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The programme

The card programme

Three families of card, one programme, and a conversation that starts with how you spend rather than with which rate looks largest. Availability and the exact terms are confirmed to you in writing before anything is agreed.

Talk about a card
Cashback

Money back on the spending you were doing anyway

A cashback card is the right answer for most people, and it is the one most often chosen badly. The rate that matters is not the headline one — it is the rate that applies to groceries, fuel, utilities and the school run, because that is where the money actually goes.

Read three things before signing: which categories earn at the top rate, whether there is a monthly or annual cap on what can be earned, and how the cashback is paid — as a statement credit, as points, or as something you have to claim. A capped 5% can be worth less over a year than an uncapped 1.5%.

Ask which one fits
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Travel

Perks that matter at the airport, not on the brochure

A travel card earns its keep in three places: what it costs you to spend in another currency, what it gives you at the airport, and what it covers when a trip goes wrong. Everything else on the brochure is decoration.

The foreign-transaction treatment is the one to check first, because it applies to every purchase abroad and quietly outweighs a lounge visit twice a year. Then look at whether lounge access is unlimited or a fixed number of visits, and whether travel cover is genuinely included or simply available to buy.

Ask about travel cards
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Benefits

Exclusive benefits, and reading them properly

Purchase protection, extended warranty, partner offers and insurance can be worth more than any cashback rate — or nothing at all, if the exclusions cover exactly the way you would use them. Benefit-led cards are where the difference between the summary and the policy document is largest.

This is the part we go through line by line: what is covered, what is excluded, what has to be paid on the card for cover to apply, and what you would actually have to do to make a claim. A benefit you cannot claim is a fee you are paying for nothing.

Ask about benefits
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Four questions that settle it
Bring answers to these and the right card is usually obvious within ten minutes.

Where does the money actually go?

Not where you think it goes — where the last three statements say it goes. Groceries and fuel beat a category you use twice a year, however good the rate.

How often are you abroad?

Foreign-transaction treatment applies to every purchase overseas. For a frequent traveller it outweighs almost every other feature on the sheet.

Do you clear the balance each month?

If you do, the interest rate is nearly irrelevant and the rewards are the whole story. If you do not, it is the other way round and no reward rate can catch up.

What would you want covered?

Purchase protection, travel disruption, extended warranty. Decide what you want before reading what is offered, or the offer will decide for you.

Questions

About the programme

Can I hold more than one card?

Often, yes, and for some people it is the sensible answer — a cashback card for everyday spending and a travel card kept for trips and foreign currency. Whether it is worth the second annual fee depends on how much you spend abroad, which is a five-minute calculation.

What are the rates and fees?

They depend on the card and on your circumstances, and they are confirmed in writing before anything is agreed. We do not publish a figure here, because a number that is right for one applicant is misleading for the next one reading it.

How long does an application take?

The paperwork is quick; the assessment depends on what documentation is available and how quickly it arrives. We will tell you at the outset what is needed, so that the wait is for a decision rather than for a missing document.

What if I am turned down?

You are entitled to understand the reason to the extent it can be shared, and in many cases the underlying issue is fixable — an unregistered address, a thin credit file, an unclosed old facility. It is worth asking rather than reapplying blindly.

Do you offer cards to companies?

Yes, and the questions are different: who holds a card, what the limits are per holder, how receipts get captured and who sees the spend. There is a separate page on business cards.

Is any of this financial advice?

No. These pages explain how the products work so you can ask better questions. What suits your circumstances is a conversation, and where a regulated recommendation is required we will say so.

Send us three months of spending, in words

You do not need statements to start — a description of where the money goes is enough for a first recommendation, and a quote follows from there.

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