What rewards credit card should I get? (spending £2k soon and amex not accepted)

Gerry1

If you want zero hassle get the Barclaycard Rewards credit before your holiday.  You can then use it for foreign purchases AND cash withdrawals without paying any fees, charges or interest at all.

You don't need to do any forward planning provided that you have a DD in place to pay the whole bill.  The Visa rate may be a whisker below MasterCard's but the 0.25% interest paid on purchases will offset that.

It doesn't get much better than that.

Just keep the Clarity card in a different place as a backup.

WillPS

jbrassy said:

If you're paying in a foreign currency, the only CC which offers rewards with no foreign exchange fees is the Barclaycard Rewards (0.25% cashback), so this is the obvious choice. You'd have got £5.75 cashback if you'd paid using this card. This isn't a lot, but it can rack up if you also use it while on holiday.

Not quite. The Virgin Atlantic cards do not charge fees on transactions in Euro, Romanian Leu or Swedish Krona.

Barclaycard Rewards is the only one which charges 0 FX internationally and provides rewards tho.

TheLondoner

jbrassy said:

Appreciate you have now paid for the holiday, but thought I'd add my thoughts for future reference.

Firstly, it is right to pay for the holiday on a credit card rather than a debit card as you get the added S75 protection. 

Then the question becomes whether you are paying for the holiday in pounds or a foreign currency. 

If you're paying in a foreign currency, the only CC which offers rewards with no foreign exchange fees is the Barclaycard Rewards (0.25% cashback), so this is the obvious choice. You'd have got £5.75 cashback if you'd paid using this card. This isn't a lot, but it can rack up if you also use it while on holiday. 

If you're paying in pounds, then there's more choice. If you just want cashback, then Barclaycard Rewards is still your best bet. However, if you want airline points (Avios etc), then I believe the Barclaycard Avios cards are the best (worth looking at the Head for Points website for more info on those). The other alternative is a supermarket credit card which pays Clubcard / Nectar / Asda points. It all really depends on what you value the most. 

I am going to be paying $1600 for a tour package in nepal in sep but the guy wants the money ideally in cash (5% extra to pay by card). In this scenario I'm assuming cash withdrawal to pay for the tour wouldn't accrue any potential points, and if I paid for the tour to the company with the additional 5% card fees, then that would probably offset the benefit of accruing points right?

So in this case I feel like i'd be better off just withdrawing cash from the local atm using my clarity/virgin money debit card (both fee free) and paying for the tour that way.

thoughts?
Oh and I've got one more flight to book from kathmandu to london with circua £450 spend for that. Worth signing up to an avois card to spend on that? I'm just worried i won't hit £3k spend in first 90 days or whatever the silly limits some of these companies have to get the most bonus points. 

Nothing guaranteed at the moment but i might quit my job late this year (december time) and travel some more, and if I do that then maybe that might be a better time to sign up for one of these avoid cards to best utilise any potential bonus points

jbrassy

TheLondoner said:

jbrassy said:

Appreciate you have now paid for the holiday, but thought I'd add my thoughts for future reference.

Firstly, it is right to pay for the holiday on a credit card rather than a debit card as you get the added S75 protection. 

Then the question becomes whether you are paying for the holiday in pounds or a foreign currency. 

If you're paying in a foreign currency, the only CC which offers rewards with no foreign exchange fees is the Barclaycard Rewards (0.25% cashback), so this is the obvious choice. You'd have got £5.75 cashback if you'd paid using this card. This isn't a lot, but it can rack up if you also use it while on holiday. 

If you're paying in pounds, then there's more choice. If you just want cashback, then Barclaycard Rewards is still your best bet. However, if you want airline points (Avios etc), then I believe the Barclaycard Avios cards are the best (worth looking at the Head for Points website for more info on those). The other alternative is a supermarket credit card which pays Clubcard / Nectar / Asda points. It all really depends on what you value the most. 

I am going to be paying $1600 for a tour package in nepal in sep but the guy wants the money ideally in cash (5% extra to pay by card). In this scenario I'm assuming cash withdrawal to pay for the tour wouldn't accrue any potential points, and if I paid for the tour to the company with the additional 5% card fees, then that would probably offset the benefit of accruing points right?

So in this case I feel like i'd be better off just withdrawing cash from the local atm using my clarity/virgin money debit card (both fee free) and paying for the tour that way.

thoughts?

If you have to pay with cash, then it's probably best to withdraw from an ATM when you get there. You can use Clarity (or the Barclaycard Rewards), but I choose not to do this because of the impact withdrawing cash on a credit card has on my credit file. Virgin Money does allow fee-free withdrawals so this is a good option, but bear in mind you can only withdraw so much in one day (£500 max). Therefore, you might want to take an alternative debit card or two. Chase and Starling are the best cards for ATM withdrawals abroad (aside from Virgin).

grumbler

TheLondoner said:

jbrassy said:

Appreciate you have now paid for the holiday, but thought I'd add my thoughts for future reference.

Firstly, it is right to pay for the holiday on a credit card rather than a debit card as you get the added S75 protection. 

Then the question becomes whether you are paying for the holiday in pounds or a foreign currency. 

If you're paying in a foreign currency, the only CC which offers rewards with no foreign exchange fees is the Barclaycard Rewards (0.25% cashback), so this is the obvious choice. You'd have got £5.75 cashback if you'd paid using this card. This isn't a lot, but it can rack up if you also use it while on holiday. 

If you're paying in pounds, then there's more choice. If you just want cashback, then Barclaycard Rewards is still your best bet. However, if you want airline points (Avios etc), then I believe the Barclaycard Avios cards are the best (worth looking at the Head for Points website for more info on those). The other alternative is a supermarket credit card which pays Clubcard / Nectar / Asda points. It all really depends on what you value the most. 

I am going to be paying $1600 for a tour package in nepal in sep but the guy wants the money ideally in cash (5% extra to pay by card). 

USD in Nepal or in their local currency?

TheLondoner

What's everyone's thoughts on this offer:

https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/credit-cards/compare/british-airways-avios-credit-cards/?sourcecode=A0000FPCNN&cpid=100437167

Can't seem to find it on MSE. 5000 avios points for £1000 spend. 

Edit: Just had a look at Head For Points. I'm due to pay £3k into my nutmeg LISA. Can I do that with the amex gold or doesn't investments count as a legitimate spend? Saw they offer 25000 avois points!

jbrassy

TheLondoner said:

What's everyone's thoughts on this offer:

https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/credit-cards/compare/british-airways-avios-credit-cards/?sourcecode=A0000FPCNN&cpid=100437167

Can't seem to find it on MSE. 5000 avios points for £1000 spend. 

Edit: Just had a look at Head For Points. I'm due to pay £3k into my nutmeg LISA. Can I do that with the amex gold or doesn't investments count as a legitimate spend? Saw they offer 25000 avois points!

First of all, I doubt that paying £3k into a LISA would count as spending. It is more likely to be treated as a cash transfer and you'd be charged interest on it and it would impact your credit history (and therefore not worth doing). 

I think if you're new to Amex and plan to collect Avios points, the Gold card is a better option for the first year. Then after the first year you should cancel it and switch to one of the BA cards. Your choice depends on how much you spend each year:

- If you spend over £10k per year, the Amex BA Premium Plus (£250 annual fee) is good value due to its companion voucher.
- If you spend less than £10k per year, the Amex BA credit card (no fee) is also good.

With both of these cards, I would consider getting the Barclaycard Avios (no fee) for situations where Amex is not accepted. 

I would also caveat all of this by saying that the advice you'll get from the Head For Points website will be far more useful when it comes to accruing and spending Avios than you'll get from MSE. 

WillPS

TheLondoner said:

What's everyone's thoughts on this offer:

https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/credit-cards/compare/british-airways-avios-credit-cards/?sourcecode=A0000FPCNN&cpid=100437167

Can't seem to find it on MSE. 5000 avios points for £1000 spend. 

Edit: Just had a look at Head For Points. I'm due to pay £3k into my nutmeg LISA. Can I do that with the amex gold or doesn't investments count as a legitimate spend? Saw they offer 25000 avois points!

You won't find a provider who supports savings deposits via Amex. Most don't accept cards at all and the few who do only support debit cards. Even ignoring that, the whole thing would be treated as a cash advance, you'd get stung with a massive charge and none would count towards your spending target.

Also it's a bit of a crap offer - the Nectar Amex would earn more Avios if it was possible

TheLondoner

grumbler said:

TheLondoner said:

jbrassy said:

Appreciate you have now paid for the holiday, but thought I'd add my thoughts for future reference.

Firstly, it is right to pay for the holiday on a credit card rather than a debit card as you get the added S75 protection. 

Then the question becomes whether you are paying for the holiday in pounds or a foreign currency. 

If you're paying in a foreign currency, the only CC which offers rewards with no foreign exchange fees is the Barclaycard Rewards (0.25% cashback), so this is the obvious choice. You'd have got £5.75 cashback if you'd paid using this card. This isn't a lot, but it can rack up if you also use it while on holiday. 

If you're paying in pounds, then there's more choice. If you just want cashback, then Barclaycard Rewards is still your best bet. However, if you want airline points (Avios etc), then I believe the Barclaycard Avios cards are the best (worth looking at the Head for Points website for more info on those). The other alternative is a supermarket credit card which pays Clubcard / Nectar / Asda points. It all really depends on what you value the most. 

I am going to be paying $1600 for a tour package in nepal in sep but the guy wants the money ideally in cash (5% extra to pay by card). 

USD in Nepal or in their local currency?

Sorry I totally missed this. It'll be local currency. I'll have 3 fee free cards so I'll probs do £500 worth on virgin debit card and the rest split between my fee free clarity/mbna card. 

TheLondoner

WillPS said:

Also it's a bit of a crap offer - the Nectar Amex would earn more Avios if it was possible

If you get a sec, can you post the link please? . I'm due to book a kathmandu to london one way flight in the next few weeks, so anything I can do to get some points out of that would be sweet!