What are the best credit card sign-up deals for August 2018? – plus a news round-up

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• Roger says:

  6 Aug6 August 06:18

  What’s the best card or cards for high spend?

  I’m in the fortunate position to have charges into 7 figures annually and use the Amex Platinum card. Is this still the best option to retain flexibility?

  • BJ says:

    6 Aug6 August 06:35

    Yes, so far as the total range of options is concerned. However, if you want greater flexibility with airlines then SPG is better. Personally, I would take all the ‘freebies’ such as free night nights at hotels with IHG and SPG and the 241 and Lloyds vouchers. After hitting those I put it all into amex platinum unless you wanted a substantial balance with Alaska for example in which case I would still put a lot through SPG.

    • Genghis says:

      6 Aug6 August 06:41

      Which airlines are on Amex MR but not on SPG? For miles, the 1 with Plat but effective 1.25 with SPG can make a difference.

      IMO the plat card should never really be used.

      • BJ says:

        6 Aug6 August 06:57

        Interesting perspective, I get it but I would not say never because MR are flexible across a range of travel and shopping redemptions, not just airlines so that has to be worth something even if not always the most valuable redemption. With the range of airline partners and over 6000 Marriott hotels to choose from there is now a strong case for the SPG card being the best of the lot for spend such as Roger has provided he is happy to restrict hotel redemptions to Marriott.

      • Matt says:

        6 Aug6 August 07:00

        I’m not that knowledgable about SPG, but thought Lufthansa was on a transfer partner (and not on Amex MR)?

        I assume Amex Gold is a better option to spend on because earning rate is same as plat on most spend, there’s a 10k MR annual bonus for spending £15k and you earn double MR points on airline spend?

      • Alan says:

        6 Aug6 August 07:40

        Agreed, earnings rate on Plat is woeful. As long as you’re happy with the new expanded Marriott portfolio or wish to transfer to an airline I’d go with putting spend on SPG (as well as hitting targets for free nights, etc on all the other cards). MR points only useful vs that if looking to transfer to other hotel programmes, but I’m not sure it’s worth the loss of points earned…

    • BJ says:

      6 Aug6 August 09:49

      It is more hassle but there is a strong argument for a diversified portfolio. Just a few months ago many of us expected the demise of the SPG airline transfer options. Just because Marriott surprised and delighted us in this respect is not in itself a great reason to hoard all our points in Marriott, it could leave us very exposed. Despite poor earning rate MR probably remains the most flexible currency to hold. However, for spender as opposed to hoarders tgen SOG anex is certainly a great deal in tbe short term at least.

  • Anna says:

    6 Aug6 August 07:12

    You would get more in terms of sign up bonuses and the BAPP 2 4 1 voucher if you spread the spend across several cards, although obviously this can be time-consuming.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    6 Aug6 August 08:05

    Spending on the Platinum is probably the worst idea.

    Personally SPG for long term spending but id put £10k on a BAPP twice a year (6m gap to make sure I get the bonus) all the amex cards referred from my Platinum.

    Plus atleast £10k on an IHG Black for the free night.

    • KBuffett says:

      6 Aug6 August 20:16

      Is it possible to keep the earned points in Marriott/SPG and then transfer to airline when required?

      • Genghis says:

        6 Aug6 August 20:19

        Of course

      • Genghis says:

        6 Aug6 August 20:20

        Yes

  • Rob says:

    6 Aug6 August 09:08

    SPG at the moment BUT only after you’ve triggered annual bonuses on IHG Premium, BAPP etc.

  • Jon says:

    6 Aug6 August 09:32

    Whoah! 1 million+ spend. The options are limitless but at that point earn rate for regular spend is critical. Obviously still max every sign-up bonuses going if you can, (even the rubbish ones like 25k for a free low-cat SPG night become trivial) .but after that… Depends on whether it would be useful to you but absolute maximum mile earn would be the paid Virgin Flying Club card at 1.5 miles/£. SPG and Amex both offer a lot more flexibility though. At spend in the millions I’d be having a quiet word as to whether any non-advertised (black?) cards/levels are available..?

    • Rob says:

      6 Aug6 August 10:09

      I’d value an SPG point at 1.5p (0.5p after 18th April) which is on a par with the Virgin card (assuming you value the miles at 1p) with a lot more flexibility.

  • pauldb says:

    6 Aug6 August 09:44

    You might considering jumping through the hoops to get an ICC Amex, particularly if you have an existing load of MR points and/or fancy collecting SQ points. https://headforpoints.com/2018/05/31/get-30-bonus-membership-rewards-balance-isnt-always-great-idea/
    (Either get the cheap ICC card, or switch from UK Plat to ICC Plat + cheap UK MR card).

    • pauldb says:

      6 Aug6 August 09:57

      But also take a look at whether the SPG card can get you miles that would be a lot more valuable than avios. You can quickly get enough Alaska or AA miles to get some bargains from their award charts to Asia/SWP, and that will open up a lot more availability (and YQ avoidance) than BA.

    • Alan says:

      6 Aug6 August 15:37

      Was even nicer when exchange rate was $1.5 to £1!

    • Mr Dee says:

      6 Aug6 August 20:22

      You don’t need to jump through hoops, anyone should be able to apply. The ICC card is a no brainer for USD and EUR transactions as the fee there isn’t an FX fee, you do however need to make payments in the relative currency, so for higher spend but with high USD/EUR spend I would look at ICC.

      After you have maxed out the free night/flights/upgrade cards, realistically I think the IHG/Virgin/SPG cards are good if you are given a high limit on them.

      For real high spend though the charge cards are the best option unless you want to be paying the cards off several times a month which can be a hassle when you have to wait for payments to show.

• BJ says:

  6 Aug6 August 06:26

  SPG signup bonus:

  dropped TO 60%
  (or dropped by 40%)

  • Matt says:

    6 Aug6 August 07:03

    Although there’re interchangeable I think the bracketed version sounds cleaner. I’m sure Rob will get round to correcting the article.

  • Rob says:

    6 Aug6 August 09:07

    True …

• Lee says:

  6 Aug6 August 06:30

  How many credit / charge cards should anyone hold?

  When is it too many?

  • BJ says:

    6 Aug6 August 06:43

    I currently have 5 but a couple of years ago I had more than double that. I never got to the point that I was declined for other cards. I did tend to reduce available credit offered on MBNA cards though.

  • Matt says:

    6 Aug6 August 07:05

    I don’t think you’ll find a binary answer to your question. It will be a very much ‘it depends’ type of answer.

    • Mark says:

      6 Aug6 August 07:49

      I hold:
      – a Hilton card (spend 10k for gold a year).
      – A Marriott card (sits in the draw but the 10 reward nights is really useful).
      – ihg card (standard) that stays in the draw unless I need it for an accelerate target.
      – Whatever Amex I am churning at the time (generally, either my wife or I apply for an Amex each month, eg I take an SPG, then refer my wife, then my wife refers me to gold and so on)
      – A santander zero card for spend abroad (zero fees on spend and withdrawals)
      My wife also has a supplementary card for each of the above.
      My wife and I also have a curve card each. This is useful for hitting spending limits on Hilton ie my curve is linked to my Hilton main account and my wife’s curve is linked to the supplementary Hilton card. This way, we can draw two lots of £200 a month (£400 total a month) from the Hilton card, via an ATM. Essentially we are withdrawing 5k a year, so only need to spend 5k more to get Hilton gold.

      Finally, I have bank accounts with three different banks (to optimise bank addons and interest amounts)

      My credit score is as high as can be, I always pay everything off on time, and I have lowered the credit amount of cards that sit in the draws.

  • John says:

    6 Aug6 August 07:08

    As many as you like. It’s too many when you spend more than you can afford. Your total credit limits shouldn’t exceed 1.5-2x your annual income (as declared on card applications) if you want to reduce the likelihood of being rejected for new cards

• RichT says:

  6 Aug6 August 07:42

  Any idea where the SPG Gold status from the Amex will match to in the new programme? Will it suffer the same fate as the Amex Plat and be matched to the new programme Gold or remain at new programme plat?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    6 Aug6 August 08:07

    it will match as Gold.

  • Rob says:

    6 Aug6 August 09:06

    Guessing Gold.

• oonagh cacioppo says:

  6 Aug6 August 08:07

  Good morning! Can I apply for Amex Plat Business if I have Plat Personal and Gold Business and still get bonus points?

  • KBuffett says:

    6 Aug6 August 08:13

    No

    • oonagh cacioppo says:

      6 Aug6 August 08:32

      Bummer! Thank you any way!

    • Dimitri says:

      6 Aug6 August 13:03

      I can confirm I also received the bonus for business card whilst holding the personal card.

      • Rob says:

        6 Aug6 August 13:21

        It does happen sometimes as a fluke. I can show you a long list of people who did not get it.

  • simon says:

    6 Aug6 August 08:22

    In a similatr vein, this got me thinking – can I apply for AMEX Bus plat if I only have personal platinum, and get the sign up bonus?

    • KBuffett says:

      6 Aug6 August 08:28

      No
      You only get a bonus if you do not have a MR account, regardless of whether it’s a business or personal account.

      • simon says:

        6 Aug6 August 08:30

        thanks for the reply

      • RichT says:

        6 Aug6 August 08:35

        I got it when I had a corporate MR account… Are they treated different to Small Business?

      • roberto says:

        6 Aug6 August 10:59

        Not true.
        I have twice in the last few years applied for a business card (after being courted by Amex Business Dept) and received the full bonus on both occasions despite having a personal MR account.

• KBuffett says:

  6 Aug6 August 08:16

  Quite a few comments on here have stated they are getting 1 Marriott point on their SPG Amex instead of 3.

  Rob, any comment on this as it makes a big difference!

  • Rob says:

    6 Aug6 August 09:04

    I think you need to see what goes across. With no transfers for a few weeks Amex has plenty of time to adjust.

• Russ says:

  6 Aug6 August 08:39

  I’m interested to hear what Hilton are bringing. If they play their cards right (no pun intended) they could be a serious competitor IMHO to the SPG card. SPG’s 60% sliced of the bonus plus spend £25,000 a year just for a free middling category hotel night isn’t competitive.

• Stu P. says:

  6 Aug6 August 08:41

  Any news on if the SPG will come with 10 elite nights too?

  • Rob says:

    6 Aug6 August 09:03

    I think if it was then they would have changed it last week.

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