American Express doubles cashback on Platinum Cashback credit card

The cashback on offer from the American Express Platinum Cashback credit card has been doubled to 5% for the first three months.

I love the idea of getting a reward for the money I spend on my credit card. In my case, I use my Tesco Clubcard Credit Card for everything, as a way of racking up Clubcard points. However, that does limit me somewhat in what I can cash in my ‘rewards’ on – either discounted shopping, or vouchers for one of Tesco’s partner schemes.

If you want to have completely free rein on how to cash in your rewards, then the best option is a cashback credit card. And the good news is that one of the leading cashback cards in the market just got a whole lot better!

The American Express Platinum Cashback credit card

Last year American Express revamped its Platinum Cashback credit card so that it offered 2.5% cashback in the first three months, before falling to a flat rate of 1.25%. It would also reward loyalty, with an anniversary bonus of 2.5% cashback for one month each year.

However, from today that offer has been adjusted again. Now there will be a whopping 5% cashback on offer for the first three months, up to a maximum cashback payment of £100. But you can continue earning cashback in that initial three months even after that cap has been reached, at a rate of 1.25%. That rate is then in place for all of your spending for the rest of the year.

What’s more, the anniversary bonus on your anniversary month with the card is still in place, with a rate of 2.5% so long as you spend £10,000 on the card across the year.

And American Express has even made it easier to get hold of the card, reducing the household income requirement to £20,000 from £30,000 although you'll also need a decent credit record.

So the Platinum Cashback card now offers now cashback and is available to more borrowers. Sounds like a triumph to me!

The downsides

Of course, this card is not perfect and won’t be right for everyone. There are a few negatives to consider.

First of all, there’s an annual fee of £25 that you’ll need to take into account. If you are only likely to do a relatively small amount of spending on this card, you may find that the fee eats up the bulk of your cashback, making the whole exercise somewhat pointless.

And then there’s the American Express problem. Sadly, Amex cards aren’t accepted everywhere. It’s a lot better than it used to be, but you will find some retailers just won’t accept them. So that’s spending that won’t help you earn any further cashback – a wasted opportunity.

So how does the new American Express proposition compare to the rest of the best cashback credit cards around at the moment?

The Capital One World MasterCard

The American Express card is not the only one offering a return of 5%. The Capital One World MasterCard also offers 5% cashback in the first three months, capped at £100, though any spending within that first 99 days after you’ve hit that cap will not earn a return.

After that, tiered rates apply. So if you spend less than £6,000 you’ll enjoy 0.5% cashback, between £6,000 and £9999.99 you’ll receive 1% cashback, and more than £10,000 of spending will see you pocket 1.25% cashback.

What’s more, there’s no annual fee to worry about.

The card is available to anybody over the age of 21 who has a household income of more than £20,000, again subject to your credit record.

Santander 123 Cashback MasterCard

The final cashback card I’m going to look at today comes from Santander, with its 123 Cashback MasterCard.

The name is a clue to the cashback you can expect – there’s a 1% return on money spent in supermarkets, 2% on money spent in department stores and 3% on money spent on fuel (with a £9 per month cap).

There’s an annual fee of £24 to worry about too. I'd say this is my least favourite, though if you tend to spend a lot on petrol I can see the appeal!

Working out the card for you

All of these cards are different, and working out which one will give you the biggest return on your spending can be a little tricky. One way to do so is to make use of lovemoney.com’s MoneyTrack tool.

The tool aggregates all of your accounts into a single place, so you can see exactly where you do the most spending. That way you can work out whether it’s worth going for a card which pays different rates of cashback depending on where that spending takes place, like the Santander card, or a card that offers a flat rate of cashback, like the American Express.

Why not give it a try?