Recommend a credit card provider please.

[So]

I've been with Barclaycard for approaching thirty years and about 10 years ago reached an agreement with them whereby they increased my credit limit to the sum of my other cards, if I cancelled the other cards.

This has worked fine until recently, but in the past few months Barlcaycard has been messing up time and time again. Without another card we are somewhat stuffed when they again block our cards for no obvious reason.

I am on hold to them right now with them insisting that my card number is something different from what is on the card. Again they have declined a transaction.

Can anyone suggest a bank that will give us a credit limit suitable for business use and also good service? I don't mind paying a reasonable annual fee, but it needs to be a card that is pretty much universally accepted and whose customer service staff speak good English.

[David Beer]

In my business i take credit card payments, if one is declined, its that one. To make it less embarrassing we tell them its not just them !
I use Nat West Visa for places that don’t take Amex. Amex has to be cleared at the end of the month though.
Having said that they do credit cards, always had fab service from Amex and Nat West.

[So]

David Beer said:

In my business i take credit card payments, if one is declined, its that one. To make it less embarrassing we tell them its not just them !
I use Nat West Visa for places that don’t take Amex. Amex has to be cleared at the end of the month though.
Having said that they do credit cards, always had fab service from Amex and Nat West.

It turns out that they had stopped my card because they thought there was fraudulent activity. There hadn't been, they were genuine transactions. They claimed that they had tried to contact me before stopping the card, however they simply hadn't.

[David Beer]

So said:

It turns out that they had stopped my card because they thought there was fraudulent activity. There hadn't been, they were genuine transactions. They claimed that they had tried to contact me before stopping the card, however they simply hadn't.

It’s always for fraudulent activity, the customer gets in touch with BC and try 10 mins later, straight through.
Had my Amex nicked in Palm Springs last week, had a text from Amex asking if it was me trying to buy $300 of stuff from CVS, nope. Got it back straight away, and a new card delivered in 48 hours.

Not much interest in this subject !!

[12TS]

John Lewis Partnership card very robust in 10 years of use. Hardly ever declined plus cash back in the form of vouchers too. No idea about the rate as I pay off in full.

Had to kick Santander into touch as I was forever getting the hassle of having to call them to explain transactions. Customer service was poor, took ages to fix.

Just got a Revolut card for use abroad. Too early to fully judge, but I’m seems to work ok with the app.

[V8mate]

I love my Amex card.
Top level cashback, and always plenty of retailer-specific and sector-specific promos offering enhanced cashback deals.
Got an additional card for the missus and we're comfortably into the 1.25% cashback level.

I wouldn't recommend using it abroad; it's still very old-fashioned with regard to charges in foreign currencies. But there are plenty of other cards/accounts for travel. It's still useful for booking holidays and getting their travel insurance.

If anyone wants a referral which gives their cashback pot a £25 boost, just PM me.

https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/credit-cards/ca...

[Condi]

Halifax clarity is/was the standard for overseas use. Revolute now taking some of their business with the ability to exchange at known rates/dates ahead of time, but the business model is a bit more dubious (ie Lithuanian banking licence, etc).

[V8mate]

Condi said:

Halifax clarity is/was the standard for overseas use. Revolute now taking some of their business with the ability to exchange at known rates/dates ahead of time, but the business model is a bit more dubious (ie Lithuanian banking licence, etc).

Revolute is a clumsy approach; Tandem/Starling/Monzo all offer outstanding travel use with very 'normal' products.