Credit card for one off big purchase

badgerucn

Hi, I’m going to in the next few months have laser eye surgery, for just under £5700. I have savings to cover this but am researching if there’s a better way to pay for it? The medical company does accept Amex, but I do not have an Amex yet, I have a Halifax clarity card that I use for all my travel and car expenses (always paying it off in full each month).

As I’ve been googling Amex I keep seeing tiktok videos talking about free hotel rooms and such if you spend X amount, but then can’t seem to find this in the real world.

i suspect I’d end up spending £9k in the next calendar year (including my eye surgery) on a credit card. 

Can anyone recommend a credit card for this please? Thanks 

lr1277

Amex has 3 schemes.
one accrues points to be used in the Marriott chain. This with their Marriott Bonvoy card.
They have 2 BA cards and these help you generate avios so can only be used with BA or partner airlines.
The other schemes accrues points in its own scheme and these points can be transferred to various hotel and airline schemes. The hotel schemes will be chain hotels. This schemes involves collection Membership Reward (MR) points.
Outside Amex there are the Virgin credit card meaning you can collect points for Virgin flights and possibly some hotels. Then there are the 2 Barclaycards which generate avios to be used on BA. The advantage of the Virgin cards and Barclaycards is they use Visa or Mastercard so are accepted in more places than Amex.
The disadvantage of the hotel or airline specific cards is they tie you into that airline, hotel or relevant partner. So be sure you want to be in that scheme if you choose one of those particular cards.
With hotel and airline schemes you can fully pay with points or part pay with points and the remainder in cash.
Far too many details to go into. Suggest you research further on the website Head for Points. Read the articles, reviews and postings on the forums.

sausage_time

You might want to look at cashback cards too.  For example, Amex Cashback or Everyday Cashback offer 5% (albeit capped) during the first 3 months if you can time the procedure.

See this page for these and other options:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-credit-card-rewards/

hugheskevi

You could use a 0% purchases card and save the money in a savings account until the offer expires, gaining interest during the offer period.

With some cash ISAs paying up to 5.2% and 0% purchase offers lasting up to 21 months, this can add up to a decent amount.

flaneurs_lobster

Could look at Amex Nectar Credit Card, pays 1% cashback on spending (paid as nectar points). 20k bonus points (£100) if you spend £2k in first 3 months. £18 Quidco cashback on joining. 

£30 annual fee waived for first year. 

Credit limit might not cover your treatment in one go, ask to pay in weekly tranches, paying off the card as soon as purchase shows. I paid a £6k dental bill off over 2 weeks using a card with a £2k credit limit. 

https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/credit-cards/nectar-credit-card/

NoodleDoodleMan

Won't it depend on how much credit limit Amex offer ?

I had experience a couple of years ago paying for a new kitchen - our credit limit was a bit short of the final amount, however the firm agreed to two half payments in quick time to settle.

I transferred the first 50% to Amex as soon as the first instalment debited the account, waited 24 hours, my credit limit reset then I repeated the exercise.

The kitchen company were OK with this, they got full payment with minimal delay via Amex.

It would obviously need the optical treatment firm to agree and accept this - but I think it's a reasonable way forward.