alistair

What's the best credit card for points / money back etc.

I clear my balance every month.

JayRaj

The best I think is the Alliance & Leicester money back card.They give double cashback at BP, Currys and other stores. On average they give back 2%. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter is good too. (1%)

American Express Blue Card does moneyback too (1%), but I think they are dodgy with their customers. I have an outstanding credit to settle my account from November!!

Cheers

Jay

Jerome

Flip side of the coin, do NOT get a Providian card. They are the most customer unfriendly credit card I've ever heard of. My girlfriend was so p1ssed off with them, she set fire to her Providian card on Saturday and intends to send the charred remains back to them with a sh1tty letter.

Jerome.

BarryK

Jerome, do tell, I've got one of their cards. Should I melt it down too?

simon_prickett

I used to work for a credit card company... try looking at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, and MBNA. If you want a large credit limit, Egg might be a good bet.

I didn't work for any of these companies.

ChrisB

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>American Express Blue Card does moneyback too (1%), but I think they are dodgy with their customers. I have an outstanding credit to settle my account from November!!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I had an ISP I used about two or three years (for a year) put a charge of £150 through my MBNA card in November. I'm still waiting for it to be cleared (although it is marked as disputed). MBNA have to work to the rules set out by Visa, which are a complete long winded farse (IMO of course!).

Now the same bar-steward ISP has charged my card again for £150. Grrrr.

Chris.

chiark

Chris, those rules are so unbelievably convoluted. Basically, if the ISP doesn't have a piece of paper signed by you they are liable for 100% of the cost and need to persue you through the small claims court if they feel aggreived.

Although getting to this point is long and drawn out. Each round takes 40 days, and there's many many rounds to go through (query/representment/chargeback/representment/second chargeback/....)

Jerome

BarryK,

The latest thing that Providian did was to block the card in anticipation of the payment date not being met. The statement said 11/3/01 which is a Sunday. Because payment wasn't made by 3.30 on the previous working day (10/3/01), they blocked the card on that day. The payment was made on the Saturday (11/3/01). Even waiting until the Monday is a bit much.

I've had at least 4 different credit cards, 3 different charge cards, and this has never happened to me. Even after being over a month late with the payment.

They also screwed her change of address recently so the bill went to the old address (before redirection had kicked in) resulting in blocking of the card on the day of the due date because the bill hadn't been received. They had only had 3 months and several forms/phone calls to get the address right.

They took 5 weeks to send a replacement card after it was lost/stolen.

This is just the most recent stuff they've done/not done.

Their admin sucks and their ethics suck. They also employ the rudest staff to answer the phone.

They even sent me a invitation to apply for one of their cards yesterday. It says they pride themselves on their customer care. Needless to say it went straight in the bin.

Jerome.

ChrisB

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by chiark:
<B>Chris, those rules are so unbelievably convoluted. Basically, if the ISP doesn't have a piece of paper signed by you they are liable for 100% of the cost and need to persue you through the small claims court if they feel aggreived.

Although getting to this point is long and drawn out. Each round takes 40 days, and there's many many rounds to go through (query/representment/chargeback/representment/second chargeback/....)[/quote]

Yup, I was on about the 40 days for each round.

Ho Hum.

Chris.

Boost II

iTrader: (1)

I checked this out about 6 months ago and the best one going was Bank One Gold Cashback (Now run by Halifax Card services)

-1% Cashback on all purchases
-upto 59 days interest free
-no annual fee
-theft/accidental insurance on all purchases
-free travel insurance

I did have the Alliance and Leicester one but they only give 0.5% until you have spent over £4000 in the year then you start getting 1%. Also no damage/theft insurance and you have to pay your bills within only a couple of weeks before they start stinging you with interest. I cancelled it because of rotten customer service (As if the embarassment of handing people a white card with orange and blue baloons on it wasn't bad enough)

[This message has been edited by Boost II (edited 13 March 2001).]

KF

This might be worth looking at :

MattN

can't beat the old barclaycard.

evrytime I have a query it's sorted straight away (not that I've had many).

once a company charged my credit card for goods ordered, I cancelled the order but no credit was put to my card to contra the debit, I had several conversations with the company to no avail, spoke to bc and within 2 hours the company in question were on the phone just checking the details. A truely amazing turnaround. Hats of to BC.

I also have MSDW which is pretty good, not too keen on MBNA, I always have to call them to get the late the late payment charge removed, either the statement comes up with a Sunday or even when you pay the balance they still charge the interest, useless.

Barclaycard gets my vote, and my balances are fixed @5.9% until clear.

Matt.

Steve Williams

Amex blue card is quite a good deal.

You get 1% cash back (actually credit back, paid yearly).

Contrary to what JayRaj said, I have heard that they are always 'on the side of the cardholder', so if there is any dispute they take it up with the other party and freeze the money on your statement (i.e. dont make you pay or pay interest on any charge you dispute) until any dispute is settled.
I also know this to be true since they did a 'chargeback' on my work for a disputed amount, it was not our fault and we got the money eventually but the company was on the punters side not the 'shops'.

My brother is still in a long running disputed payment with Nat West over their own visa card, they dont know what they are doing (lost 2 letters and a fax he sent to them) dont get a Nat West card......

BarryK

Jerome, thanks for that I will watch out for them.

I received an invitation for a card today from a company who already issued me one last year.

These people do not know what they are doing. Always check your bill.

Oh, and I discovered never let someone do a "direct debit" on your credit card, you cannot stop it by telling the credit card co not to pay! The charge issuer must stop it! ISPs are top for doing this sort of thing.

Jerome

BarryK

Good advice about the DD on a credit card. I had a nightmare trying to get AOL to stop billing my Amex card a few years ago. Made worse 'cos their head office is(was) in Eire.

Jerome.

PS: Don't have anything to do with NatWest. I could write a book about how sh1te they are...

JayRaj

All I did was a balance transfer! American Express apparently have my money in a 'suspense' account.

Susupense - my ****!

Jay