Can you recommend me a credit card company please?

[tearinghairout]

LTDR - I'd like to take out a credit card with a company who are easy to deal with - recommendations please. Cashbacks/charity donations a bonus.

DH & I have had a credit card with the Co-op for years. Normally paid off in full every month. First few years it gave a donation to charity, but that's stopped now so we have no reason to be with them. Haven't got a bank account with them. The card account is in DH's name but on the same account I have a card with a different number and with my name on it. I deal with our finances but they refuse to speak to me because - quote - "You may have got divorced". Great. But the final straw was that a few days ago we found out our card got hacked mid-November. Around £3000 has been taken through online purchases with Next Directory - £1500 of them in three transactions on one day! I only found out when they wrote saying that our credit limit had been reached. I looked online (I have to log in as DH) and saw the fraud - rang the number on the back of my card but they refused to speak to me because I'm not DH! To make matters worse, today we've had a letter saying that they have upped our credit limit from £3400 to £4400! They have sent DH a new card but not me, yet, and told DH they'd refund us but haven't so far, so he can't use the new card, which is a bit daft. I can't take out a card in my own name because I don't earn that much. TFR.

All of them will behave like that because it’s your DH’s account, not yours, even if you have a card on it. It’s not like where you have a current account in both of your names. Their contract is with him, not you.

Some cards work on household income, so you might be able to get a card in your own name that way, I don't know which one, but you'll find out if you apply from the questions they ask before you even submit the application. Have you actually applied? How much is 'not that much'?

I know DM uses credit cards, for cashback, purchase protection and to spread the cost over a few weeks, not getting into debt, and she's only ever worked part time in retail and is now retired on a minimal pension.

But yes, your DH will have to deal with the problems with his credit card. But if the numbers are different and his got hacked, yours might still work. .

Doesnt matter if you dont earn much. Get a credit card in your name. It's the only way they will talk to you. (As an unemployed SAHM, with DH funding our lifestyle, he got declined for a big credit limit on an existing card, and I got the 8k I asked for....).
Do you do the majority of your shopping in a place that has a credit card? Thst might be worth looking g at for cashback/points/better deal.

Thanks for your thoughts. Anyone got any recommendations for card companies? @InTheLabyrinth which company was that? I applied for a John Lewis card but they turned me down.

We have a joint tesco card, with tesco 100m away and clubcard points on all spending. I got the big credit limit with the post office- now Jaja - as we have that for fee free foreign currency.

OK thanks, that sounds interesting.

@tearinghairout do you have a clearscore account? They seem to send me a lot of emails about which cards I’m likely to be accepted for, so might be worth checking that.

Hi Tufty, no, I've not heard of them. Thanks, I'll have a look.

I have 2 main credit cards that I spend everything on. American Express for the cashback (0.75% upto 10k then 1.25% afterwards) we're on track for around £150 cashback this year.
The downside is that it's not taken everywhere so I have my Amazon mastercard that use for Amazon and everywhere that doesn't take Amex. I've had about £40 in Amazon gift cards this year from that one.
I'm the same op, I deal with the finances so I'm the main cardholder for all our credit cards and DH has a supplementary one.

I donate to charity through my Amazon account using smile.

Halifax don’t charge commission when you are abroad
I generally use my Virgin Card - they have been ok to deal with and I collect airmiles on every purchase.

We have an American Express BA card. There's two different levels of membership (ours has an annual fee) but we get air miles plus companion vouchers to get a free flight each year. Depends how much you spend as there's a threshold but we've managed to use them to fly first class and business to long haul destinations most years since we've had them. We each have one in our name, and are a supplementary holder on each other's so we can get 2 companion vouchers per year.

Also have a Halifax Clarity card as you don't pay the 2-3% transaction fee on foreign currency transactions.

And a John Lewis card as not everywhere accepts Amex.