-natwest#latest

Based on all these searches, I understand the following credit card apps send instant notifications:

• Tesco
• Zopa
• Capital One
• Natwest

Of these, it seems only Zopa and Natwest don't charge additional fees for transactions in foreign currencies.

So my questions are:

• Are there other credit cards, in addition to those above, whose apps send instant notifications?
• How about classifying expenses into categories? I have not been able to find anything on that

I pay my balance in full every month so don't care too much about what interest rates they charge.

Being able to use the card with google wallet would be a plus but not indispensable. Same for fees on foreign transactions, as I can always pay with a Starling or Revolut which have better exchange rates (but are debit, not credit cards).

I find instant notifications useful to alert me to potential fraud but also to monitor subscriptions and recurring payments.

MovingForwards

NW CC spends show up in my categories, so I allocate them the same way as I do with my debit card.

If you did buy a big ticket item, they let you spread the cost upto 2 years and they also reduce the APR compared to your normal rate.

You can set budgets, so a little notification pops up when you go over it. You can block transactions in the app and switch them back on again if you want. Also you can link it to Google pay (not done that so I don't know how it works).

Again, any spend results in a discrete notification at the top of my phone.

I'd guess RBS would work the same way.

SouthLondonUser

That's actually very useful and it's the first time I hear of a credit card app that lets you do that! Does the Natwest app combine categories from debit and credit card? Eg if you spend £100 at Tesco with your debit card and £50 at Sainsburys with the credit card, do you see a consolidated £150 in groceries, or are the categories separate between debit and credit card?

MovingForwards

Transactions show up as two separate payments under groceries, or wherever it randomly thought it belonged initially.