I currently use a standard bank issued credit card, but have recently started putting a lot of work expenses on it (which is paid off each month when I get my expenses paid). I’m now thinking about swapping to a credit card which gives me something back (John Lewis, Air Miles, Nectar etc), but don’t know what I should be looking for or who gives the best offers etc. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Also what’s the difference between Mastercard and American Express and is one better than the other?

Thanks.

I like my Capital One card.. 1% cashback on all purchases credited to you account every January.

Post Office card for me – but that is because I like the free foreign transactions. Paying £1.50 charge on a €1 autoroute toll is very annoying.

Dave

Not all retailers take/like AE. I recently got a Tesco Clubcard Mastercard in order to get some serious Pizza Express vouchers! Currently on 18 month interest free deal or something but I pay it all off monthly anyway.

According to this week’s MSE mailout, the best credit card EVER is the Nationwide Select card.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/latesttip/

18 months 0% on new spending
Cheap overseas spending
0.5% cashback on spending
17 months 0% on shifted debts

Full credit cards guide here.

Also what’s the difference between Mastercard and American Express and is one better than the other?

Mastercard is accepted pretty much everywhere, but Amex is surprisingly hard to use around town and online.

Amex seem to have sussed this and you can now get a lot of offers like MBNA or Lloyds that do a dual card thing – bascially a Amex and Mastercard linked to the same account. We use the Amex where we can to get Airmiles as it gives a better rate, but when it gets refused the Mastercard gets whipped out. Pain to carry both around though if you’re shopping ‘lite’.

What deal are you thinking of? Obviously no point in getting John Lewis points if you never shop there.

I’m assuming you pay it off in full every week. If so I reckon Capital One Mastercard is the best bet. As someone said above, Amex isn’t as widely received even though it advertise better cash back rates. Santander do a 1 2 3 card that offers 1% on supermarket spend, 2% on department stores and 3% on petrol stations. I was tempted by that but was worried about which outlets were and weren’t accepted. I like the simplicity of the Capital One card. I know that ALL my spend gives me 1% cash back. This year I got £230 cash back which isn’t to be sniffed at. I had an Airmiles card and never cashed in the miles.

I do, however, use the Post Office card for foreign transactions since they have no fees etc.

I guess it depends what you’re after, if you don’t pay interest (because you pay off the balance every month) and don’t balance to transfer then that will affect your choice.

Post Office card for me – but that is because I like the free foreign transactions. Paying £1.50 charge on a €1 autoroute toll is very annoying.

Capital One don’t charge a foreign transaction fee either unless you’re drawing cash, and the exchange rate is usually vey competitive.

Capital One don’t charge a foreign transaction fee either

That’s handy to know

‘Best’ CC will depend what benefits you want.

For me, Amex platinum, for the cashback, because I wasn’t interested in air miles or other ‘rewards’ offered by other card issuers, I had no balances to transfer into it, always pay off the full balance, not used abroad and so on and so on … not accepted everywhere, but enough of the places where I spend most each month (supermarkets, petrol).

Would look at what benefits it gives you, I used to stay in hotels alot with work, and got a Priority Club Visa, don’t stay in hotels anymore for work, but don’t pay for them either as I have enough points left for holidays for several years to come.

Nectar is good as well for Amex with points.

As long as you pay off each month, would go for what ever gives you the most points / credit that you are going to use; but also make sure you are going to use them before / if they expire.

That’s handy to know

Not sure if it makes a difference, but mine is a Capital One World Mastercard.

If you fly a lot there are cards which give you free access to airport exec lounges. And if you fly a lot that’s a benefit worth having,

Nat West Black gives you this (but Edukator will call you a racist if you get one).

No retailers take/like AE.

Fixed that for you. Even America doesn’t accept it.

your accounts department might, and the tax man will, be interested in any air miles, cashback etc that you are getting as its derived from ‘company’ money

Pretty much everyone who travels on business accrues airmiles to their personal account. Never heard of anyone being asked about it by the tax man as their nominal face value is so low.

We have the Tesco MC as we use the points for food/RAC membership etc.

I have a company Amex card which can be a pain to use!

I thought the main difference between Amex and MC is that the first is a charge card and the second is a credit card. With a Amex you are supposed to pay back the balance each month, unlike a credit card.

Some companies have policies on credit cards for expenses but if its your own it shouldn’t make much of a difference. People ran into problems when they started picking things based on the points value to them rather than the cost to the company.

Amex is not widely accepted, if it is going to be your only card then you may struggle. Some do offer joint ones. I think our Natwest is Visa and Mastercard.

FWIW our main credit card is a flybe since we get free flights to Jersey (to visit family). We put everything through the credit card and get 2 return flights each a year. With putting a lot of wedding expenses through the card we are probably going to be able to do a long weekend in Europe as well this year.

If we didn’t have a flybe I’d probably get a nectar/sainsburys one. We do most of our shopping there and buy petrol so already have plenty of points so this would be enough to make a meaningful saving.

Cash back ones all seemed limited to 12months at any decent rate. You seem to get better value with the more specific points ones but this is only worth it if the points are useful to you.

We have a Natwest ‘Your Points’ card.

Basically get points for every pound you spend on the card. Can be redeemed on anything from days out, cases of wine, flights, vouchers for high street etc.

We chose it as I was already with Natwest so meant it was easy to pay off the balance each month as its on the same online banking plus you get a little something for spending what you were already going to.

I like my Capital One card.. 1% cashback on all purchases credited to you account every January.

+1 (%)

Just got £185 off my January bill – we use it for all our spending so most months it is around £1k + occasional bigger spends. We pay it off in full each month so no interest has ever been paid on it.

When I took it out it was 3% for the first month too but I don’t know if they still do that deal.