Best cashback available at present? (easymoney.com)

Member Name: grayme m

Product:	easymoney.com
Date:	25/03/02 (284 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Up to 0.8% cashback, User defined benefits, Easy to use

Disadvantages: Email teething troubles, 25p per min customer service

Visiting easymoney.com a few months ago I was greeted by a picture of Stelios, the Chairman of the EasyGroup, (encompassing EasyJet etc), cutting up his Barclaycard in protest of their policies over their ownership of Luton airport.
Politics aside, the site then progressed to express what this self-named, very orange, alternative to Barclaycard could offer its card users. To my knowledge, it is the first credit card that allows you to set what benefits you want to have.
For example, if you always pay the full balance of your card every month, you can set the cashback to maximum (0.8%), select to have no annual fee and allow the interest rate to rise to 17%; still lower than most competing cards.
If you want to have a lower interest rate, it can go down as far as 12% with a £20 annual fee, or 15.4% with no annual fee the trade off being that you get no cashback at all.
This selection process is made using sliding bars which are very easy to use, allowing a large variety of combinations with the general trade off being interest rate against annual fee and cashback.
Having recently suffered the halving of cashback to 0.5% by eggcard, this is a welcome opportunity to notch up 80p cashback for every £100 spent on the card, it soon adds up.
You get the opportunity to alter your card settings for free up to three times per year, then the charge is a hefty £10 each time, however it is unlikely that you should need to alter the settings that much.
The card is operated by Accucard and is a Mastercard, however seeing as it seems everyone takes both Mastercard and Visa, this is no real issue.
The online application form asks for details to first determine if you have sufficient financial credit status, then determines your credit limit from this. Then you may request an associated card (eg for your partner) and set up a direct debit to pay the balance (or less if you desire), and await the forms in the next few days' post to sign. A few days
later the card(s) should arrive and will require a free phone call to activate, then you are away.
From here on the card is a pretty standard internet based credit card. Designed to be used best on the internet, statements are available in paper form, however you will incur an extra 0.3% on the interest charge. Online you get access to latest details such as repayment dates, to see how much all-important cashback you have earned to date, to make online payments using a debit card or direct debit (or cheque) and even make an online balance transfer from another card. If you need to contact customer service, there is a secure email option using the online form but here comes my only gripe. Twice I used this option to email them to request a change to my direct debit date, twice received an automated response, but nothing further. This meant I needed to phone their customer service line and suffer the extortionate 25p per minute call charge.
However, their representative was very helpful and even rang me back later to let me know that everything would be altered in time for my next payment.
Hopefully the maximum rate of cashback will remain at at least 0.8% which would mean it will probably remain the highest reward credit card which is freely accepted (thus counting out the 1% American Express Blue); remaining for me my first choice for all credit card purchases.

Summary: