Is the Tandem Money cashback credit card worth £5.99 per month?
Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission. See here for all partner links.
For a long time, our recommended credit card for overseas use was from challenger bank Tandem Money.
It was a great product. There was no annual fee, you paid nothing in foreign exchange fees and you got 0.5% cashback on all of your spending – even your foreign spend.
This was clearly a loss leader for Tandem which couldn’t continue. The card was withdrawn for new applications late last year. Existing cardholders received an email yesterday explaining that they are losing it too unless they pay a fee.
From March, cardholders have two options – they can either pay a £5.99 monthly fee to retain their card, or the card will be cancelled.
For most people, it will be ‘bye bye’ to Tandem Money.
If you have a bit of cash sitting around, there MAY be something for you.
The £5.99 fee also allows you to open a Tandem Money savings account with a ‘top of the market’ interest rate of 1.5%. You can invest up to £250,000 although I doubt you would want to risk more than the £85,000 that is Government-protected in case of default.
If you DO have £85,000 in cash, there is an interesting angle here:
Invested in Tandem Money at 1.5%, you would receive £1,275 gross in interest
The best alternative deal at the moment is probably Marcus at 1.35% (£1,147 of interest)
You would be paying a £72 annual fee for your Tandem Money account BUT you would be receiving £128 more of gross interest. Knock off tax at your marginal rate and you should be roughly quits, which means that the credit card benefits are all upside.
There is one more quirk as well. From March, the interest rate on the Tandem credit card will be 0%. Forever. Tandem is basically offering you a 0% loan as long as you pay your £5.99 monthly fee.
Want to earn more points from credit cards? – March 2024 update
If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.
In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.
You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review
Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard
15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review
Earning miles and points from small business cards
If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:
SPECIAL OFFER: You receive a huge 120,000 Membership Rewards points if you apply for American Express Business Platinum by 9th April 2024. You receive 80,000 points for spending £12,000 within 90 days and a further 40,000 points if you retain the card for 14 months. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: You receive 60,000 Membership Rewards points if you apply for American Express Business Gold by 9th April 2024. Remember that the card is FREE for the first year. You receive 40,000 points for spending £6,000 within 90 days and a further 20,000 points if you retain the card for 14 months. Click here to apply.
British Airways Accelerating Business American Express
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
American Express Business Platinum
Crazy 120,000 points bonus (to 9th April) and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
Huge 60,000 points sign-up bonus (until 9th April) and free for a year Read our full review
Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa
Get a 10,000 points bonus plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review
For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.
Barclaycard Select Cashback credit card
2% cashback on all your business spend for 3 months (1% thereafter) and no annual fee Read our full review
Comments (216)