Sainsbury Card to Nat West, now two accounts. Combine? New Card.

StrikeBack

My Sainsbury credit card will move to Nat West at the beginning of next month. I allready have a bog standard NW credit card issued many years ago. This card does not have charge free use overseas.

Just asking this question before contacting NW. I'm looking to try to convert both cards to just one of the newer Nat West cards that has no foreign transaction fee. Just wondering if anybody has had a similar experience?

Would like a bit of background before speaking to them.

MarzipanCrumble

Why not hold the two?  Sainsbury's = Nectar Points;  your other card = no transaction fees with currency conversion.  I have a Clarity (Halifax) and the Sainsbury one.  Intend to keep both.  If you don't use one regularly but want to keep it 'just in case' then schedule a minimum spend every so often to keep it alive.

figgyc

I've not got any past experience, but there have been some other threads on combining cards with Natwest eg here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6493633/natwest-credit-limit and a few others. It appears the general rule is yes but only if you have proof of a certain savings threshold? Bit of an odd rule but it is what it is.

It is very possible they could relax that rule though given the Sainsbury's acquisition, time will tell. I'll have 2 Natwest cards and a Sainsbury's following the migration so I will try myself and let the forum know how it goes.

Although I'll be keeping my Sainsbury's card because I have a 0% offer left to run, but will be hoping to move my unused limit onto one card.

MarzipanCrumble said:

Why not hold the two?  Sainsbury's = Nectar Points;  your other card = no transaction fees with currency conversion.  I have a Clarity (Halifax) and the Sainsbury one.  Intend to keep both.  If you don't use one regularly but want to keep it 'just in case' then schedule a minimum spend every so often to keep it alive

Personally I do not see the value in keeping the Sainsbury's card for the Nectar points because the rate is very low. Non-Sainsbury's spend gets you 1 point (worth 0.5p) per £5 which is £0.001 per £1 or 0.1% cashback, but you have to spend it at Sainsbury's, and the real rate will be worse because of rounding. You do get more at Sainsbury's but there are better ways to get a discount on Sainsbury's like discounted gift cards.

By the way - If your main idea is to have a no FX fees credit card, the best choice from NatWest is the recently introduced "Travel Reward credit card"; like the bog-standard (and stupidly named) "The NatWest Credit Card" (which I think you are saying you currently have? or are you saying you had one of the purchase/BT cards that has run its course?) it has no FX fees, but also 0.1% actual cashback on everything, and 1% back on select travel categories. 

So you could try asking for a card type change when you ring up, I'm not sure if NatWest do them or not.

Or if eligible the Lloyds Ultra, Barclaycard Rewards, and Virgin Money Everyday Cashback are the other available free FX+Cashback cards, those are 0.25% generally after the introductory periods.

Nasqueron

MarzipanCrumble said:

Why not hold the two?  Sainsbury's = Nectar Points;  your other card = no transaction fees with currency conversion.  I have a Clarity (Halifax) and the Sainsbury one.  Intend to keep both.  If you don't use one regularly but want to keep it 'just in case' then schedule a minimum spend every so often to keep it alive.

Is Marzipan Crumble a thing? What do you put it on?