Pay Your Credit Card In Full And Get Shopping Deal & Cash

In our min-series of credit card tips, we have overlooked one sphere of society – the users who pay off their bill in full every month.

Such people are a too-rare breed. Recognisable by their ironed jeans and neatly parted hair, these belts and braces merchants are a race apart. But let us not be too hard on them (it is just jealousy, after all), because not only are they paying no interest on purchases made but they’re getting perks for doing it.

Interests rate charges are clearly irrelevant for such people, so the additional benefits become more important.

Cashback cards are one route to go. One bonus is that they are easy to comprehend. Alliance & Leicester offers a Moneyback Visa, paying 0.5 per cent on spending of up to a top limit of £20,000.

That’s not bad, and better if you use the card at approved vendors, like BP, Hertz car hire or the Littlewoods Index catalogue. If you don’t drive or don’t dress like your granny dressed you, such perks have only limited appeal.

So looking further, we see that the Abbey National Cashback credit card offer 0.5 percent on the first £500 spent and 1 per cent on purchases thereafter, up to the typical £20,000 ceiling.

Using that example, if you spend £1,660 each month on the card, you can expect to receive around £160 back at the year end. And remember, there is no annual fee for these cards, so you are quids in.

One other is cashback route is at the Co-op. About as sexy as Littlewoods, granted, but your ego can be caressed with the 3 per cent saved on Coop branded goods, and 1 per cent on all other in-store products.

And if you pay with a Dividend credit card at the Co-op, you can get another 1 per cent. That’s 4 per cent back – cash.

As with all things, investigate before diving in, and the likes of Egg, Smile and American Express all offer attractive deals.

These card operators want your business, and they will pay you to get it.