Caravan club credit card .....any good ??

[Pampam]

I was taking a payment off a lady today and noticed what a lovely colour her card was then noticed it was a caravan club one.i mentioned it because I've never seen one before and the lady replied that she uses it for everything then pays it off at end of month and gets vouchers for stays on sites has anybody else done this ??I've never had a credit card but am tempted pp

[Colin Leake]

Yes we have one but there are some limitations. Firstly you can only earn enough points for five free nights a year. Secondly most sites take the vouchers but not all especially the managed sites. Thirdly when you use a voucher/vouchers they are taken off the first days of you stay which are not necessarily the most expensive days. We book all our sites at the start of the year then work out where we will save the most. If we come across ones where say the first 3 days are low rate and the next two at a high rate we cheat the system by making two separate bookings so that we can use the vouchers on the more expensive second one.

 

The card is infact a Barclay Card run by the Caravan Club. The help line you need to contact to redeem you points for a voucher is UK based and very well run.

 

Vouchers last for about twelve months so you can save them up for the most expensive sites. Each voucher cover the pitch fee and up to four adults or children.

[Guest Had Enough]

Pampam - 2013-12-19 10:11 PM

 

I was taking a payment off a lady today and noticed what a lovely colour her card was then noticed it was a caravan club one.i mentioned it because I've never seen one before and the lady replied that she uses it for everything then pays it off at end of month and gets vouchers for stays on sites has anybody else done this ??I've never had a credit card but am tempted pp

 

I find it amazing that you don't have a credit card. Used sensible they're a great boon. No carrying loads of cash, protection for your purchases if the retailer goes bust and no messing about with cheques, which many retailers no longer accept.

 

If a card is used sensibly the interest rate is irrelevant as, 'by being used sensibly' I mean paying off the balance every month. If you don't pay off the balance the interest charges are high.

 

As for the CC card, there's nothing wrong with it. Many cards give a reward for use. Mine gives me a cash bonus every year based on a small percentages of my total purchases.

 

If you use CC sites you may find it useful to have the CC card and take advantage of the free nights.

 

The CC card will of course be run by one of the big banks with the CC just acting as an agent for that bank.

 

To sum up, credit cards are very worthwhile as long as you pay off the balance at the end of the month. You can even ask your provider to direct debit the whole amount every month so that there's no chance of forgetting to pay it. That's what I do.

 

 

 

[Mel B]

Pam, there are much better credit cards out there than the Caravan Club one, others give a better 'benefit' to the users, such as up to 3% cashback (Santander for example), Capital One gives 1% cashback I believe. The Caravan Club card gives you the equivalent of 1 voucher (worth I guess a maximum of around £25 for a single person on an expensive high season site). For every £1 you spend, you get 1 point, but you need 3,000 points for a free site night voucher! Compare this to other rewards Credit Cards which offer much better payback. If you want to use CClub sites you can only use the vouchers on certain types - we used to have the CClub card and when we earned vouchers we just sold them on Ebay as we rarely went on their main sites, preferring their CLs (we very rarely go away in the UK now, except to shows or wild camping, so aren't members any more).

 

I've taken this from their website:

 

You will earn one Point for every £1 of Purchases appearing on your statement minus any refunds. You will not earn Points on Cash Withdrawals, Balance Transfers and on certain purchases including gambling and gaming. See the Caravan Club Rewards Programme Rules for additional information on excluded transactions and limitations.

 

Once you have accrued 3000 Points you will be eligible to request a Site Night Voucher or Camping Cheque.

 

The maximum qualifying spend to earn points is £15,000 in any calendar year.

 

Once issued, Barclaycard has no obligation to replace lost, damaged or stolen Vouchers.

 

Additional terms & conditions apply to the use of Site Night Vouchers and Camping Cheques. Please see the reverse of the Vouchers and Camping Cheques for the conditions of use and contact The Caravan Club for any queries relating to restrictions on redeeming Site Night Vouchers and Camping Cheques. The vouchers can be redeemed at all Club sites, subject to availability, excluding Affiliated Sites, Management Agreement Sites (MAs) and Certificated Locations (CLs).

 

The voucher covers a maximum of 2 adults and 2 children.

More details here:

 

http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/insurance/credit-card/reward-terms-and-conditions

 

Compare credit cards here:

 

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/credit-card-tips#cashback

 

[tonyishuk]

We did think about a CC card. It has taken several years to get over the shock of Barclay Card dumping Nectar points !!! ( How long ??)

 

Ended up with a Marks & Spencer card, They send you vouchers every 3 months for in-store spends, But as we eat also tend to wear clothes, not having a "universal" means of trading rewards did not bother us.

 

Seemed more use than a couple of freebie campsite nights.

 

Rgds

[Dave225]

I have had one from the days long before it became a Barclaycard. I keep it, use it occasionally but as for any 'freebies' from the CC, I do not bother with them. It takes a spend of £3000 to get a voucher for 1 night soo unless you are using it regularly it will take a while. However, it does allow the option of Camping Cheque vouchers in place of CC site vouchers and we did get a couple of these last Spring which paid the overnight stops on the way to Spain.

 

Why do I keep it? It costs me nothing because I always pay it off each month and at my age as a retiree the hassle of getting another credit card does not appeal. Again, we now are a cash couple so credit is no advantage to us anymore. Similarly i have an Amex card which again I do not use regularly. I did contact them when I retired to explain my new 'impecunious' situation as a retiree and they were very happy to allow me to continue having a card as i had been a long standing customer, however I did drop it back a level to save some money in fees. Again, I keep it for those emergency situations where I need to spend large sums to get out of a situation. It does by the way give me points which do amount to a case of wine every 6 months, and travel cover, so at least something.

[Hawcara]

We use a Nationwide Card abroad, good exchange rate, which last year was better than Caxton on the day.

However, what cards do people use everyday? We have a CC card, which don't use that much now, so perhaps a change is needed for something free.

The Santander card only works if you use it a lot as there is a £2 a month charge. :-D

[Dave225]

The Santander 123 account is pretty good and yes, I know it is not a credit card, but it still pays you money back. Even with the £2 fee we are still ahead with the cashback on Council Tax, electric and telephone and it does pay interest currenlty more than a savings account.

[lennyhb]

Hawcara - 2013-12-21 6:25 PM

 

We use a Nationwide Card abroad, good exchange rate, which last year was better than Caxton on the day.

However, what cards do people use everyday? We have a CC card, which don't use that much now, so perhaps a change is needed for something free.

The Santander card only works if you use it a lot as there is a £2 a month charge. :-D

 

We NW CC abroad for the UK use a Tesco CC collect Avios (Airmiles) last year went to the USA & India FOC, unfortunately they have now brought in charges on flights very high on international. Still good value on European flights £30 for a return, also can use them on Ferries & Eurostar, Just had a weekend in Brussels on Eurostar and a couple of years ago used them to get the van to Ireland.

[Brock]

I wouldn't take on a credit card just because of the offers that it brings with it. If the benefits of having a credit card are worthwhile to you, get one. Most people have one. Choose one with the additional rewards that you want. There is nothing wrong the with CC card if you feel an affinity with the Club. But you can continue to live without a credit card.

 

 

 

 

[bolero boy]

I don't see why anyone should be in the position of paying for a credit card (unless that are happy with the benefits provided) as virtually all are free to run if you pay off each month.

As for keeping a particular card in case of emergencies, there should be little problem in getting a sufficiently large credit limit on any card to cover pretty much everything i can think of.....new van etc... ;-)

Santander was mentioned earlier, not to do specifically with their card but the current account attracts 3% on balances of £2000 (I think) upto £20000. I asked at one branch about how many I could have, the answer was two for me and two for my wife. In this time of rubbish interest rates, especially when combined with instant access requirements, this gives the opportunity to get 3% instant access on upto £80k.

Yes, I know a little jiggery pokery is required to move in a cash amount each month, but not beyond most to set up a few timed transfers to get around the rules. I have a year left on a really great 5 year fixed rate so am keeping my eyes open...

[lennyhb]

Depends what you want out of a card my friends son has an Amex one that costs him quite a few hundred quid a year but it saves him thousands, with the card he always gets a free upgrade to Business Class as he flys out to China once a month the card pays for it's self on one trip.

 

As Chris says moving money about is a bit of a pain but can bring rewards, we made £1300 in the last year by shuffling money between current accounts, and that was just between 2 Lloyds & 2 NW accounts

[bolero boy]

Quite right, Lenny, in today's market it is easy to just sit back and think all rates are rubbish, I won't bother. But, there are a few about and things are easing slightly. I know 3% doesn't sound much but in my example that would be £2400 in interest (provided the capital is there).

On my company's pension report, one of the (four) managed funds made 19.5% return during 2013, so somebody is making money ;-) .

Of course, before anyone gets any ideas, I would NOT have got a 19.5% increase in my pension, lol! :-)

[Mel B]

NOT having any form of credit card means you are actually worse off than by having one! Really, it is!

 

So long as:

 

* you pay it off each month so you don't accrue any interest

* get one with 'benefits' (eg cashback)

* don't pay a fee for it (unless you really, really benefit by doing so, much more than the actual fee itself)

 

There is no real downside. They have differing qualifying criteria so you may have to shop around to see which is the best 'deal' for you, but NOT having one actually COSTS you money in real terms! :-S

 

As for the Santandar 123 bank account - we've had a couple for a year now, you can't beat it with the cashback (up to 3%) plus the 3% interest on balances between £3,000 and £20,000. Speaking to the staff, it has proved to be massively popular and they have no intention of stopping it as far as I can gather. You do have a minimum of £500 a month going into the account (not in one go though) to meet the terms, but it doesn't have to stay there so you can 'feed' it from another account (outside of Santander) with a standing order and then send it right back again, or you can pay it in, in person, and draw it out again straight away ... if you have 2 123 current accounts you can even draw it out of one, pay it into the other, draw it out of that and then pay it back into the original one!

[bolero boy]

Mel, thanks for the confirmation, ill be looking for something like this in the future.

[Mel B]

Just to add to the below about the Santander 123 current account:

 

You also have to have at least 2 direct debits set up on each account, as well as the other stuff, to qualify for the 3% interest each month, until you do you won't receive any interest regardless of how much money is in the account. The DDs don't have to be regular ones (ie each month, quarterly etc) they can be a single DD for the year, for example a TV licence annual payment, a magazine subscription ... so long as there are at least 2 'active' ones you will qualify. :-D You get cashback on some of the DDs too (up to 3%) depending on what they are.

 

Also, the Santander credit card gives up to 3% cashback too depending on what you purchase with it (ie what type of organisation ... fuel station, supermarket .... etc).

 

Mel B - 2013-12-22 8:36 PM

 

As for the Santandar 123 bank account - we've had a couple for a year now, you can't beat it with the cashback (up to 3%) plus the 3% interest on balances between £3,000 and £20,000. Speaking to the staff, it has proved to be massively popular and they have no intention of stopping it as far as I can gather. You do have a minimum of £500 a month going into the account (not in one go though) to meet the terms, but it doesn't have to stay there so you can 'feed' it from another account (outside of Santander) with a standing order and then send it right back again, or you can pay it in, in person, and draw it out again straight away ... if you have 2 123 current accounts you can even draw it out of one, pay it into the other, draw it out of that and then pay it back into the original one!

[jonmar]

Would hate to be without a credit card in France as we find we always get a good rate of exchange when our bill comes in - paid monthly and using a no charge card, in our case a Post Office card. We take our points from the Caravan Club card used in UK only, in Camping Cheques as we do most of our camping in France and even if in UK are finding the Camping Club sites are in the wrong places and too regimented in most cases. I was interested in the only 5 vouchers a year as I'd not heard it, but do take the precaution of 'cashing in' at the end of the year to be safe. We also use a Caxton card loaded when the exchange rate is reasonably OK, but really only use that for cash and have no ATM charges.

 

Happy camping to all in 2014

[dipstick0_0]

I used 4 vouchers over the new year at hillhead CC site and saved myself over £115 so I was happy with that

Happy new year everyone

 

:$ ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-)