best rewards credit card

[Blown2CV]

i suspect this topic has been covered a ton of times but then the situation does change too so

i use my credit card for a variety of monthly expenses, in order to maximise the card rewards. I clear it at the end of each month.

I currently use virgin atlantic mastercard, which is fine and can be exchanged for a variety of virgin related things... but ultimately i had been collecting them for use against flights, but virgin atlantic destinations list is ste and so historically i have struggled to actually use the rewards for much other than the occasional gig ticket or christmas present for someone or other.

I really do want to use it for travel based rewards, so this is really the main aim. I am fine to pay the annual fee providing the rewards are sufficient to make it worth it. I know BA do an Amex, or there is amex platinum or something, but I hadn't really thought to go direct to amex as then i wouldn't get a partner visa or whatever for places the amex isn't accepted.

What is the best card for this now please?

[fat80b]

I have the BA Amex black (annual fee) as my main card, and the Virgin Mastercard (free one) as the alternative for when they don't accept Amex.
The advantage of the BA black Amex is the companion plus voucher and additional mileage rate which allows you to essentially double up the miles when redeeming them for flights.

We put our entire lives through these (supermarkets, expenses, fuel, school fees) etc and along with shopping through the affiliate links (depending on whether BA or Virgin provide more points), we can get enough miles each year for a couples return to New York plus some left over.

I personally value this "gamification" of rewards above the boring cash back approach.

[Shaoxter]

fat80b said:

I personally value this "gamification" of rewards above the boring cash back approach.

Do those airmiles cards offer materially more than Amex's straight 1.25% considering the time, effort and inflexibilty?

[supersport]

I have a Tesco premium card, collect club card points and then double them up to spend on stuff I want, like Euro tunnel tickets.

Usually get enough for a couple of free trips a year.

[QuartzDad]

Somewhere like https://www.headforpoints.com/best-uk-avios-airlin... is a decent place to start.

[redrabbit29]

I went around in circles with reward cards recently, did a lot of research and eventually gave up. Many sites I looked at, including searches on MoneySupermarket was centred on Amex cards. The amount of choice is overwhelming.

Many cards offer avios or travel points which wouldn't benefit me as I don't travel huge amounts, just general holidays on the odd occasion.

A lot of cards were actually debit cards, like Chase, who offer a 1% cash back.

There are a lot of stipulations for each card. Things like:

- Maximum of £15 a month rewards
- First year the card is free, after that you have to pay
- First year, the cash back is 1% and then it's 0.5%

etc..

I got a bit sick of looking. But my attitude was it's free money and rewards so why not. I just run out of steam with it.

[AB]

You don't have to use Virgin Airmiles on Virgin flights...

https://flywith.virginatlantic.com/za/en/partner-a...

[InitialDave]

Shaoxter said:

Do those airmiles cards offer materially more than Amex's straight 1.25% considering the time, effort and inflexibilty?

In my opinion, yes, if you have a planned/intended use for the Avios points to travel long haul in a premium cabin.

If you get the BA Amex platinum when they have a particularly good offer on, the starting bonus can be 60k+ Avios.

An Avios point can be worked on being rough minimum 1p in value to use. So such an offer easily covers you for the £300 annual fee. Right this minute it's 30k, so breaking even.

You then get 1.5 Avios per £1 spent (double that with direct BA spend), so equivalent to 1.5% reward.

The companion voucher gets you another ticket on any return Avios-based flight with only paying the additional fees.

Example, I used mine for Japan. These aren't my exact numbers, but a good representation:
Business class flights direct are £3.5-5k depending on time and how far ahead you book etc. Let's say £3.5k.
Return reward flight is 200k Avios plus about £420 in fees. So £2400 ish effectively. Can already argue you're saving a grand.
Companion voucher gets you another person along with you only paying the fees component.
So the companion voucher has saved £2k+ depending on how you choose to calculate it, could well be two or three times that with a specific example of route/times etc.

Again, if you have a plan to make use of the stuff the card gives you, I'm of the opinion it can give good value.

[InitialDave]

Also, Barclaycard do a premium card with BA that generates a "cabin upgrade voucher" (it sort of is and isn't one) that again is for Avios flights.

Not quite as "good" a benefit IMO, but slightly cheaper annual fee and the spend threshold for the voucher is £10k rather than £15k. I have made use of one and got what I'd consider to be about £1k of value from it.

[AB]

I use a Virgin Mastercard now, used to have AMEX Platinum but Mastercard is accepted more places and it's 1.5 miles per £ as well as a Reward Voucher each year.

I put most of my company spend on it and pay myself back through expenses so I'm averaging about 750,000 miles and a RW each year. Absolutely brilliant for holidays.

[redrabbit29]

I've gone for an Amex Platinum Cashback Everyday Card.

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

I used TopCashBack.co.uk to sign up which means I should get a few pound back I think.

Up to £125 cashback for the first 5 months
0.5% cashback up to £10k
1% over £10k
APR is 30.4%

Unsure on credit limit as the account isn't fully created and the card hasn't arrived yet. I am about to book a holiday so will aim to do it with the card.

[gangzoom]

redrabbit29 said:

Unsure on credit limit as the account isn't fully created and the card hasn't arrived yet. I am about to book a holiday so will aim to do it with the card.

Cannot remember at what level our started at but AMEX will keep increasing it without you asking, ours is at a stupid figure now. Paid off in full every month, last 12 month got over £400 cashback after taking off the £25 annual fee. You also can get some extra discounts from some retailers which can be stacked up, so at some point last year we ended paying the equivalent of £3.50/bottle on a couple of cases of half decent wine.

We used to have the airmiles card, but given in the last 5 years the only flight I've been on is an EasyJet fight the cashback card makes more sense for us.

[jeff m]

My Citi bank card pays me 5% cash back on my highest spending category, I use it for eating out.
My main card is with my local bank (TD bank) they pay a simple 2% on everything with no limit.
My previous Bank of America card had a 3 2 1% system but I kept hitting limits and it reverted to 1%
And of course, Chase Amazon pays 5%.

[KTF]

A 0% card with the longest 0% for purchases.

Set up a DD for the min payment then put the money you would use to pay it off in a savings account. The interest you earn on the savings during the 0% period will be far better than any cashback cards.

[Sporky]

I have Amex Platinum and a Halifax cashback card. The latter replaced a John Lewis Partnership card - I wasn't even invited to apply when they changed provider!

[jeff m]

KTF said:

A 0% card with the longest 0% for purchases.

Set up a DD for the min payment then put the money you would use to pay it off in a savings account. The interest you earn on the savings during the 0% period will be far better than any cashback cards.

rather a lot of work for minimal gain,
Money in a savings account will be the quoted rate PER ANNUM,
Cash back will be an instant return. i.e. 2, 3 or 5% on the day of redemption

[gangzoom]

jeff m said:

My Citi bank card pays me 5% cash back on my highest spending category, I use it for eating out.
My main card is with my local bank (TD bank) they pay a simple 2% on everything with no limit.
My previous Bank of America card had a 3 2 1% system but I kept hitting limits and it reverted to 1%
And of course, Chase Amazon pays 5%.

Can you get Citi bank cards in the UK? Had a look on the website and everything is in $$.

[Guyr]

I have collected Virgin miles in the past and keep doing so occasionally with a Virgin Mastercard, mainly to stop about 150k miles expiring, but they are harder to use, since the redemption opportunities are very limited in comparison to BA due to the low number of destinations.

We mainly use a BA Amex Premium and a Barclaycard Avios. That way all our non-cash spend gets us Avios. With the Companion Voucher from Amex, it's great for redemptions on the better cabins and we've done 10+ Business/First trips for just the taxes/fees. The last trip we did was First to Chicago, then Business back from New Orleans (there's no First on that flight) and it was £1600 for two people plus 165,000 miles, as compared to £8k-£10k to buy (which in fairness we wouldn't have done).

BA has so many destinations it is fairly easy to use them in my experience provided you are flexible on where/when you travel. Getting a redemption to the Caribbean in winter or Australia anytime is unlikely to happen etc, but travel to many global locations out of school holidays is fine. I also use SeatSpy which allows you to display redemption availability globally, rather then try one flight at a time on the BA site.

[AyBee]

gangzoom said:

jeff m said:

My Citi bank card pays me 5% cash back on my highest spending category, I use it for eating out.
My main card is with my local bank (TD bank) they pay a simple 2% on everything with no limit.
My previous Bank of America card had a 3 2 1% system but I kept hitting limits and it reverted to 1%
And of course, Chase Amazon pays 5%.

Can you get Citi bank cards in the UK? Had a look on the website and everything is in $$.

Suspect jeff is in North America given TD = Toronto Dominion.

[Blown2CV]

Guyr said:

I have collected Virgin miles in the past and keep doing so occasionally with a Virgin Mastercard, mainly to stop about 150k miles expiring, but they are harder to use, since the redemption opportunities are very limited in comparison to BA due to the low number of destinations.

We mainly use a BA Amex Premium and a Barclaycard Avios. That way all our non-cash spend gets us Avios. With the Companion Voucher from Amex, it's great for redemptions on the better cabins and we've done 10+ Business/First trips for just the taxes/fees. The last trip we did was First to Chicago, then Business back from New Orleans (there's no First on that flight) and it was £1600 for two people plus 165,000 miles, as compared to £8k-£10k to buy (which in fairness we wouldn't have done).

BA has so many destinations it is fairly easy to use them in my experience provided you are flexible on where/when you travel. Getting a redemption to the Caribbean in winter or Australia anytime is unlikely to happen etc, but travel to many global locations out of school holidays is fine. I also use SeatSpy which allows you to display redemption availability globally, rather then try one flight at a time on the BA site.

i think this is what i'd be tempted to do tbh. The other amex cards seem to have lots of benefits but i am really probably wanting the flights side of it. cheers