The Act requires that a credit card provider provides its customers with certain mandatory information before the card is provided to the new customer. In many instances this has not happened. It is also a requirement under the Consumer Credit Act that the card provider keeps a hard copy of the signed consumer credit agreement. If the credit card provider cannot evidence a signed copy then this is a ground for requesting the cancelation of the credit card. A number of companies offer credit card reclaiming services. However, watch out as they charge high commissions. You can reclaim the charges yourself if you feel up to the task. The DIY credit card charges refund kit provided by Legal Centre means you can have a go at reclaiming charges without the cost that you would incur using one of the many full service reclaim companies that exist in the current market. There is no guarantee that the claim will be successful but it is well worth a try given the minimal cost of the kit and the fact that if successful you could claim back hundreds or thousands of pounds.

Well there are so many credit cards around these days it becomes difficult to compare them, but when it comes to credit card comparisions then we are the people to ask.  I have selected two credt cards to compare and you can choose which of them you like the sound of best before you go and research them further or apply for one online today!

Any credit card with Mastercard is generally well accepted worldwide and you should get an adequate amount of cover in the event of losing money or belongings and all that sort of nasty business.  However, i was speaking with a friend the other day and her told me that the Mastercard logo is not as widely recognised as some people would care to think.  He recommends Visa as opposed to Mastercard, and he said this is especially so in many countries in Asia.  He said he used his Mastercard in Europe and the Visa everywhere else!

So there’s a little food for thought.  And another thing.  If you are travelling don’t be put off getting a credit card, and don’t feel like you’re being forced to either.  A credit card is an excellent back up defence mechanism in the event of you becoming homeless or broke.  Just because you have one with you does not mean you are being forced to spend money on it.

You see the object is for a credit card company to see that you are capable of paying off your debts regularly and on time.  When you fail to pay your payments on your credit card bill, your credit card company will lose faith in you and eventually you will not be able to obtain credit.  The best way to build up your credit score when you have had a debt problem in the past is to get another credit card.

However, the credit card you need is not like the ones that got you into debt in the first place.  They are credit cards that scare you so much with their astronomical interest rates that you dare not miss a payment.  What’s more important than this is the fact that you also need to watch what you spend simply because if you spend over a certain amount, you may not be able to pay off your bill at the end of the month!  Pay off your bill?  I hear you ask.

Yes, this is very important, simply because if you don’t then the interest will absolutely crucify you, and following this, you shouldn’t really do it again.

All in all these high interest cards like Capital One’s Plus card are designed to help you by setting high interest levels and low credit card limits.  These should almost train you to be good with credit again; and if you fail with one of these then you shouldn’t really have a card.

Sometimes you have a balance that could do with serious help and not just remedial damage control.  There are a variety of credit cards out there at the moment that don’t offer 0% on balance transfers but offer a very low interest rate for the life of the balance transfer!  Now that might not sound great, but your balance transfer could have quite a long life, and it’s quite possible you could run out of 0% balance transfer credit cards to swap between!

So if that interests you then i suggest you use someone like MBNA, i think their offer may still be available.  But if it is 0% interest then you do need the longest possible deals available don’t you?  Well there are a few that can be had and here’s a list of a few of them.

• Virgin Credit Card offers 16 months at 0% interest on balance transfers.
• Barclaycard offers 15 months at 0% interest on balance transfers.
• HSBC offers 15 months at 0% interest on balance transfers.

There are quite a few more out there offering good deals, and you shouldn’t only be attracted by the 0% interest on balance transfers, you should concentrate on the other things important to you like loyalty programmes or cashback too.

Let’s face it, we all need a good credit rating don’t we?  We can’t get a mortgage, a loan, or a credit card because we can’t be trusted; and you can’t blame them can you?  Unless there has been some dreadful error, it’s usually because you are actually terrible with money that they won’t trust you, never mind lend you £200,000 to buy a house.

Thankfully there are a few options open to you if this is the case.  You could win the lottery and put an end to all your financial difficulties and create a few new ones, pay off your debt and wait years and years for your credit rating to improve, or you could get a credit card that allows you to show your potential creditors how well you can pay your debts.

There are many “Bad Credit Cards” out there today, and becaue you can spend money on them in much the same way as any other card, you are enabled to rebuild your credit history by paying off the outstanding balance every month.

The reason they’re good for teenagers is primarily that they are the only credit cards that under 18s can get there hands on anyway.  There are others that are aimed at the adult market for all those who cannot get a regular credit card or for various reasons want to budget their money a little better.  Having a credit card like this can open a world of opportunity for the young credit card owner, and some of these prepaid credit cards will even allow you to use them online for things such as online purchases and gambling!

The Cashplus Gold Card is a prepaid credit card in the UK that carries the Mastercard brand, and actually offers purchase protection insurance too.  So there you have a pre paid card that is well worth an adult owning.  Many of the pre paid credit cards are also widely accepted abroad, simply beause of the new Mastercard branding that many of them carry these days.

Well some might not think so, and they have fair point.  While you may think you are donating to your favourite charity, whether it’s cancer research or the WWF, there may be a way you can do more with very little effort.  We all know that you don’t actually pay the charity yourself and that your credit card company does this on your behalf.  We are expected to believe that there is a benevolent force in the world of credit cards that just wants to give money away are we?

Well i don’t buy it!  To begin with, you better get the idea of them paying the charity on your behalf right out of your head, simply because the extra interest that you pay on a charity credit card should cover that nicely for them.  Also consider what you could do that might better this deal.  I’ve worked out that the tiny percentage of cash that your charity credit card pays to your chosen charity can be quite easily beaten it you were to choose a credit card that offers cashback, and you gave the charity the cash yourself through gift aid so they can claim back the tax.  Not only would the charity get more money, you might even be able to keep a little yourself.

I hear you all say “well that’s easier said than done!”  And right you may well be, but if you are at this point already then you may not be able to save yourself a lot of heartache and headaches in the not too distant future.  The point is that if you are paying only the minimum payment amount on your credit card bill because you can’t afford any more, then you are never going to be able to pay off your balance.  You might think that changing it to another credit card might help, and you’re right, it would, but not enough to pay it off.

The thing you need to do as soon as you get a credit card is only ever spend what you know you will be able to pay at the end of the month when you get paid.  If you’re salary allows you to spend £100 on a shirt then fine, use your credit card, get any loyalty points and whatever from the card, and then pay it back at the end of the month before you have to pay a load of interest!  This way you make your credit card work for you instead of the other way around.

This also serves to improve your credit rating and automatically upgrade you to a larger credit limit!  Be careful of the larger limits though, you might be tempted to spend more than you can afford (this is what they want remember!)

Well Egg came about in the late 1990s as one of those fashionable, friendly style, financial institutions.  These days they still try to be cool, but they’re just not at the same level as credit card providers like Virgin for example.  Their offers aren’t too bad though, and that’s why i’ve decided to give them a little review.

Their main strategy at the moment seems to be getting people to trust credit again, and make it appear as though it doesn’t cost you much.  This is ok if you can afford to pay in the long run, but if you’re attracted by this because you don’t think you can pay the interest on a credit card then you seriously need to avoid Egg.  They offer a fantasitc 0% interest on balance transfers until 1st April 2011.  Now that is really something, and to top it off they are also offering 0% interest on your purchases until 1st May 2010.  Remember though folks, May isn’t that far away, and it will soon creep up on you.

Egg Credit Card has interest rates that pretty much compare with everyone else these days at 16.9%, and they also offer their pretty unique Egg money manager tool online.  This tool allows you to manage all your accounts, not just Egg, in one place. This is so unique because it isn’t particularly useful in my opinion.

Overall if you want low interest rates on balance transfers choose Egg, otherwise there are many others to go for.

Virgin offer a variety of different features and their overall 16.6% interest rate seems about normal in today’s financial climate.  However they do offer a 0% interest rate on balance transfers for a massive 16 months.  This is quite a long time to start rebuilding your credit problems and to stop paying all that interest you were paying on your other credit cards (that is as long as you don’t spend a load more on your Virgin card, which is what they want you to do remember).

There is no annual fee with the Virgin Credit Card either, and when you sign up you get 50 days interest free on all your initial purchases.  This might actually be something to watch out for if you have chosen Virgin because of it’s good deal on balance transfers.  If you get attracted by the 50 days interest free and go nuts you could always end up in as much bother as you were with your previous credit card; especially when they add the interest on eventually!

You get all the other features with the Virgin Credit Card in much the same way as you do with all the other leading brands, like a discount scheme, free purchase protection and free travel accident insurance.

So all in all the Virgin Credit Card is a good choice if you can be sensible with your money.