After assistance calculating cashback/rewards

MrFrugalFever

I am after some assistance with some calculations on cashback and rewards for maximising return on purchases. Hopefully someone who is very mathematically minded can break it down and come up with an answer!

Here is the situation;

Currently I utilise Pockit pre-paid card for all purchases within Sainsburys and Sainsburys Fuel Station to benefit from 3% cashback that is paid in to the account on the 4th of every month.

I have a Barclaycard Avios Credit Card whereby Avios points can be earned at the ratio of 1 to £1 on almost all purchases and these points can be converted to Nectar Points. 1 Avios point is worth 1.6 Nectar points.

So hypothetical scenario;

1) I spend £100 on fuel, gaining approx 53 nectar points (1 point per 1 litre) and gain £3 in cashback paid on 4th each month

2) I spend £100 on fuel on Barclaycard CC and gain approx 53 nectar points and 100 Avios points (160 Nectar points), I leave the £100 in Easy Access 2.40%APR (currently) savings account until CC statement to be paid

Which is more financially beneficial with better returns?

DullGreyGuy

How much do you value 1 Avios and 1 Nectar point as?

silvercar

Avios have a floor value of 0.8p but that is dropping to 0.667p soon. That would be their value if you converted them to nectar and spent them on shopping in Sainsburys. You can get (a lot) more value out of them by using them for BA flights, but valuing them is harder as a lot of people would not pay the prices they represent.

MrFrugalFever

@silvercar I saw yesterday on HFP’s the devaluation of Avios to Nectar which is a real shame!!

My calculations say that a 3% cashback is still a better return overall.

I think for the purposes of this exercise it is best to assume that the £100 would be held for a full month in the EA savings to make it simpler.