Good CC for building Avios Points?

MrFrugalFever

Marchitiello said:

MrFrugalFever said:

....have you tried both Zopa eligibility checker and 118 money? Both are CC's which are forex fee free.

Kroo bank (soft credit search currently) is also a FX fee free current account (app only).

Just come back from Las Vegas and saved a fair bit utilising these 3 accounts.

Did you not get a Chase account? You would not only have saved “a fair bit” but made some money on top, aside of offering you free ATM withdrawal at US Chase ATM. 

I had considered it but I had no need for cash withdrawal and my 'spending money' I had set aside in my Kroo current account earning 4.38% interest ready to be used for payment at the merchant or to pay off my CC's when statement pay due date arrived.

The 1% was attractive for sure!

Marchitiello

MrFrugalFever said:

Marchitiello said:

MrFrugalFever said:

....have you tried both Zopa eligibility checker and 118 money? Both are CC's which are forex fee free.

Kroo bank (soft credit search currently) is also a FX fee free current account (app only).

Just come back from Las Vegas and saved a fair bit utilising these 3 accounts.

Did you not get a Chase account? You would not only have saved “a fair bit” but made some money on top, aside of offering you free ATM withdrawal at US Chase ATM. 

I had considered it but I had no need for cash withdrawal and my 'spending money' I had set aside in my Kroo current account earning 4.38% interest ready to be used for payment at the merchant or to pay off my CC's when statement pay due date arrived.

The 1% was attractive for sure!

I accept your way of thinking but Fast Payment makes it almost irrelevant where you would hold the balance until you need to use it, and even then, you could have held it within Chase Saving account at around 4.1% for a day, I am sure the 0.28% APR difference would have been negligible even for days you were there, but to each their own obviously 

lr1277

MrFrugalFever said:

Hi Op,

From what i've read so far it seems as though you may be expecting an awful lot for not a lot of effort, unfortunately when it boils down to the crux of it, you'd need to be spending £Thousands each year, looking for bonuses and additional points where possible to even make such a thing work. It is then only really beneficial for longer haul flights (IMO).

Personally, if you're on a bit of a 'no spend mission' then i'd look down the route of stoozing, savings rate chasing and cashback (such as TopCashBack), set up a separate savings pot for all monies earnt from interest and cashback etc and utilise that in 6 years to pay for some/most of your flights?

@lr1277 you mention about not having access to a forex fee free CC because of your income....have you tried both Zopa eligibility checker and 118 money? Both are CC's which are forex fee free.

Kroo bank (soft credit search currently) is also a FX fee free current account (app only).

Just come back from Las Vegas and saved a fair bit utilising these 3 accounts.

Thanks @MrFrugalFever

I will look into those cards. I am not in desperate need for a forex fee free card at the moment as any overseas spending I do at the moment, the spends are low so the fees are low.

I am signed upto MSE Credit Club but it says I am only pre-approved for cards that are designed for people with a poor credit history. I am not approved for any forex free cards. But I can certainly try the eligibility checkers for the cards you mentioned.

TractorFactor

I guess as I am 6 years away, any Avios would be better than none.

And currently, you can trade points for Nectar (while not favourable) so as a last resport, I could always do that and get a free coconut from Sainsbury's.

I suppose I am just thinking that I have a credit card doing nothing for me, when I could have one doing something, even if it's not quite what I want, it would still be better than a fat big NOTHING as I am getting now.

It may also help with budgeting as we'd then make one big payment, leaving cash in our account (earning interest) for longer, rather than debit carding it all the time.

MrFrugalFever

TractorFactor said:

I guess as I am 6 years away, any Avios would be better than none.

And currently, you can trade points for Nectar (while not favourable) so as a last resport, I could always do that and get a free coconut from Sainsbury's.

I suppose I am just thinking that I have a credit card doing nothing for me, when I could have one doing something, even if it's not quite what I want, it would still be better than a fat big NOTHING as I am getting now.

It may also help with budgeting as we'd then make one big payment, leaving cash in our account (earning interest) for longer, rather than debit carding it all the time.

If you consider yourself as super disciplined with money management then this is absolutely the way to go in my opinion. My debit card hasn't been used for....a long time, I spend everything physically possible on my credit card(s) and then pay them back a few days before due date whilst leaving my money in a EA savings account earning 4%+ interest.

Nectar points may actually be more beneficial to you (including the Amex Nectar CC) as you have the use of Argos, Ebay and Sainsburys to spend them at (holiday essentials?) or could be converted in to Avios later down the line. It worth considering.

WillPS

TractorFactor said:

I guess as I am 6 years away, any Avios would be better than none.

And currently, you can trade points for Nectar (while not favourable) so as a last resport, I could always do that and get a free coconut from Sainsbury's.

I suppose I am just thinking that I have a credit card doing nothing for me, when I could have one doing something, even if it's not quite what I want, it would still be better than a fat big NOTHING as I am getting now.

It may also help with budgeting as we'd then make one big payment, leaving cash in our account (earning interest) for longer, rather than debit carding it all the time.

The current rate on the free Barclaycard Avios when converted to Nectar works out at 0.66%. That's way better than the rest of the market - it even matches Amex's most generous fee-free cards.

Of course Chase is better still at 1% (so long as you spend under £1500 and stick to spend outside of their restrictions).