to ask for a store credit card recommendation

[cretelover]

Blatantly posting for traffic. Until recently I've had a Debenhams credit card which was great for earning points/rewards, I earned points on all purchases and three times more in store. Got free delivery from store too which was good. They've now stopped all this so it's time to look elsewhere. i do all my shopping in aldi and tesco, and not sure where I'll buy my clothes from now, maybe John Lewis. We do have a Waitrose nearby but not sure if I would use it, maybe to spend the rewards. Can anyone recommend a good (free) store card? Many thanks

Amazon MasterCard. I got £30 to sign up and have already got a £10 gift card in 3 months. I have a cashback Amex for the majority of my spending so only use the MasterCard at Amazon or places that don't take Amex.

None of them are free, they may not have a fee but they charge interest on what you borrow, unless you pay off in full every month.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-credit-card-rewards/

Is there reason you want to restrict yourself to one store?

If you qualify you'd be better off with a normal credit card wouldn't you?

[quote LordEmsworth]None of them are free, they may not have a fee but they charge interest on what you borrow, unless you pay off in full every month.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-credit-card-rewards/[/quote]
Not wanting to criticise your response but I read it as the OP not needing a store card in order to borrow money but to use for ordinary spending in order to receive a be fit such as cash back, points or discount. If I am right in understanding it this way, OP would pay the balance off each month so not incur any interest. I think their point about “free” meant a card with no annual fee.

I could of course be totally wrong in my assumptions, and you know what they say about assuming things!

My parents have John Lewis ones (because they spend their lives in Waitrose and JL ). They pay them off in full and always seem to be drowning in vouchers.

To be clear though, my mum buys 95% of everything that enters their house in JLP - I'm pretty sure she's responsible for keeping their local branch in profit.

I've no idea if it's actually a good deal and I doubt it would be worth changing your shopping habits for.

@ToniTheDonkey I did understand that... hence "they may not have a fee". However a lot of people don't understand how credit cards work, and they only find out when it's gone wrong, they've slipped up, and it costs them money.

There is not such thing as a "free" credit card, there are interest-free periods but there are costs attached. I didn't realise that it would be a problem to point that out .

I would have thought people would know 'free credit card 'means 'something I don't have to pay to get or pay to keep', not 'something I can get, spend as I want, pay when I want and never pay interest'.

Thank you everyone, yes to clarify I don't mean no interest but one that I don't have to pay to get in the first place or maintain as I think some may have that. Definitely will be paying off the balance in full each month, they won't get a penny from me

@Ch3rish that's a good point, if there's a normal credit card which gives good rewards in cash back or whatever more than happy to look at that. No issues with qualifying for anything as far as I know.

Lots to look at!

@cretelover we have a British Airways Amex that we put everything on and pay it off straight away. We've always had enough points for free or very reduced flights or upgrades. Obviously a bit useless right now!

This is the MSE advice. It looks like the only really good deals are from Amex, but since not everywhere accepts them it’s a bit of a faff.

I’ve got a JL card - used to get a hundred quid in of vouchers every year, but they’ve recently halved what you get on non-JL purchases to 0.25%, which is better than a kick in the teeth I guess but not a big bonus. I have found their service very good though.

In your position I’d go either JL or Tesco because I like being able to use a single card for absolutely everything and would find Amex too restrictive, but lots of people are fine with Amex and using a debit card for anything that doesn’t take it.
www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-credit-card-rewards/

Better to raid savings if at all possible given how little you can earn from them.

I always have a look at money saving expert website before making financial product decisions. I have a John Lewis Partnership credit card, as my nearest supermarket is a Waitrose, and the reward vouchers come in handy as gifts or for big spends. I also have a Nationwide credit card for international purchases as it has excellent exchange rates.

[quote LordEmsworth]@ToniTheDonkey I did understand that... hence "they may not have a fee". However a lot of people don't understand how credit cards work, and they only find out when it's gone wrong, they've slipped up, and it costs them money.

There is not such thing as a "free" credit card, there are interest-free periods but there are costs attached. I didn't realise that it would be a problem to point that out .[/quote]
I put about £20k a year through my credit card on just normal spending and never pay a penny in interest. Just set up a DD to pay off in full every month, like the OP plans to do, as do most people.

I read that about 60-70% of credit cards are operated in this way, so no cost at all to any of them. Plus they can save you money because if you spend on your credit card, instead of from your bank account, the money stays in your bank account for a few weeks longer, and can help people stay out of overdraft, which is very expensive.

I'd be wary of Amex OP, because not all shops accept them, because the fees to them are higher. I have a Barclaycard cashback card that pays 0.5% but I've had it forever, so I don't know if they're available to new customers.

If you shop a lot in Tesco, that might be a good option, because you'll always be able to spend the rewards, and the rate in Tesco at least will probably be higher.

@peak2021

Better to raid savings if at all possible given how little you can earn from them.

Why? The OP is talking about getting the best payment tool for her circumstances, not borrowing any money.

@peak2021

Better to raid savings if at all possible given how little you can earn from them.

If you “raid your savings” you get 0% cash back and no additional section 75 protection. Ditto if you just spend from your current account (most people wouldn’t be raiding their savings to do a weekly supermarket shop after all).

If you use a credit card you get upwards of 0.25% back and additional legal protections. It’s not that much better, but it is objectively more valuable.

@Tonithedonkey Many many people take advantage of credit cards effectively offering you a month or so credit (because you dont pay interest if you pay off each month in full) and simply use the credit card instead of a debit card for normal spending, rather than to borrow long term. This has several advantages:

1. many credit cards offer spending based cashback or rewards.
2. you benefit from better payment protection than with debit cards, which can be especially useful when paying online
3. it enables you to effectively leave your monthly spending amount on deposit each month before you pay your credit card bill. For people with things like offset mortgages this can be a decent financial benefit.

Of course this has a cost. But effectively its covered by the credit card companies charges to the retailers, which trickles down to prices. If you aren't doing this you are arguably paying for everyone else's "rewards" via your higher prices.

Sadly its another way that the financial system rewards the well off who spend more and have good credit ratings to apply for the best credit cards..... while the poor who may have bad credit suffer the costs via higher retail prices.

The value of rewards from cards like this have massively diminished in value in recent years. This started a few years back when there was a new regulation around interchange fees (which the merchant has to pay), so card providers simply couldn't afford to fund the rewards any more. (One of my clients is a big card provider, so I got very close to the the nitty gritty of all this at the time).

I have a JL card, and put EVERYTHING on it apart from fuel and supermarket shopping. The cashback used to equate to 0.5% (in JL vouchers), which was as good as you can get on any (unlimited) cashback card, but as someone said up-thread, they have recently cut this, so it's not that great now.
I also have a Santander 123 card and get 2% cashback on fuel and 3% on supermarket shopping (I think it's that way around), but it's capped and there is a fee for the card, so in reality I 'gain' about £3 a month. Not really worth it in the grand scheme of things, but we use it as a joint card for spending on food and fuel, so it helps our household accounting anyway.

If you shop at Tesco, that's probably going to be the best value card for you - the rewards are worth WAY less than they used to be, but if you shop there, it should still be worth your while.

On the Amazon one, you need to spend £4000 (outside of Amazon, so worst case scenario) to get a £10 voucher. Equivalent of 0.25% cashback.

If you are in the habit of putting all your spend on it, and paying off in full, then you may as well gain some form of cashback, but you're never going to get anything worth writing home about. Sadly, those days are over.

I know you said you're looking for a free card, but you might actually gain more from a fee-based card. If your habit of paying in full each month is well ingrained, and you know how you're going to use it, then you don't have anything to worry about re the fee - your bank may well offer one with cashback which offsets the fee. If you know how much you typically spend each month, you can see the level of cashback and work out whether you'd be better off.

The only other thing to consider is how you get your reward. Most cashback cards just take it off the balance, so you never see the money, and it probably only amounts to a few £ a month anyway.
The advantage of JL and Amazon is that you get a tangible voucher, so it feels much more like a bonus. I took advantage of the 25% off 6 bottles of wine offer in Waitrose when it last came out, and spent my JL vouchers that way - free wine definitely feels like a proper reward!

Like @BarbaraofSeville and @ReviewingTheSituation I use my CC for everything and pay it off in full every month. I have the JL card, because I do tend to purchase things from JL and Waitrose fairly frequently, probably even more so when I got this card. I get the full amount each year in vouchers back (it is capped, can't remember the limit, maybe £150 p.a.?)
I don't see any benefit to me to have a pay-for facility, so will keep doing what I've been doing. We don't have a Tesco anywhere near us, so switching wouldn't be of any benefit.