Credit Cards for Cashback

Click here to compare credit cards with cash back

The concept of credit card cashback is simple, when you spend money on your credit card you'll get a percentage of your spend returned to you every so often. Usually it’s totalled up and paid annually, either on the anniversary of the account opening or at a fixed date. Typically the rate is between 0.5% and 1% although some of the best deals offer as much as 5% cashback for a limited period which means if you spent £1000 on your card you would get £50 back.

Cashback schemes tend to outperform reward points schemes when compared.

You should only really choose a card with cashback if you’re never charged interest otherwise the cost of the interest will outweigh the cashback gain. If you always repay the card in full each month, the cashback is money the credit card company is giving you.

Card	Intro Rate Balance Transfers	Intro Rate Purchases	Representative APR (variable)
American Express Platinum Cashback	14.0% (Fee: 3% - min £3)	14.0%	18.7%	Details / Apply
	Earn 5% cashback for the first three months up to a maximum of £100 plus 2.5% cashback in the anniversary month when you spend £10,000 a year £25 annual fee Cashback: Up to 5% cashback on purchases
	Representative Example Representative 18.7% APR variable. Based on annual fee of £25 and assumed credit limit of £1200. Interest rate for purchases: 14.0% p.a. variable

Santander 123	18.9% (Fee: Up to 5% - min £5)	18.9%	22.8%	Details / Apply
	Earn up to 3% cashback at supermarkets, department stores and petrol stations Cashback: Earn 1% cashback at supermarket, 2% at department stores and 3% at petrol stations (£300 monthly spend cap applies)
	Representative Example 18.9% p.a. variable on card purchases. This is equivalent to 22.8% APR representative variable based on a credit limit of £1,200. Annual fee: £24

Cashback credit cards in decline
An investigation conducted by data analyst Defaqto reveals the cashback reward offers and in dramatic decline. As many as a quarter of credit cards offered cashback as a reward for spending five years ago, but today fewer than one in 20 cards carries this incentive. A total of 28.2% offered cash in January 2004 but in 2010 this figure has fallen markedly to 4.8%.