Credit Cards

[Big Salad]

I currently have a Discover credit card but have been thinking about switching to either a Barclay's one or American Express. Discover has really changed up their fees and such the last few months and I don't really like the direction they are going.

I don't know how credit cards work in the UK but I assume they work similarly in a lot of ways.

Are any on here proponents of having a credit card? If so, who do you go with? Also does anybody have a Barclay's or American Express? If so how do they like it?

[ender4]

I have the Amazon credit card and pay it off in full each month. 

It gives cashback in the form of Amazon vouchers which are automatically applied to your Amazon account.

[Xela]

1 hour ago, Big Salad said:

I currently have a Discover credit card but have been thinking about switching to either a Barclay's one or American Express. Discover has really changed up their fees and such the last few months and I don't really like the direction they are going.

I don't know how credit cards work in the UK but I assume they work similarly in a lot of ways.

Are any on here proponents of having a credit card? If so, who do you go with? Also does anybody have a Barclay's or American Express? If so how do they like it?

Obviously we don't have Discover here and AmEx is still relatively niche for the average punter, so 95% of cards will be Bank/Brand issued Visas and Mastercards. 

I use one from my bank as my 'everyday' card and clear it at the end of the month. For stuff like food shopping, petrol, train fares, etc. I have a second one from my bank, which is for big spends (flights, hotels, financing regimes) and I have another card as a spare, which is my Barclaycard, which is there as purely as a backup. 

[Davkaus]

I've been using an Amex cashback card for years. It used to be turned away quite often, but it happens less and less these days, pretty much every big chain accepts it, and lots of smaller places do too, it's gained a lot of support over the last few years. I still have to occasionally use a different card, but I thihnk that's happened once or twice in the last year.

In my experience, they're pretty much unrivalled in terms of customer support, and the perks are decent enough. There's nothing on the market that better suits my needs, I'm not interested in air miles and all that guff, I just want the cash.

[Rds1983]

I've had an Amex I've used for years and as @Davkaus says except in the smaller high street/independent stores you rarely get turned down in it nowadays.

Used to get decent returns on it but not so much anymore as rates have dried up. 

The Amazon one that @ender4 mentioned sounds interesting and might be worth a look at as I spend far too much with them (it's too easy and I'm lazy). 

[bickster]

2 hours ago, Davkaus said:

I've been using an Amex cashback card for years. It used to be turned away quite often, but it happens less and less these days, pretty much every big chain accepts it, and lots of smaller places do too, it's gained a lot of support over the last few years. I still have to occasionally use a different card, but I thihnk that's happened once or twice in the last year.

In my experience, they're pretty much unrivalled in terms of customer support, and the perks are decent enough. There's nothing on the market that better suits my needs, I'm not interested in air miles and all that guff, I just want the cash.

SumUp machines started accepting it this week and the same rate of charges for the vendor as all the other cards. Thats the reason it got refused, Amex cost vendors far too much to process the payments. So Sumup being a large player in the small Indie Shop market should help you quite a bit

[PussEKatt]

I have a "Westpack" bank card and a "Visa"card.You can use Visa anywhere and I was able to use my Westpack card when I was in England.Apparently Westpack and Barclays bank have an agreement.I would suggest you go with an international bank,that way you can draw out your $$$ anywhere in the world. 

[Xela]

5 hours ago, PussEKatt said:

I have a "Westpack" bank card and a "Visa"card.You can use Visa anywhere and I was able to use my Westpack card when I was in England.Apparently Westpack and Barclays bank have an agreement.I would suggest you go with an international bank,that way you can draw out your $$$ anywhere in the world. 

Wouldn't your bank card (debit card I assume) be a Mastercard or Visa as well?

[tonyh29]

I have the British Airways Amex .. was always good when I travelled a lot as you used to get a companion ticket each year and a good rate of Avios for each £ spent …but it’s only really worth it if you fly a lot, something I’ve not been doing the past few years 

the better perk cards are all the US ones , nothing to stop you getting one but I think you have to pay the bills in Yankee $’s so conversion rates would probably outweigh any perk gains .Amex used to have a US Marriott one with free rooms , bar credit during a stay , airport free lounge access and points could be used on any airline , was seriously generous if you spend a lot on a credit card each year 

 

the points guy is probably your best source on cards and perks though