Like Martin Lewis says ALWAYS pay off your credit card bill IN FULL every month. So use it like a debit card. The MoMM way. I’ll show you how to make the most of all the benefits available.
What are the main differences between a charge card and a credit card? A charge card you have to pay off every month. A credit card offers Section 75 protection on purchases, explained here. I have used this process before and though a bit of a lengthy battle, I did receive a refund of over £3000 from the credit card Company.
So as you are going to use these cards for purchases you are making anyway, chosing the right card at the right time to maximise the perks, bonuses and miles will really elevate your spending.
I have 5 cards for various reasons – 3 travel cards and 2 others, I’ll explain.
Travel charge / credit cards offer generous sign up and spend bonuses which take you a long way to your points goal. Often extra points are available for referrals so a couple can easily earn enough miles for a few good trips just by opening the cards and referring each other and putting normal spending on them. Each card has additional perks
American Express (Amex) preferred rewards card – points which can be converted to Avios, Virgin miles or many other airlines and hotel partners. Double points on travel related bookings, 2 x lounge passes.
British Airways Amex Card – the 2-4-1 voucher that’s taking us to San Francisco .
Virgin Money rewards MasterCard – Amex is not accepted everywhere so this one is a useful backup to earn Virgin points. Double points on Virgin bookings and free Virgin lounge access (which is surprisingly good). Also 2-4-1 voucher on flights.
Tesco Clubcard credit card – Visa card which offers double points on Tesco spend and these points can be exchanged for many offers including Avios and Virgin air miles. Exchange when there’s offers on though. There are often bonus miles available, so wait if you can.
Nationwide Select credit card – this is my overseas spending card – commission free, no loading spending, this makes a huge difference, also a small amount of cashback on this one, credited to your credit card annually in December.
These are just a few of the many cards available. Head for Points has all the info, referral details and links on the specialist travel cards. MoneySavingExpert has the info on the others.
Amex, Visa and MasterCard all have their own offers too, for example Amex invites pre-sale tickets to some events and concerts, so it’s a good idea to have one of each. Amex also has regular offers to earn additional miles – look out for my Portsmouth, why not, blog.
By maximising sign up and spend bonuses and offers we have earned enough miles in just over a year for 2 x Virgin premium economy return flights to New York, 2 x BA business class return flights to San Francisco and 6 x BA returns to Cyprus ( tried business class but decided it’s not worth double the miles) now we are working towards Tokyo…… and maybe New York again next Christmas ?
Remember its money you are spending anyway, we are not big spenders at all. Its just weekly shopping, petrol and car costs, everyday purchases, and a few holidays which we can afford because we do it this way.
Any questions? Get in touch here. Happy travels.
The post Intro to credit and charge cards appeared first on Mind over Money Matters.