Smile Bank Credit Card - views, experiences, alternatives?

WillPS

The Co-op Members card doesn't pay 0.3%, it pays 1p for every £3.33 (1p for every £2 at Co-op Food).

There's an importance difference here because unless your transactions are in exact £2 (or £3.33 at the Co-op) chunks, you will earn less.

For example on a £3 transaction (not at the Co-op) you would earn 0.75p with Smile, and precisely 0 with Co-op Members card.

It matters less if your average transaction value is higher, but it's a killer if you do lots of small transactions.

Jaja's Asda cards earn 0.3% (1% at Asda), payable in Asda rewards, so these are a better option if you do a lot of small transactions.

Barclaycard Avios is better yet, at equivalent 0.66% (rounded down in half penny increments) so long as you convert to Nectar points and redeem at Ebay, Argos or Sainsbury's.

Stuart_W

WillPS said:

The Co-op Members card doesn't pay 0.3%, it pays 1p for every £3.33 (1p for every £2 at Co-op Food).

There's an importance difference here because unless your transactions are in exact £2 (or £3.33 at the Co-op) chunks, you will earn less.

For example on a £3 transaction (not at the Co-op) you would earn 0.75p with Smile, and precisely 0 with Co-op Members card.

.

No, no and thrice no.

As a long term holder of the Co-op Members' Credit Card, I can absolutely promise you this isn't true. It genuinely pays a clean 0.3% on your total spend (with an additional 0.2% then also paid on any spend in Co-op Group owned Co-op Food stores and itemised as "Co-operative Food Cashback"). 

They choose to descibe this as 1p for every £3.33 you spend but also refer to it as 0.3%. They make no reference anywhere to cashback being calculated for each individual transaction - it is on your total spend, and always has been, even back in the long-gone days of 1% cashback. 

My last monthly credit card bill had new purchases totalling £1,763.11. I accured £5.13 cashback on that statement - precisely 0.3% of my spend. Plenty of my purchases are £2 bus fares, £1.20 parking fees, small vending machine purchases etc. My spending is not in £3.33 chunks but it all earns cashback. The same statement would have got £4.40 cashback with smile. 

There are plenty of other cashback options, I am not claiming this is the best, but let's avoid misinformation. Smile pays a clean 0.25% on total spend the following month, credited to the account, and Co-op pays a clean 0.3% on total spend paid 6-monthly blocks, in arrears a few months after the 6-monthly period has ended via a Co-op member account, which can be a bank transfer payment

Do be sure to note the 0.5% rate only applies to Co-op Group owned co-op stores. I spend a lot in my local co-op as it's quite a large one, but it's owned by Central England Co-op so I don't get the bonus rate on this spend, but Central England Member Prices are much cheaper than Co-op Group stores so I'm not worried about a few pennies.

WillPS

Stuart_W said:

WillPS said:

The Co-op Members card doesn't pay 0.3%, it pays 1p for every £3.33 (1p for every £2 at Co-op Food).

There's an importance difference here because unless your transactions are in exact £2 (or £3.33 at the Co-op) chunks, you will earn less.

For example on a £3 transaction (not at the Co-op) you would earn 0.75p with Smile, and precisely 0 with Co-op Members card.

.

No, no and thrice no.

As a long term holder of the Co-op Members' Credit Card, I can absolutely promise you this isn't true. It genuinely pays a clean 0.3% on your total spend (with an additional 0.2% then also paid on any spend in Co-op Group owned Co-op Food stores and itemised as "Co-operative Food Cashback"). 

They choose to descibe this as 1p for every £3.33 you spend but also refer to it as 0.3%. They make no reference anywhere to cashback being calculated for each individual transaction - it is on your total spend, and always has been, even back in the long-gone days of 1% cashback. 

My last monthly credit card bill had new purchases totalling £1,763.11. I accured £5.13 cashback on that statement - precisely 0.3% of my spend. Plenty of my purchases are £2 bus fares, £1.20 parking fees, small vending machine purchases etc. My spending is not in £3.33 chunks but it all earns cashback. The same statement would have got £4.40 cashback with smile. 

There are plenty of other cashback options, I am not claiming this is the best, but let's avoid misinformation. Smile pays a clean 0.25% on total spend the following month, credited to the account, and Co-op pays a clean 0.3% on total spend paid 6-monthly blocks, in arrears a few months after the 6-monthly period has ended via a Co-op member account, which can be a bank transfer payment

Do be sure to note the 0.5% rate only applies to Co-op Group owned co-op stores. I spend a lot in my local co-op as it's quite a large one, but it's owned by Central England Co-op so I don't get the bonus rate on this spend, but Central England Member Prices are much cheaper than Co-op Group stores so I'm not worried about a few pennies.

Happy to be corrected, as you point out Co-operative Bank describe it this way themselves and it's common with similar products from Tesco Bank and Sainsbury's Bank to work in this fashion.

ircE

Many thanks @WillPS and @Stuart_W

I am indeed a member of the Co-operative group, as well as an existing customer of the Co-operative Bank, so this is all lining up quite conveniently.

I did not know about the Co-op Members CC and have also recently discovered the Everyday Rewards scheme for the debit card which I'm very much minded to join (the criteria will not be a problem for me). I am inclined to take the Members CC and forget about the Smile card.

So now I'm working out the best spending strategy to maximise cashback, considering all this in addition to my existent American Express Platinum Cashback Everyday CC.

If I've understood (and calculated) correctly, the debit card 2p per transaction will work out best for transactions under £3.90. From £3.90 until £5.90 it won't matter between the debit card and AmEx, as it looks like AmEx rounds down and rewards cashback per transaction. From £5.90 onwards the AmEx's 0.5% trumps the others, however, in case AmEx isn't accepted, the cashback from the Members card will match or exceed that from the debit card from £6.50 onwards.

These are for non-Co-op transactions. I do also do most of my food shop at the Co-op and seems clear I should switch my spending there from AmEx to the Members card.

Does that sound right, before I go ahead and try applying for the Members CC? Anything I'm missing, or should still consider?

WillPS

ircE said:

Many thanks @WillPS and @Stuart_W

I am indeed a member of the Co-operative group, as well as an existing customer of the Co-operative Bank, so this is all lining up quite conveniently.

I did not know about the Co-op Members CC and have also recently discovered the Everyday Rewards scheme for the debit card which I'm very much minded to join (the criteria will not be a problem for me). I am inclined to take the Members CC and forget about the Smile card.

So now I'm working out the best spending strategy to maximise cashback, considering all this in addition to my existent American Express Platinum Cashback Everyday CC.

If I've understood (and calculated) correctly, the debit card 2p per transaction will work out best for transactions under £3.90. From £3.90 until £5.90 it won't matter between the debit card and AmEx, as it looks like AmEx rounds down and rewards cashback per transaction. From £5.90 onwards the AmEx's 0.5% trumps the others, however, in case AmEx isn't accepted, the cashback from the Members card will match or exceed that from the debit card from £6.50 onwards.

These are for non-Co-op transactions. I do also do most of my food shop at the Co-op and seems clear I should switch my spending there from AmEx to the Members card.

Does that sound right, before I go ahead and try applying for the Members CC? Anything I'm missing, or should still consider?

I'd use the Amex Platinum Cashback Everyday card in the Co-op if I were you. If what @Stuart_W says is correct then the members card will earn 0.5% in there. On Amex Cashback Everyday it'd earn _at least_ 0.5% (so long as you meet the minimum yearly spend for cashback which is £3k).

Also worth knowing that the Platinum Cashback Amex Everyday is the least rewarding product in Amex's range of rewards earning cards. Even their Rewards Credit Card is worth 0.66% (if you cash the points out to Avios and then change to Nectar points).

ircE

WillPS said:

I'd use the Amex Platinum Cashback Everyday card in the Co-op if I were you. If what @Stuart_W says is correct then the members card will earn 0.5% in there. On Amex Cashback Everyday it'd earn _at least_ 0.5% (so long as you meet the minimum yearly spend for cashback which is £3k).

Yes I've reached the £3,000 threshold for this year so I'll receive 0.5%.. but I am not expecting to spend more than £10,000 within the year (or indeed, any year for the foreseeable future) so I am not sure how I could earn more than 0.5%? The cashback, at least from what I can see on the app, rounds down the pence, so based on what @Stuart_W says surely the Members CC is always the better option in the Co-op?

WillPS

ircE said:

WillPS said:

I'd use the Amex Platinum Cashback Everyday card in the Co-op if I were you. If what @Stuart_W says is correct then the members card will earn 0.5% in there. On Amex Cashback Everyday it'd earn _at least_ 0.5% (so long as you meet the minimum yearly spend for cashback which is £3k).

Yes I've reached the £3,000 threshold for this year so I'll receive 0.5%.. but I am not expecting to spend more than £10,000 within the year (or indeed, any year for the foreseeable future) so I am not sure how I could earn more than 0.5%? The cashback, at least from what I can see on the app, rounds down the pence, so based on what @Stuart_W says surely the Members CC is always the better option in the Co-op?

If you are certain that you won't, then yes the Co-op Members card is better at the Co-op, to the tune of half a percent of whatever the pennies are in your transaction.

Stuart_W

Your calculations look right to me @ircE If you regularly shop with Co-op group then you will get 0.5% on all spend when you pay with the credit card (including phone top-ups, saving stamps, gift cards, etc) so you may aswell always use it in the Co-op.

There is no rounding down of individual transactions to generate cashback on each transaction, it is on the full statement balance, then rounded down to the nearest penny to give a monthly earned cashback figure. 

If you are looking to maximise the Everyday Rewards benefits on the current account, if you are a regular Amazon shopper, you can set a daily £1 auto top-up to your debit card to gain an easy 30 transactions of the maximum of 60 per month for the 2p cashback. Don't bother if you're not an amazon shopper. 

ircE

Thanks both... unfortunately I've been turned down for the Members CC.   I think it was the bank switching at least partly to blame, I  should've waited a little longer. I'm planning to appeal by sending them AmEx statements fully paid off and a statement of my savings account balance... but not holding my breath. Not much I can do except wait for a while before trying again.

Thanks again for your help.

WillPS

Stuart_W said:

If you are looking to maximise the Everyday Rewards benefits on the current account, if you are a regular Amazon shopper, you can set a daily £1 auto top-up to your debit card to gain an easy 30 transactions of the maximum of 60 per month for the 2p cashback. Don't bother if you're not an amazon shopper. 

2% discount on Amazon credit is not worth faffing about for. There are ways of getting more than that and for larger amounts when you need it.