Best credit cards to keep

I've been very happy with my amex blue for the last couple years and have had some very nice cashback payents from them so far. People worry about places not accepting them, but this is now very rare, and i keep a morgan stanley card for this which still gives good cashback.

• AMO" , Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:23:30 +0100:

Amex is generally viewed as the best credit card for cashback. Whether to go for Blue or Platinum will depend on your annual spend - see various other threads in this group for detailed discussions.

I think the Nectar scheme is a bit of a scam - 'sell your soul' type cards where benefit to Nectar is detailed knowledge about your shopping habits, and if you spend a million pounds a year you can get a free teddy bear or discounted deals on travel (which you would have been able to get without..)

I keep NatWest's VISA card for the Airmiles awarded as a backup to the Amex card. John Lewis is where I shop the most where they do not accept Amex... (and of course you always find that some smaller restaurants / bars don't like Amex)

Thanx for the reply. Why do smaller restaurants not like Amex? I believe the reason in the past why Amex is not used is because they charge a higher handling fee than Visa / Mastercard.

However, the reason why this was overcome was because they slightly reduced their charges and also paid upfront. As transactions take time to go through, even on credit card, Amex payout immediately the card is swiped.

I assume that smaller businesses are not so time sensitive and are more concerned with the higher rates?

AMO

Oh, I actually like the Nectar scheme. Especially with regards to Sainsburys. I know that they use the card to mine your shopping habits, but I like the way Sainsburys send me money off vouchers and birthday presents. They make it worth it. You get lots of 5 off 30, 12 off 60 vouchers. Also, every year since Nectar started, they send me a gift worth 5 for my birthday. Last year it was one of those chocolate bunnies. This year it was a box of Thorntons chocolate. I definately have no complaints with Sainsburys or Nectar.

AMO

At 3.35% it is pretty high, compared with around 2% for mastercard/amex (for a typical small business) but the argument seems to be that a typical amex customer will be a much higher spending client (or so their literature says).

I find that it can take up to 7 working days for amex funds to be credited compared with 2 working days for visa/mc, even though they all get processed via the same swipe terminal.

That's what the people who won't take Amex around here tell me too. Slow credit, and higher-than-average %age charge.

Interesting to hear that. The reason why ASDA started to allow AMEX several years ago was because AMEX paid pretty much the moment the transaction went through. This advantage was intended to counter the high handling fee. As millions of pounds go through ASDAs tills, getting their money a couple of days earlier made a difference. At least this is what ASDA told me at the time.

AMO

Bitstring , from the wonderful person AMO said

I believe the big players (Supermarkets, major petrol chains, etc.) may well get a rather better deal than the average corner shop.

If amex charge a 1% premium over visa/mc then I can't see any business would think this good value for financing 2 days cash flow as it would equate to an APR of about 150%. I think there must have been other things that made ASDA accept amex.

Considering how often I pay by credit or debit card, Sainsbury's can already track my shopping habits pretty accurately. I might as well get some vouchers for it.

You are effectively doubling your cashback at sainsbury's by using nectar, as nectar gives at least 1% off all your shopping (sometimes more), plus an extra 1% on a cashback credit card means you are guaranteed at least 2% cashback/discount combination on everthing you buy at sainsburys.

Since I don't have a cashback credit card I am actually getting infinitely more cashback. ;)

• Michael Hoffman, Apr 24, 6:41 am

With Nectar, you allow them to track your shopping habits over time. The only analysis they can do (legally) based on one transaction is the 'content of your shopping basket' type analysis. That is, if you buy chocolates, do you also buy flowers?

Payment method is irrelevant here, as the sale as such provides this information.

With Nectar, they can for example work out what days of the week you buy (which) newspapers, how frequently you stock up on your booze etc. IMHO this is fundamentally different.

Whether they do in fact store the details of your plastic together with the items purchased and therefore can (illegally?) use this information to track shopping habits over time is obviously a different question.

You don't save anything if the goods in the first place are overpriced!

I probably pay over the odds for their "american hot" pizzas which I probably eat too many of, but most of my spend there is "basics" like meat, veg and single malt, which seem pretty similarly priced which ever supermarket they are purchased at, and sainsbury's is only 3 minutes walk so more convenient for me.

In my experience Sainsbury are around 20% more expensive than Tesco for fresh Meat/Veg/Fruit. All supermarkets seem to be 50% overpriced for fresh fruit compared to a local greengrocer (if you can find one these days)

Tesco are at 20% more expensive for cleaning products (bleach/washing up liquid/washing powder etc.) than other stores such as Wilkingson.

Both Sainsbury and Tesco can be 20/30% more expensive than outlets such as Lidl and Aldi for many goods - although in these stores you have to be selective in what you buy.

People often pay for convenience rather than shopping for the best value. There is no such thing as a free lunch :) When you shop at the major supermarkets the loyalty discount you get at the end of the month comes from the extra payment you make up front when you first purchase the items.

Stores such as Lidl and Aldi keep their cost down by not having loyalty cards, by not accepting credit cards (they accept debit cards) , by not stocking a hundred different brands of sliced loaf, by not supplying free bags etc.

I could probably save money by using other supermarkets, but I'm pretty sure our local lidl branch closes at 7pm which would be a pain as sainsburys is open till 9pm so there is less hurry. The one time i did visit I had to queue for ages as there was only one checkout open. Shopping at local greengrocers would be no good as they close at 5.30pm usually and I don't get home till then, and there is no way I would ever shop on a saturday, and I'd rather have a single weekly food bill than a whole host of smaller bills to key into my accounts software.

At 19:46:49 on 24/04/2005, Alan delighted uk.finance by announcing:

wrote

But if you're using Clubcard points, you don't spend them instore but use them on the deals and effectively get up to 6% cashback depending on where you shop and which card you have.

Since Barclaycard stopped the extra warranty on electricals , Nationwide seems to be the only card left that offers an extra year, but don't close the Barclaycard account if you have existing warranties as they will be cancelled.

Chris