Screw you Barclaycard

WillPS

zagfles said:

For domestic cashback/rewards, Barclaycard are beaten - in fact they're pretty low down the order; even ignoring Amex

On what no strings, no fee card? 

Ignoring Amex (which can do 0.5% even on their super basic Rewards card):
Jaja Asda beats it (0.3% vs 0.25%)
NewDay JLP matches it but has a better rate for JLP purchases (1.25%).

Lloyds and Halifax match it at 0.25% (used to be 0.5% over £3k but that part has gone it seems)

If you include the string of holding a current account, even one you never look at again (and can even close without affecting affecting the credit card once you have it):
Co-op Bank members credit card (0.3%/0.6% in Co-op foodstores). 

0.25% is basically 'par for the course' when it comes to domestic cashback/rewards credit cards. It is a great rate for a travel product, but even then it might be beaten by the Natwest Travel Rewards card, which pays only 0.1% on all spend but 1% on transport/hotels. 

BTW, if you include the 'strings very much attached' cards then Barclaycard have a shout at 0.5% - Avios (free), earns 1pt per £, autoconverts via BA Exec Club to Nectar at 1 Avios = 1 Nectar, 1 Nectar = half a penny to spend at Sainsburys/Argos. Unfortunately they're still not a market leader though because then you have the likes of the Natwest/RBS Reward card (1% in supermarkets, 0.25% elsewhere) and Santander Edge (2% in first year, 1% thereafter, capped at £15/month, £3/month fee; works out as 1.6% when spending exactly £750/month in Y1 then 0.8% when spending exactly £1500/month thereafter).

Like I said, your contention that Barclaycard are able to flex more than their rivals due to their large but not dominant acquiring bank operation isn't really borne out by the facts; they've just put together one very decent card combining features found across the market (but missing others).

The only cards which potentially guarantee themselves profitability in-and-of-themselves are the handful of unavoidable three-figure fee charging ones (which there are more and more of). Exactly the same goes for current accounts - if you open an account (any free account going) and do nothing the bank is on the hook for all the costs and will have earned nothing. If you transfer money in then spend on the debit card immediately they'll earn a tiny bit in interchange commission revenue but not much. The model relies rather a lot on people leaving large balances earning no interest, but if you don't do that there's little scope for them to make any money at all. This is part of the reason why the market is shifting towards introducing more paid for 'with perks' bank accounts.

Just to reiterate - there's nothing unusual about a business offering products or services in full knowledge that not every customer will deliver a profit or even a return on set up costs - particularly when you consider the costs to banks of lending thousands of pounds for 18 months to 3 years without interest in the case of 0% deals. The reality is they make an investment to get that card in customer pockets, and then with cashback/reward cards they make a continual investment to encourage further use. 

Barclaycard are not playing by different rules to any other issuer.

WillPS

IvanOpinion said:

So what is the answer

Put simply - UK card issuers make no more than 0.3% interchange commission on 'standard' UK transactions. That likely isn't enough to sustain the costs associated with running a typical credit card, even if no rewards or perks are paid out.

Grumpy_chap

etienneg said:

jay1804 said:

A lot of people have this misconception, that Amex isn't widely accepted, however the amount of places has definitely increased in the recents years due to the card terminals (SumUp, Square, Zettle, ect)

I have found acceptance of Amex is mixed. It's certainly true that most supermarkets do take it. Some large suppliers definitely don't, though, such as British Gas (at least for energy) and insurance companies (LV=, Aviva).

I previously held an AMEX card and found the acceptance was varied, but less than VISA / MASTERCARD.

I just wonder, now, whether that could be mitigated against by linking the AMEX to something like a CURVE card.  I accept that may break the S75 protection but, for many purchases where AMEX is not accepted, S75 is a moot point - I think I often found the card not accepted at smaller venues such as coffee bars, restaurants, newsagents.  I can't foresee a scenario where S75 would be needed in relation to a coffee & cake or my purchase of the Daily Scream.

WillPS

Grumpy_chap said:

etienneg said:

jay1804 said:

A lot of people have this misconception, that Amex isn't widely accepted, however the amount of places has definitely increased in the recents years due to the card terminals (SumUp, Square, Zettle, ect)

I have found acceptance of Amex is mixed. It's certainly true that most supermarkets do take it. Some large suppliers definitely don't, though, such as British Gas (at least for energy) and insurance companies (LV=, Aviva).

I previously held an AMEX card and found the acceptance was varied, but less than VISA / MASTERCARD.

I just wonder, now, whether that could be mitigated against by linking the AMEX to something like a CURVE card.  I accept that may break the S75 protection but, for many purchases where AMEX is not accepted, S75 is a moot point - I think I often found the card not accepted at smaller venues such as coffee bars, restaurants, newsagents.  I can't foresee a scenario where S75 would be needed in relation to a coffee & cake or my purchase of the Daily Scream.

Amex don't support Curve, unfortunately. (Also S75 doesn't apply to payments under £100!)

Emmia

Ironically I've found Amex is often accepted at smaller venues - they have the "shop small" promotion. 

WillPS

Emmia said:

Ironically I've found Amex is often accepted at smaller venues - they have the "shop small" promotion. 

Aye, I think a number of the challenger payment terminal providers enable support by default too - so whenever you see Zettle or Sumup you can be pretty sure your Amex will work. Bit more hit and miss with Square and Dojo terminals but always worth a tap - definitely still need a Visa/Mastercard backup with you though.

Most of my non-Amex spend is for online egiftcard retailers, who offer a discount or reward - unsurprisingly most of these won't take Amex, although interestingly TopGiftcards does.