Credit Card Freebies

A question about : Credit Card Freebies

If you've spotted a new credit card freebie. !Then please reply to this and tell us about it.

To read Martin's article on credit card freebies click here https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi...1149376,77935,

If you only have basic details of the freebie, great! Please tell us. !However if you know then please include

i. What the freebie is?
ii. What you need do to qualify for it?
iii. Is it generally available or only through a special link?
iv. Any idea how long it is available for?
v. Any details on the interest rate of the card?

Martin

Best answers:

• My wife just received a mailshot from MBNA offering Liverpool Football Club sponsored credit card.
  The freebie they are giving away is a Liverpool FC home shirt :'( (after Chelseas 1-2 win) subject to availability for applications before September 26th. Use the card once and the home shirt is yours within 28 days. It is not available on the MBNA website so it looks like a mailshot promotion.
  As MBNA also promote Manchester Utd and Chelsea FC cards, maybe they will be offering those teams shirts as freebies depending on location.
  The interest rate is 0% p.a transfer of existing borrowing and 15.9% APR variable on purchases.
• I'm a unison member and I've been offered a card with various benefits but the big one is if I use it within 30 days of receiving it I get Ј40 M&S vouchers. The terms don't specify how much I have to spend.
  See it online at www.unioncard.co.uk/unison
• This will certainly be a Bank of Scotland 'Affinity" card, which they sell through various organisations and charities.
  There are quite a number of variants of these, including the Stroke Association, which I had for a while. Apart from the Ј40 vouchers, the association or charity gets a certain amount of money when you sign up, and of course there's usually a 0% balance transfer (you need to pay off your initial spend before making this or else you can end up paying interest). I didn't get a particularly generous credit limit though, about 2.5K where normally I get 6-10.
  Anyway it's quite a worthwhile card to look at from a fewangles if you haven't already got a BOS card of some sort.
• I have got an MBNA Europe Platinum card with freebie CD player. I phoned to ask how to get my CD player, I was told to pay the minimum payment on my account statement then make a purchase of say Ј5 and the CD will be sent to me within 28 days. I have also applied for a Blue Amex card with freebie Digital Camera, the same applies as above. After reading Martins post, (Important note: Both these cards have special interest rates that apply only to balance transfers, not for your spending. This means you should NEVER use these cards for spending on. Do that and your spending debts will be trapped at a high rate, and you won’t be able to clear them until you’ve paid the whole amount of the balance you have transferred off.) “When is a freebie not a freebie” seems to apply to the above. The only way I could beat this system is to pay off my balance transfer of Ј500 + my Ј5 purchase = freebie, then balance transfer an other Ј500 from my Lloyds card to take advantage of my 9 month Btf of 0% Is it worth doing this? Has anyone taken up the freebie offer? Or what do you think? Thanks Cosmos
• Both these are good points. Let me clarify slightly - the 'you must spend' criteria allows a very small spending amount. If you spend a tiny bit and do the balance transfer the impact is very very small.
  With Blue Amex if you dont spend Ј500 a year there is an annual fee. However if you spend a little and use the balance transfer at 4.9% (assuming it is that rather than cashback you want it for - with cashback there's no issue) then the Ј15 is actually not too big an amount considering the low cost of the BT (providing your BT is above Ј1,000 - the equation is skewed slightly for lower amounts)
  martin
• It is *not* a tremendously wonderful CD player, so not worth jumping through hoops for. You don't have to do an immediate balance transfer though - this can be done online later - so the solution is just to spend a fiver, pay it off, then do a transfer.
• and the amex blue gives you the chance of winning a car ... fat chance that i'll win
  I'm interested in the amex blue, if only for the camera, i always pay off my balances in full so interest rates don't bother me and it beats my current cashback rate... but I knew someone that applied for a Blue Amex a couple of years ago and he said he had problems with places accepting it? Is this true?
  He got the card when they charged an annual fee, and he craftily got out of paying the annual fee by saying he didn't realise he had to pay a fee and telling the customer service woman that he didn't want it if he had to pay a fee... so she said he didn't have to pay a fee... it might be worth trying with any other cards that have an annual fee.
• Unfortunately the Blue Amex is less accepted than a Visa or Mastercard. Often the problem is in restaurants. Usually I recommend the Circle Rebate card for exactly this reason as it is the only other full 1% card - yet it is a Mastercard. However the camera swings teh balance somewhat as does the 2% for three months.
  On another note - it should be pointed out the 'offer' Blue Amex doesn't have teh 4.9% balance transfer rate anymore, it now has a worse rate - i've amended the main article to explain.
  martin
• I have just recieved an email offering me a free men's Accurist watch RRP Ј69.90 (while stocks last), if I apply for an MBNA card with 9mths 0% APR.
  See the link below for details.
  https://www.applyonlinenow.com/UKMPa...geName=rewards
• Anyone wants up to Ј2000 interest free for up to six months?
  Citi Bank is offering that when you apply for their credit card. You can apply upto Ј2000 and they will send you a cheque. Can used the money and save it in a Bank Account. Also purchases are 6 months interest free.
  They have a stand at Blue Water in front of the Lego shop. Whether you apply or not you can have a go at their virtual car racing facilities.
• I found Citi Bank gave me a ridiculously low credit limit, and after the 0% intro time the rate is supposed to go up to 34.9%!!!! Not that it will, of course, cos I will pay it off then.
  When I complained about the ongoing rate they told me to "ring at the end of the introductory offer and we will probably be able to negotiate the rate".
  Depending on what they give me I will keep for emergencies or do the usual paper and scissors trick with it - telling them to remove me from their customer list of course. This site is teaching me many things.
• I have been trying to get Ciitbank to close my account for 2 years. I send a letter with the cut up card and assume that all is well, until they send me a new card, or an annual statement.
  I have sent them a firmer letter recently, jsuting waiting for a response.
• Have you tried contacting MBNA?
• That was to have been my next move! Thanks anyway. Of course the cd player will have come from an intermediary and it is so cheap it doesn't even have a mains adapter I am wondering if it is worth the effort of chasing up MBNA and then a third party.
• If it is that cheap then just say so to MBNA. Say you want another one as it is not worth getting it fixed and ask for an address so you can return the broken one. It can always be used as a gift for a child too young to be given a "proper" CD player.
• I just signed up for Citi Bank's Card after seeing their promotion in a local shopping centre.
  they were offering :
  1. Ј 2,000 Cash at 0% for 6 months (that's why i got the Card)
  2. 0% on purchases for 6 months
  3. 0% on Balance transfers for 6 months.
  So i'm with Citi for the next 6 months.
  anybody come across any other interest free cash offers ?
  Ardenium