I struggle to see why you have the capital one classic, Barclaycard initial (unless you got one of their really good offers which they had going a while back) and a Lloyds student card
Currently I have the following cards:
Nationwide select (Visa) £2000 limit
Capital One Classic Extra (MasterCard) £500 limit
Though I'm tempted to close the cap one and reapply because new customers get favourable exchange rates internationally
And on average MasterCard tend to have ever so slightly better exchange rates than Visa do
People say to me:
Oh you're only getting 0.5% cash back. What's the point? I buy stuff for other people and pay on the following cards so I get a little commission from them
(essentially)
With the nationwide account I also save around 3% in loading or exchange fees which is decent because I buy things sometimes on eBay in USD or CAD and two out of three of my parents telephone providers want payment in USD (Though one of those providers charges around 3.2% + $0.30 for non US customers unless you top up at least $25 (Still cheaper than others however)
Slight rant. I used to have a:
Lloyds platinum card with a 3K limit. I close this down after getting my other cards - the ones that make me money (My overall limit decreased to around £2750)
I got an aqua reward account which was amazing! But the offer has gone now and the cards are no longer a good deal IMO
I got a measly £250 on that. That card gave cash back of 3% on EVERY THING up to a maximum cash back of £100/year so I spent £3333.34 on it and then once I saw my cash back approach £100, I used it maybe once a month on cheap items to keep it running
RIP Aqua. They gave me the option of keeping my card and getting the new 0.5% cash back and I thought what's the point? Yeah I get perfect MasterCard foreign exchange fees but I also happen to gave a Nationwide card which gives me perfect Visa foreign exchange fees
And I also noticed that cap1 now have that as a feature as well
Basically my credit limit was £3000
Then went down to £2750
Now its down to £2500 (in total)
I don't have several credit cards but I do have several bank accounts. I think I'm on number 7/8 and I wish to open two more accounts - one with TSB and one with Lloyds. I also intend to upgrade my Halifax account to an ultimate reward account
With Halifax I was quite shocked that they only gave me a "basic account" so I've been pushing £187.50/week (£750/month) in to Halifax and I'll set up a direct debit to a savings company (and have my charity donation go through Halifax as well - currently going through Santander 123) to meet the requirements
I was considering making a Halifax student account but the reward account is ever so slightly better if Halifax only give me a £2000 OD (They'd have to give me more for me to use then for a student account which I doubt)
Ie: reward 123 = £60/year cashback (AFTER 20% tax) - with tax £72. And I can put that all in a Santander 123 account making £74.16/year in total
A student account would make me £60/year assuming that I get difference and I'd owe Halifax £2000
(I currently owe Co Op £2000) so I'll probably make a student account elsewhere
The Co Op one technically expires this year because I'm on placement
But yeah that's it really. I have more banks than credit cards to get all the perks - just abide by what they want as a minimum
I bank with Santander 123 mainly and I'd be sjre to keep a balance of at least £3000 and all my direct debits go through Santander (making me money back on water, electricity, mobile (x2) and broadband (soon to be x2)
I have my mums sim paid through my bank and from my mums account I have a standing order set up (my contract is also in her name)
When the contract expires I'll have my mums DD back in her account and I'll have mine in my own account
However I'll take the broadband direct debit instead because broadband is a constant charge (No fluctuations of cost) - and pay the cashback to my mum
And I also take their direct debit for electricity/gas (money sent to me by standing order) Though that won't get me any cashback because the providers Extra Energy (leccy) and Zog Energy (gas) are relatively new and Santander doesn't recognise them as a company but they save us far more than 2% so that doesn't matter so much
I'd rather we be with them and pay less than be with some other big name company, get the cashback and pay more than the 2% cashback difference
Posted from TSR Mobile