The days of bumper cashback offers or fantastic rewards with your credit card are long gone. But there are still several good reasons to pay with plastic. One is the protection you receive thanks to Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

Pay for something costing between £100 and £30,000 on a credit card and the card provider is as liable as the seller if something goes wrong. Credit-card firms are currently swamped with Section 75 claims, thanks to Thomas Cook. The 178-year old travel agent went into administration in September, prompting thousands of customers who had booked trips on credit cards to submit refund claims.

You can put a claim in with your credit-card provider if the thing you purchased never arrives or isn’t what it should have been. For example, you could claim for flights you bought if the airline goes bust, or a car that breaks down days after you bought it. You even get protection for the whole cost if you only paid the deposit on your credit card. 

Another reason to put some of your spending on a credit card is that it improves your credit rating. It is a myth that a person who has never borrowed has the best credit rating. Lenders want to see that you are a reliable borrower; if you’ve never borrowed, they don’t know you’ll pay them back.

Using a credit card and repaying the balance in full each month – or at least never missing a minimum payment – will bolster your credit rating. There are also financial benefits to spending on a credit card. If you can’t afford to buy something outright then an interest-free credit card is still the cheapest way to borrow. For example, Sainsbury’s Bank is offering 27 months of 0% interest for new spending.

Just make sure you clear the debt before the interest-free period expires, otherwise you’ll end up paying 20.9% interest. Divide your debt by the length of the interest-free period and then set up a direct debit for that amount, so you don’t miss a payment and clear the debt in time. You need to make at least the minimum payment each month or you may lose the 0% deal and be charged a fee.

If you don’t need to borrow, then get paid to shop with a cashback credit card. The return on these cards isn’t as good as it once was, but it is still reasonable. The top-paying card is the Amex Platinum card. It has a annual fee but a 5% cashback rate for the first three months; the rate then falls to 1.25%.

But make sure you clear your balance in full each month, otherwise the 22.9% APR interest will quickly cost you more than you are earning in cashback.

Money Statistics

  150 – The number of tonnes of gold, silver and gems that could have been aboard the Nuestra Señora del Juncal Spanish treasure ship when it sank off Mexico in 1631. Spain and Mexico have agreed to look for it together. The 14 tonnes recovered from the wreck of the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes in 2007 was valued at £385m.

£15,000 – The estimated value of a recently unearthed silver coin from 826 AD, featuring the face of Saxon King Ludica of Mercia and the place name “Ludenwic”.

£40bn – The combined face value of all of the paper £20 notes that have started to be withdrawn from circulation. The old notes are bundled up into blocks of £50,000, and sent for composting by the Bank of England. You can still spend your paper £20 notes for the time being. 

Today’s National Day  

NATIONAL NO HOUSE WORK DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE  

 Dear Streetwise Customer,

I want to inform you of a new Facebook group Andi, a member of our staff has set up for Streetwise customers.  This group is for Streetwise customers only. It is a private members only group and we would like to invite you to join it.  

Andi suggested that he would like to host a series of live online training sessions starting next week. These live sessions will cover a range of important topics from creating the right mind set for success – which will be very handy if you have to stay in isolation for weeks or months at a time! – to the many different ways to make money online from home.  

Including how one man made $30,000 a month sharing untruths. Seriously. 

The reason for doing these live sessions is that if you are going to be in isolation for a few weeks then that is a great time to think about your future, your future income and learn new valuable skills.  

It is our way of giving back to you during this strange time and it is also a way that we can interact with our customers better. We can let you know of future products and what we are doing as a business. 

Andi knows a lot about online business and making money online after making quite a bit of it through his websites and various projects. He is the perfect person to be holding live training sessions in the Facebook group… it also helps with him being the only one out of us all who actually knows how to do it! 

To access these training sessions you need to join the group so please click the link below or the image above and request to join The Streetwise Private Members Only Club. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1326182417580313/

Being indoors for such a long time could have you climbing the walls and so you are going to need a healthy distraction. Something to take your mind off being imprisoned within your own four walls. 

This time will be a great opportunity to learn some new life changing skills and ways to earn an income. 

From what Andi has said to me, I believe the group is going to be invaluable to you. There is a lot of great stuff which he plans to share into the group. Stuff which I personally believe will make you see the internet and online businesses in a whole new light. 

To join the group click here: 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1326182417580313/