Making a big purchase from company that doesn’t take Amex

[Scotty665]

Hi all,

Hoping to run this scenario past this forum to see if anyone has any better ideas! I have to make a £5k purchase soon and the local company doesn’t take AMEX. (New windows for my house and they were significantly cheaper!) Normally I use my Amex gold for all purchases and then transfer over to BA Avios. I don’t think there is anyway of taking out a card that allows me to collect Avios on a visa or Mastercard is there? (I don’t make the cut for the Barclays Avios card)

My other thought would be to use my existing Hilton Barclaycard as I currently have around 100K of Hilton points and just add to these. (£10k spend on this card per year triggers another year of gold status) It is 1 point per £1 spend. Is there another card that would give me better value than the 1 point per £1 spend?

Just want to make sure i have covered all bases before i make a rash decision!

Thanks
Scott

[NorthernLass]

There’s Billhop if the 2.95% fee is worth it for a sign up bonus or triggering a 241. The HH card is a good option though – it’s 2 points per £1 unless you have a different one than I do?! I’m going to use it to pay half of the final payment on our card in a couple of months for similar reasons (other half on Virgin card to a similar end).

[Scotty665]

Hey there – Thanks for the info – Sorry you are correct it is 2 points per £1 on the old Hilton Barclaycard.

[Rob]

I’d use Hilton. You’re getting 0.66% back (based on our Hilton points valuation) with no card or Billhop fees, which seems the easiest way to go.

[masaccio]

Paypal gets me through most stuff online but guessing a windows supplier won’t offer Paypal

[Scotty665]

Cheers Rob! Ill probably just go down the Hilton route in that case.

Yeah PayPal is a good shout most of the time. I Use this for a few things myself that doesn’t take AMEX, including things like my BT broadband bill 🙂 Sadly however PayPal is a no go on this occasion.
Cheers everyone!
Scott

[jj]

Or you can apply for the free Virgin card and earn 3,750 points. Even if you can’t see a way of geting value with Virgin Atlantic, you will be able to enjoy eighteen and three quarter sausage rolls in Greggs.

[Rui N.]

Scotty665 wrote:

Cheers Rob! Ill probably just go down the Hilton route in that case.

Yeah PayPal is a good shout most of the time. I Use this for a few things myself that doesn’t take AMEX, including things like my BT broadband bill 🙂 Sadly however PayPal is a no go on this occasion.
Cheers everyone!
Scott

You can pay your BT bill with Amex if you request a Paypoint card (need to give BT a call, but it’s straighforward to get it) and then top up your account at a Co-Op that accepts Amex for Paypoint.

[Peter K]

Paying by Hilton also gives you section 75 protection. Billhop doesn’t.

[Harrier25]

Rui N. wrote:

Scotty665 wrote:

Cheers Rob! Ill probably just go down the Hilton route in that case.

Yeah PayPal is a good shout most of the time. I Use this for a few things myself that doesn’t take AMEX, including things like my BT broadband bill 🙂 Sadly however PayPal is a no go on this occasion.
Cheers everyone!
Scott

You can pay your BT bill with Amex if you request a Paypoint card (need to give BT a call, but it’s straighforward to get it) and then top up your account at a Co-Op that accepts Amex for Paypoint.

Why bother with all that when you can just click through to PayPal directly from the BT website!

[SteveJ]

Peter K wrote:

Paying by Hilton also gives you section 75 protection. Billhop doesn’t.

This. For new windows I’d definitely be thinking of this as the most important consideration.

[can]

I mean £5k is half a BA 2-4-1 voucher via billhop. If that’s something that you need sooner. Otherwise I’d use Hilton.

[Scotty665]

Cheers everyone for the comments and suggestions. I think ill hit this with the Hilton. A new kitchen will be purchased in Ikea soon enough with an Amex so that can be put on the BA 241 Card….The joys of doing up an old house!

[CarpalTravel]

SteveJ wrote:

Peter K wrote:

Paying by Hilton also gives you section 75 protection. Billhop doesn’t.

This. For new windows I’d definitely be thinking of this as the most important consideration.

Absolutely this, it was my very first thought when I read the original post! Sod the points, I’d want to make sure I had this as backup. Only deviation from that is I believe even if only a small deposit is paid directly on a credit card, the whole purchase is then covered?

[Rui N.]

Harrier25 wrote:

Rui N. wrote:

Scotty665 wrote:

Cheers Rob! Ill probably just go down the Hilton route in that case.

Yeah PayPal is a good shout most of the time. I Use this for a few things myself that doesn’t take AMEX, including things like my BT broadband bill 🙂 Sadly however PayPal is a no go on this occasion.
Cheers everyone!
Scott

You can pay your BT bill with Amex if you request a Paypoint card (need to give BT a call, but it’s straighforward to get it) and then top up your account at a Co-Op that accepts Amex for Paypoint.

Why bother with all that when you can just click through to PayPal directly from the BT website!

Because paying with Paypal wasn’t available the last time I needed to top up my account…
But thanks, I did not know that it takes Paypal now. Will need to top up in 3 months.

[Erico1875]

You can load £1k from Amex to Monzo via the Paypoint/Co op method

[can]

Can someone clarify that to me, risking sounding even goofier:
Monzo is my main account. My pay check etc all goes in there.
What is the realistic risk of getting caught of MS if I do like £500 each month via paypoint/coop??
Does Amex treat it as cash advance?