Credit and loyalty, Cashback and points

Firstly, a minor health warning. An out of control credit card can be a stone around your neck. Only spend money on credit cards that you can afford to repay in full. The ambition is to never pay interest, credit cards are close to usury when it comes to interest.

So what is the deal? Well there are a number of ways to make money whilst spending on your card.
1) Cash back: Some cards give you cash back on all purchases. Not only does it enable you to earn ££'s but gives you added legal protection. BUT REMEMBER: Pay the whole balance at the end of the month or you will undoubtedly end up out of pocket. So what's the buzz?
- Take the Abbey MasterCard: It will pay you 3% cash back for the first three months on food and petrol spending, up to £12.50 per month, for the first six months (Kerching! £75 for just buying your normal food and petrol.)
- Then swap to Leeds MasterCard for 1% cash back on everything you spend, until 30th June.
- Or get the Smile Classic card which will pay you 0.5% on everything you buy with with no annual limit.

2) Become a credit tart: This is not as easy as it used to be, but if you need to spend a lot of money, put it on an interest free card and put the money into an interest bearing account to earn you some additional cash.
- Get a card, like the Marks & Spencer credit card and you will get 10 months interest free credit on new borrowing. At the end of the 0% period transfer to
- Lloyd's TSB to get 0% interest on your purchases for 6 months.
Put the cash you would have spent into an interest bearing account, use this to pay off the balance of the credit card when required.
Another twist: Cannot pay off your card at the end of the interest free period, then transfer it to another 0% card. The Virgin card (at the time of writing) will give 0% on balance transfers for 10 months there is a transfer fee, but that equates to the equivalent of 2 months interest.
BUT REMEMBER, DON'T RUN UP A BILL ON A CREDIT CARD YOU CANNOT PAY OFF.

3) Cards that provide you with loyalty rewards: An alternative to earning cash is to have a card that gives you rewards. Some examples:
Virgin Atlantic Card: Gives you 1 flying club mile for each pound spent.
BA Amex card gives you one BA Airmile for each pound spent.
BMI Amex card 1.5 miles for every pound spent .......well you get the message surely, but at the time of writing this card will give you 20,000 free Airmiles if you spend £250 in the first 90 days, that will take you to Italy or Spain (and back ;-)
Nectar credit card: You earn Nectar points (2 for every pound spent) and 500 points equates to £2.50. Once again sign up today and get 7000 nectar points if you spend £200 in the first 90 days. That is the equivalent of £35.
Tesco credit card: Fastest way to earn Clubcard points. 5 points for every £4 spent in Tesco's and 1 point for every £4 spent elsewhere. One great thing about Tesco Clubcard points is you can swap them for Airmile, or even better, some fantastic deals on holidays and the like, where they are worth 4 times their face value.
BUT REMEMBER, DON'T RUN UP A BILL ON A CREDIT CARD YOU CANNOT PAY OFF.