Credit/Debit Reward Cards, Discounts etc

[Ferdinand]

13 minutes ago, daiking said:

Does anyone one have an “Amex Preferred Rewards Gold” card? And wish to earn a referral bonus?

 

@Ferdinand

 

 

 

have PM’d.

 

F

[oldkettle]

Autodesk Sketchbook is now free - only requires registration 

https://sketchbook.com

 

Via hotukdeals

 

Edited September 9, 2018 by oldkettle

[Ferdinand]

2 hours ago, oldkettle said:

Autodesk Sketchbook is now free - only requires registration 

https://sketchbook.com

 

Via hotukdeals

 

 

Quick qu: How good is Sketchbook?

[oldkettle]

23 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

 

Quick qu: How good is Sketchbook?

 

I was sure the name came up in one of the discussions here regarding software but annoyingly a quick search brought nothing. May be it was on ebuild. 

[curlewhouse]

I see Wickes is now offering immediate* access to their trade card if you show them your B&Q tradepoint card. Since B&Q now want you to spend x amount the month before to get a discount, I noted their tradepoint Facebook page was full of posts from trade people saying "goodbye B&Q, hello Wickes" (or words to that effect). I have to say that although I've now got the wickes card (*their sign saying "start saving today" is false as they won't sign you up that day. I had an argument in store pointing out that the woman was stood beside the sign saying "start saving today" by showing us your B&Q tradepoint card, but they refused to do it - even when I got their head office to ring them, who told them to do it they still refused and said I must go home and sign up! Anyway, B&Q Tradepoint card is accepted as proof of trade status for wickes to issue their own trade card (10% discount on everything even on top of other discounts) but may be worth doing before you intend to purchase in case you get staff like I did who refuse to sign you up that day. Was considering reporting their ad to ASA actually, as their joining system means you cannot start saving that day, but since I got the card eventually albeit after 3 phone calls chasing it up, I really can't be bothered ?.  It makes their deals on for instance cement way better than my usual BMs, but ensure you sign up at least 24 hours before you intend to purchase as you'll have to wait for a temporary code to be sent until your card is despatched.

Edited October 16, 2018 by curlewhouse

[Sjk]

Is there a current preferred credit card for rewards/cashback?

 

I have looked at the BA AMEX card before, at the moment they have 

 

25k avios points and a 2 for 1 companion voucher that would be quite easy to achieve.

 

I think when I looked before it didn't really work out, because of restrictions. ticket prices and the credit card annual fee.

Edited December 27, 2018 by Sjk

[richi]

Amex Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card: 20,000 MR points (converts 1:1 to Avios or Virgin) when you spend £2,000 in first three months. No fee in first year.
 

Get an additional £10 kickback with this link (which might also make my favourite dog-rescue charity a few pennies):

https://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/richij/american-express

[vivienz]

For those in the south, Brewers Decorators Centres offer a 20% discount off everything in your first order if you register for a trade account.  This applies to absolutely everything, not just paint.  Also, they have a price match policy, so for the non-paint bits and pieces, they will (usually) match whatever price you've seen elsewhere and you can knock off 20% if it's on your first order.

 

When you open the trade account, they will email you a voucher for the 20% off discount.  The standard trade discount is 10%.

[Laura]

So I’m trying to sign up for a Wickes Trade account online. They ask for proof that I’m a tradesperson. I’m not. But how fussy will they be? If I submit photos of my headed paper and business card that I’ve just spent a couple of minutes making, will they even question it?!

[Ferdinand]

5 hours ago, Laura said:

So I’m trying to sign up for a Wickes Trade account online. They ask for proof that I’m a tradesperson. I’m not. But how fussy will they be? If I submit photos of my headed paper and business card that I’ve just spent a couple of minutes making, will they even question it?!

 

That should be fine, though I have only ever done these in the shop.

 

The 10% discount is still small enough that they make lots of money.

F

 

[daiking]

I'm doing this wrong, very wrong.

 

I will soon have 50,000 amex points, a smattering of Virgin points from 4 individuals transatlantic flights and about the same in emirates points from 2 Asian flights.

 

What is the point of these worthless points?

 

 

 

[newhome]

7 minutes ago, daiking said:

I'm doing this wrong, very wrong.

 

I will soon have 50,000 amex points, a smattering of Virgin points from 4 individuals transatlantic flights and about the same in emirates points from 2 Asian flights.

 

What is the point of these worthless points?

 

 

Not a lot of point on their own. The latter 2 are frequent flyer reward programmes so to make the most of them you either need to fly often and build up a large balance of points or collect points in other ways. That might be via a credit card, rental cars, hotels, money transfers, Tesco points or whatever but you have to have a strategy and know what you want to do with the points once you've built up a decent enough. Points for the sake of it are just well, pointless. Sometimes you can transfer between schemes too. Accounts generally expire if they've been dormant for a while (ie no point gaining activity) so be sure to understand what to do to prevent this from happening. 

 

Head For Points is a decent enough place to start. It's quite Avios centric but it has lots of other info too. 

 

https://www.headforpoints.com/

 

 

[canalsiderenovation]

I just wanted to give some kudos to American Express. Not only after some Covid related flight issues last year and some difficulty with the airline did they refund over £1000 within 24 hours of me making a claim but they have just flagged something suspicious on my card which has saved me a significant sum of money.

 

For many things house related I've used American Express and quite a few items came from local retailers. American Express frequently take part in Shop Small which is promotion of local retailers taking American Express and I had quite a few offers where it was spend £10 and get £5 credit.

 

Currently there are a couple of good options where you can get some excellent value membership points for signing up which I wanted to mention, although it may be a bit of a faff for people I frequently repeat these between me and my other half regularly.

 

If you are a business there is either the American Express Gold or Platinum charge card. The Gold is free in the first year (so don't keep it nah longer than a year) and if you spend £5000 in the first 3 months you get 50,000 reward points. Whilst the real value of these is in airmiles if you wanted to you could transfer the 50,000 points into Avios and then into 80,000 Nectar points which will mean you have £400 to spend at Sainsbury’s, Argos or eBay which is great news. You also get free travel insurance. The Platinum does have a huge fee of £595 but you can get 100,000 points but you have to spend £10,000 in 3 months. The fee is refundable pro-rata so if you wanted to spend, pocket the points and leave you could and probably only pay a fraction of the fee. 

 

I'm currently on the basic gold card which gets some of the perks above like insurance, two airport lounge passes a year (pointless in the current climate) and if you sign up for this and spend £3000 in the first 3 months you get 20,000 reward points which can be converted to airmiles with a variety of airlines or Nectar or even Amazon (the rate for exchange for Amazon is pretty poor at £4.50 per 1000 points).

 

If anyone would like to use my link to sign up it gains me some membership points too. If anyone has any questions on American Express I'd be happy to help.

 

http://amex.co.uk/refer/rACHECowGT?CPID=100338425

[Onoff]

American Express is responsible for my Pamela Stephenson fetish. Griff Rys Jones' voiceover still cracks me up:

 

 

[miike]

Amex business platinum is doing 100,000 points for signing up at the moment. About as good as it gets, presume they're doing everything they can to attract people when the main perk (travel) isn't of much use currently. I can give a friends referral for an extra 5000 if you want to sign up. 

[TonyT]

The guy I share an office with puts everything on his credit card and pays it off every month to benefit from the air miles etc.

 

 

[SteamyTea]

On 05/03/2021 at 19:04, canalsiderenovation said:

For many things house related I've used American Express and quite a few items came from local retailers. American Express frequently take part in Shop Small

We stopped taking AmEx because of the high transaction charges and the delays in receiving payment.

AmEx did not take us off the Small Shops register, which upset a few customers who think it is their right that we, a small business, should pay for their rewards.

 

Can usually tell when someone is going to use AmEx as they hold the card face down as they present it to the NFR.

[canalsiderenovation]

I've now had an uddated referral bonus from anyone who signs up to the (free for the first year) Gold Rewards Card 27000 reward points rather than the 20,000. This is an amazing bonus which you can use for a variety of purposes. If anyone wants a link do let me know.

 

2 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

We stopped taking AmEx because of the high transaction charges and the delays in receiving payment.

AmEx did not take us off the Small Shops register, which upset a few customers who think it is their right that we, a small business, should pay for their rewards.

 

Can usually tell when someone is going to use AmEx as they hold the card face down as they present it to the NFR.

 

My hairdresser who opened a new business said he got some sort of incentive to take American Express. I'm not sure what fees are involved.

 

I used to have a Platinum Card (not business) but the fees kept getting raked up to make it completely ridiculous. I think it's now over £500.

Edited March 17, 2021 by canalsiderenovation

[SteamyTea]

3 minutes ago, canalsiderenovation said:

I'm not sure what fees are involved

They won't be in his/hers favour.

[Ferdinand]

I see that Toolstation have started offering -5% Trade Discounts.

Does anyone have any experience?

 

How easy are they to get for self-builders?

Are there limitations on what is covered etc?

 

https://www.toolstation.com/content/trade-credit

[ToughButterCup]

26 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

I see that Toolstation have started offering -5% Trade Discounts.
Does anyone have any experience?

...

 

Our local (Morecambe) lads at TS  (well, one or two of them) bend over backwards to get you signed up . 

I didn't signed up - can't remember why now .... 

[Ferdinand]

5 hours ago, ToughButterCup said:

 

Our local (Morecambe) lads at TS  (well, one or two of them) bend over backwards to get you signed up . 

I didn't signed up - can't remember why now .... 

 

Your build is finished and you no longer need to buy anything !

 

 ?  ?  ?  ?

[Donattan]

On 15/06/2016 at 09:05, Ferdinand said:

Travelex Supercard - No Foreign Exchange charges when buying goods abroad. 

The card presents as a Debit Card, which you can use to charge through to any Visa or Mastercard Credit Card using an App on your phone. Exchange rates are the standard Mastercard rate.

There is no credit check on applying, just an identity check, as it is not a credit product.

* The advantages are:

1 - There are no FX charges while abroad, either for purchases or for ATMs, while many cards charge 1-3%.
2 - You can backend the purchase onto your Visa / Mastercard Credit Card, so you get the credit period, and any benefits that come with the card for purchases, or any cashback etc.
3 - It can be used anywhere a Mastercard is accepted.
4 - You can avoid any fee charged for using a Credit Card.

* The disadvantages are:

1 - There are charges for use in the UK - £1 plus 1% of the value of the purchase. If your "reward" on the linked card is more than 1% it may be worthwhile still.
2 - I believe you do not get the purchase protection that comes with using a Credit Card directly (ie CC provider is not equally liable), but for eg small purchases and some things which will need no comeback (eg meals in a restaurant, tickets) this should be no issue. There is no credit check on applying, just an identity check, as it is not a credit product. For managing your finances efficiently online, you can also check out Carteza for secure payment solutions.

* Best use:

Abroad for purchases.

* Notes

I am not clear whether purchases made on a foreign website from the UK will result in a charge or not, but 1% is still less than most cards. Update: I am told charges are *not* applied.

There will be an article in the Moneysaving Expert email newsletter today (10m readers), so it would be good to get your application in early if you are going to apply, as they may have capacity problems.

My information via Headforpoints, here:
http://www.headforpoints.com/2016/06/15/travelex-supercard-relaunches-and-its-still-free-should-you-get-one/

Ferdinand

Thanks for the detailed breakdown, Ferdinand!

 

This makes the Travelex Supercard sound like a solid option for anyone traveling abroad frequently. The ability to avoid FX charges while still getting the benefits of your linked credit card is definitely appealing. I’d probably use it mainly for small purchases and ATM withdrawals while traveling, given the UK fees and potential limitations on purchase protection.

 

Good tip about applying early via the Moneysaving Expert link – sounds like it could sell out fast.

[JohnMo]

6 hours ago, Donattan said:

Thanks for the detailed breakdown, Ferdinand!

 

This makes the Travelex Supercard sound like a solid option for anyone traveling abroad frequently. The ability to avoid FX charges while still getting the benefits of your linked credit card is definitely appealing. I’d probably use it mainly for small purchases and ATM withdrawals while traveling, given the UK fees and potential limitations on purchase protection.

 

Good tip about applying early via the Moneysaving Expert link – sounds like it could sell out fast.

Do you realise your quoting advice from 9 years ago - is the information still true today?

[Nickfromwales]

8 hours ago, Donattan said:

Thanks for the detailed breakdown, Ferdinand!

 

This makes the Travelex Supercard sound like a solid option for anyone traveling abroad frequently. The ability to avoid FX charges while still getting the benefits of your linked credit card is definitely appealing. I’d probably use it mainly for small purchases and ATM withdrawals while traveling, given the UK fees and potential limitations on purchase protection.

 

Good tip about applying early via the Moneysaving Expert link – sounds like it could sell out fast.

Hi @Donattan

 

What project are you currently undertaking that’s needing the use of a credit card etc?

 

We like detail here, so let us know all about it, please!