Any decent (Non Amex) rewards cards out there?

The_Urbanite

Marchitiello said:

The_Urbanite said:

The question is what rewards do you want to collect? Might as well pick one that works with a scheme you are already in. 

Not much point collecting Avios if it’s going to take 20 years of spend before you get enough to redeem a flight to Paris in Economy. However if you’re the type of person who can run £200k a month through credit cards then get as many as you can 😁

I know it may have been an exaggeration but for a flight to Paris you only need 4750 Avios in Economy, leaving aside that it would be the worst use of Avios ever. 

Avios is not bad if you have a strategy and focus on it between Amex MR and BA cards, Nectar conversion, NatWest/RBS Vouchers, Barclays Avios Rewards (with the latest deal, between the wife and I have made 200,000 Avios at once), Avios Shopping portal, HSBC Cards, affiliated travel partner conversion etc  you can easily rack up enough Avios every year for a long haul premium cabin (best return for Avios, golden reward ticket being Sydney).

having said that, without a proper strategy and/or way to maximise as the above, it may not be useful for everyone, but in the OP case, as he mention having Amex Nectar card, thus may be interested in Nectar points, the Barclaycard Avios to BAEC to Nectar conversion, returning 0.67% on all spend (excluding cash like) may be indeed his best bet. 

The European Reward Flight Saver redemptions are some of the best value to be had in my opinion. Low number of points required and the surcharges are fixed at a cheap price. You can get Business Class for as little as 50p which includes self service all you can eat and drink in the lounge. 

Long haul economy redemptions are probably the worst value.

The programme gets really good if you can use Avios for long haul Business Class and First Class flights, but you need to be generating them in the hundreds of thousands and be prepared to contend with scant availability of seats and hikes to the surcharge element which erode the value. 

Avios is becoming increasingly useful as a currency for other things, especially since the tie up with Nectar.

If already in the scheme then a credit card is a good way to top up points as every little helps but it’s not for everyone. 

Marchitiello

Rewards Saver redemption, valuing the Avios at least 1p are ok but not great when on some premium CW redemption I usually get a value of just above 5p,  anything below 1p is really terrible return and have yet to see any European reward seat that deliver that.

I am fully invested in Avios, have BAEC status so that I get free lounge access and seat selection at point of purchases, as well as extra luggage allowance and dedicated line, so the “value” of the lounge access is not included in my Avios return calculation. 

shawry_99

I've just been trying to get a rewards credit card after messing up with the Pulse offer, in that I didn't see the letter in my app, and so didn't ring to ask them to send me a card, so on transfer from Amazon I no longer have an account.

I have a Halifax card, which is just flagged as a 'Halifax Mastercard' so was told by support to run the eligibility and choose a different card, but I get no option for cashback   Lloyds is the same.  Frustrating with not being able to use Amex in too many places.

WillPS

shawry_99 said:

I've just been trying to get a rewards credit card after messing up with the Pulse offer, in that I didn't see the letter in my app, and so didn't ring to ask them to send me a card, so on transfer from Amazon I no longer have an account.

I have a Halifax card, which is just flagged as a 'Halifax Mastercard' so was told by support to run the eligibility and choose a different card, but I get no option for cashback   Lloyds is the same.  Frustrating with not being able to use Amex in too many places.

Close the Halifax Mastercard if it's of no use to you, it could be that LBG don't want to offer you more credit but will be happy to once again when that's no longer available to you. If you are still using it then consider reducing the limit if possible, same for any other cards you have.

The good news is that there is plenty of other options. Every lender will have different criteria.