Best Credit Card for me
- Thread starter Noor77
- Start date
Noor I assume you'll be planning on paying money onto the Credit Card in advance considering your previous thread 
I recently got the Ulster Bank Mastercard and it's suiting me fine. TBH if you intend on paying cash onto the card for bookings then there is very little difference in rates. You might want to consider the pigsback.com or the tesco card as they offer rewards for the cash you spend on their cards.
(and yes, I'm paying cash in advance on my card!)
I recently got the Ulster Bank Mastercard and it's suiting me fine. TBH if you intend on paying cash onto the card for bookings then there is very little difference in rates. You might want to consider the pigsback.com or the tesco card as they offer rewards for the cash you spend on their cards.
(and yes, I'm paying cash in advance on my card!)
To paraphrase mo3art - careful now! As suggested above any card will do as long as you clear the balance before interest charges kick in and there are no charges in addition to the mandatory stamp duty.
Thanks for the advice guys. And there is no need to worry about my financial situation (or my ability to handle a card!), as I am much better with money now and always have money left over at the end of the month and have maxed my SSIA and also opened another savings account
I would say that assuming you pay on time, all cards are the same in general, so a card that gives you something back is preferable. I use an MBNA pigsback.com credit card. I know some AAM members aren't fans as they consider them limited in their gifts, but all I know is that I've got spang new CDs for free and have also been to the cinema a couple of times. I think American Express have a card that gives you 2% back every month, but don't know how widely they are accepted.
Well done on regaining control of your finances Noor77.
One way that cards do differ is in the foreign exchange margin that they charge on non € cash advances (ugh!) and cash withdrawals from a preloaded account. The latter can be a good/affordable way to access cash while travelling. Cards generally charge 1.75% upward for this facility. If you are planning to use a card in this way then perhaps look for one with a low forex charge. Alternatively check if using Cirrus/Maestro/Plus+ on an ATM/Laser card might be more cost effective.
One way that cards do differ is in the foreign exchange margin that they charge on non € cash advances (ugh!) and cash withdrawals from a preloaded account. The latter can be a good/affordable way to access cash while travelling. Cards generally charge 1.75% upward for this facility. If you are planning to use a card in this way then perhaps look for one with a low forex charge. Alternatively check if using Cirrus/Maestro/Plus+ on an ATM/Laser card might be more cost effective.
Re Pigsback. I just noticed that they've updated the list of rewards. Some bad, some good.
Bad is that a cinema ticket has gone from 1400 piggypoints for 2 to 730 piggypoints for 1 and now to 830 piggypoints for 1!
Good is that they now have book tokens for Hughes and Hughes.
Bad is that a cinema ticket has gone from 1400 piggypoints for 2 to 730 piggypoints for 1 and now to 830 piggypoints for 1!
Good is that they now have book tokens for Hughes and Hughes.
About paying in advance - I do this to stop myself from being lulled into a false sense of security.
In effect, I only buy what i can afford at the time I purchase. So as soon as i have the money to get something, I put it on the Credit Card. It's simply a tool to buy items online for me.
In effect, I only buy what i can afford at the time I purchase. So as soon as i have the money to get something, I put it on the Credit Card. It's simply a tool to buy items online for me.
But I do have a debit card Clubman - I use the credit card for those blinking websites that don't accept Laser and international sites!
I also have a 3V top-up-club card, but there's a limit to what you can spend on that.
No more space in my purse at this stage
I also have a 3V top-up-club card, but there's a limit to what you can spend on that.
No more space in my purse at this stage
T
tonka
Guest
WizardDr said:
and for online purchasing in addition to the sound advice already given above I recommend AIB because of this cool program below, free to all their Visa CC customers .
you do not get cashback but the cashbacks really kick in on Platimum type cards aimed at 50k a year salaries and upwards , not around 30k salary where you can barely get a Gold Card (some free travel insurance thrown in) . You will get a silver or maybe a gold card on 30k . See
[broken link removed]
According to [broken link removed] the rate on the standard AIB VISA/Mastercard is 0% for the first 6 months. But, as you say, if you're not transferring an existing balance and plan to clear the bill each month then the rate is more or less irrelevant. It's not clear from their [broken link removed] if the foreign exchange charge is 1.75% only or 1.75% (AIB) plus either 1% (VISA) and/or 0.25% (Mastercard). You should check this out if you ever plan to use the card to access cash (preferably from a pre-loaded account) when travelling outside the eurozone. Anything above 1.75% is expensive relative to other cards on offer. If the charge here was 3% then that would be quite expensive.