Best credit card with benefits

[SidJames]

Which banks offers the best loyalty/benefit scheme for usage?

I pay off my UK cards in full each month so incur no interest charges so might as well may use of the family spending in supermarkets etc.

I can't read Thai but I see offers from banks all over the place offering deals

[blackcab]

Depends what you want. Cashback? Miles?

[dotpoom]

The bauld Sid James....now ...there was a man to watch.

[quandow]

If you can get a Capital One Visa Signature card, you get 1.5% cash back and no foreign transaction fee.

[sometimewoodworker]

18 hours ago, SidJames said:

Which banks offers the best loyalty/benefit scheme for usage?

I pay off my UK cards in full each month so incur no interest charges so might as well may use of the family spending in supermarkets etc.

I can't read Thai but I see offers from banks all over the place offering deals

If you are thinking of using a UK card in Thailand, any loyalty/benefit scheme will be wiped out by the bad exchange rate given by the card company.

[Jonnapat]

Bangkok Bank have accrued points system.

You can spend them from a gift catalogue or do as I do and exchange them for Tesco vouchers  4,800 points = 500 baht.

[Phulublub]

5 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

If you are thinking of using a UK card in Thailand, any loyalty/benefit scheme will be wiped out by the bad exchange rate given by the card company.

Not true.

 

If you make sure the charge is in local currency,  (NOT GBP) then you will get bank interchange rate.  I do this all the time in supermarket usign either UK Aqua or Clarity Credit Card.  Good rate, no charges.

 

I also use on of my cards (Halifax Ckarity) when I want to top up my Thai bank account - withdraw cash, charged as baht at interbank rate (generally about 0.25 better than street stalls) and then deposit most straight into my THB account.  NO charges as long as I pay money into my credit card account (and with Halifax i can do tis before payment goes out) otherwise daily interest rate charge.  Understadn some platinum cards do same.

[Pib]

Two different possible charges talked about in above posts.

 

First is where a Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) withdrawal or purchase was accomplished.  When accepting a DCC you are getting the local exchange rate provided by the bank owning the ATM or the merchant for a purchase transaction.  The ATM/merchant is setting the exchange rate which is usually around 3% lower than the card-network (Visa/Mastercard).  DO NOT accept a DCC transaction as it will always be around 3% lower than the card-network rate.  DCC good for the bank owning the ATM/merchant; bad for the customer.

 

Second is where the card-issuing bank charges a foreign transaction fee....1 to 3% is common for many card-issuing banks/companies. . Some don't change any fee.  And some banks/companies charge a foreign transaction even if the card-network was not involved in the currency exchange because it was a DCC transaction...in this case the foreign transaction fee is being charge simply because it was a foreign transaction in any currency.

 

 

[moana]

31 minutes ago, Phulublub said:

you will get bank interchange rate

You *never* get the bank interchange rate ("mid-market rate"). If you cleverly avoid FTF and DCC, then you get the card company rate (Visa/Mastercard), which is awesome (usually much better than what you can get from a bank or exchange booth), but it is less than the mid-market rate by 0.1-0.3 percent, depending on currency and market volatility. This makes sense, because the card companies commit to a rate for an entire day in advance, and must account for intraday changes in mid-market rates.

Visa daily rate: https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html

Mastercard daily rate: https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html

 

If you have a nice rewarding card (i.e. cashback of 1.5-2.5 percent) then that tiny difference in exchange rate is insignificant.

Edited April 23, 2018 by moana

[Skeptic7]

3 hours ago, Phulublub said:

Not true.

 

If you make sure the charge is in local currency,  (NOT GBP) then you will get bank interchange rate.  I do this all the time in supermarket usign either UK Aqua or Clarity Credit Card.  Good rate, no charges.

 

I also use on of my cards (Halifax Ckarity) when I want to top up my Thai bank account - withdraw cash, charged as baht at interbank rate (generally about 0.25 better than street stalls) and then deposit most straight into my THB account.  NO charges as long as I pay money into my credit card account (and with Halifax i can do tis before payment goes out) otherwise daily interest rate charge.  Understadn some platinum cards do same.

I concur. Not a UK card, but same with USA Capital One Quicksilver card. Be certain they charge in THB. Excellent exchange rates with NO fees + 1.5% cash back on all purchases. Use it everywhere that take it...as long as the Thai business doesn't add a percentage. Have been in hotels and dental clinics, for example, that accept CC's but add 3%. Then I pay cash.