RBS Credit card

• 0% interest on balance transfers for 15 months (2.9% fee on the transfer amount)
• 16.9% APR
• 0% interest on purchases for first 3 months
• Discount reward system on shopping, wine and travel

Egg

• 0% interest on balance tranfers until Sep 2011.  This is also 15 months, just like RBS; Egg have just tried to make it sounds longer.
• 17.9% APR.  Not as good as RBS,
• 0% interest on purchases until October 2010.  Again this is the same as RBS and Egg are trying desperately to make it sound much, much longer.
• Egg Cashback store.  This is a reward system that offers cashback on online retailers.  This is great if you spend a lot of money online.

So you can see from the comparison that basically the RBS credit card is better than Egg for a variety of reasons, not least among them should be the fact that Egg are trying to fool you rather pathetically!  And that is basically how you do a very basic credit card comparison.  More next time.

What’s the old saying? Something to do with irons in the fire i think, but the fact remains that when you get a volley of acceptances through the post or via email (whichever way they work it) then you’ll have a choice of the card you want.  Don’t be afraid to leave them waiting either, remember that they want your business and they’ll do almost anything to get it.

The trick is to do your credit card comparison in two stages.  The first stage is to use the comparision websites to make your initial choices from the things you find most important in a credit card.  If 0% interest on purchases is what you’re after then write down all the cards that offer this feature.  Before long you’ll have a list of the credt cards that carry all (or as many as possible) of the features you’re looking for.  Then go onto the stage i mentioned above; simply apply for all of them.

When you get your answers from them, choose which one you want.

Online Account Management

Your RBS credit card allows you to register for online credit card management.  This allows you to check your account balance, purchases and make any payments off your balance when you need to.  Sometimes it’s easier doing it this way than through the mail.  Everyone’s doing it online these days.

Optional Insurance and Protection.

You can get the pretty standard payment protection cover and identity protection cover from RBS, but it has to be said that their attitude towards identity theft and fraud in general is not a scratch on Barclaycard; they would do well to read more about Barclaycard.

Credit Limits

Credit limits are £300 minimum.  This is pretty standard, but it must be understood that before you apply, the upper limit is very much reflected by your earnings and your credit scoring.

Minimum monthly Payment

This is very important, and often something that is forgotten when applying for a credit card like this.  The minimum is 2.25% (min £5) now this might not sound much, but if you have a credit limit of a few thousand pounds and realise that you have to pay 2.25% of this off every month as a minimum whilst interest is added, it can soon turn into a nightmare.

Overall: not a bad credit card but not a patch on Barclaycard.

Well let’s take a closer look at Egg [all information is correct at time of publication]:

• 17.9% APR.  This isn’t as good a deal as you’ll get from lenders like RBS and Barclaycard.  The rate here is also dependent on your personal situation; if your circumstances differ from Egg’s idea of what is a “normal” client then this rate is subject to change.
• 0% interest on purchases until September 2010.
• 0% interest on any balance transfers until August 2011.  However this comes with a 3% FEE.  This FEE is quite high for a balance transfer and in our opinion all credit card companies could really do with lowering this.
• 23.9% interest rate on cash withdrawals.  It is never wise to withdraw cash from your credit card; particularly at this rate of interest.
• Rewards with Egg consist of the Egg Cashback scheme and savings on Egg insurance.  Well, to begin with, those savings on insurance should be given to all customers and not used as leverage over potential credit card customers; this is simply wrong in my opinion.  The cashback reward system is pretty standard and dependent on what you spend your money on.

So overall Egg is a pretty standard credit card with many of the faults that all credit cards seem to have these days; namely interest!

So what we’ve got for you is the next best thing, or at least the only thing we can provide in a situation such as this.  Here are the top credit cards at the moment.  This credit card comparison website promises to print factual offers from credit card companies that are correct at the time of publication.

Barclaycard Platinum:

• Great credit card if you’ve already got pots of money.  If you’re not earning a huge salary then you pretty much need to leave this one alone because you’ll only be disappointed when you don’t get it.
• 16.9% APR
• 0% interest on balance transfers for 15 months; although this carries a 2.9% FEE.  I’ve written that in capitals because they usually try to put this FEE in the small print.
• 0% on purchases for the first 3 months.
• Barclays Freedom reward points system.

RBS Platinum Credit Card

• Another credit card for the well heeled i’m afraid.  They just don’t make these platinum cards for ordinary people.
• 16.9% APR
• 0% interest on balance transfers for the first 15 months.  However, this too comes with a 2.9% FEE.
• 0% interest on purchases for the first 3 months.
• Different reward system than Barclaycard.  This one has: shopping discounts, travel discounts and wine club offers.

It’s never going to do you any good to go on one credit card comparison website and work it out from that site alone.  To begin with they could be selling advertising space to the highest credit card company and quality of service may have absolutely nothing to do with their ideas at all; it could be all about making money.

So if you find a good looking deal on a website, check it out on another comparison website and see if they agree.  If in any doubt you should really check it out on at least 5 websites to see if the one you’re looking at is ranking in at least the top five credit cards at the time of searching.  That’s another thing to consider.  Sometimes websites won’t update their listings very often and what was the best credit card a month ago could change quite quickly and become not so good; it’s important to get the most recent offers if you’re going to make an informed decision.

Just make sure you use a reputable website, or if at all possible check as many websites as you can.  Don’t rush your decision to get a credit card and pick the first one that appears on the screen or through your letterbox; read everything and you should get a good one.

After all the interest rate is what you will be paying once your honeymoon period is over with these credit card companies and it’s important to know what to expect when you suddenly have to pay the interest rate.

For example, when you’ve had your 12 months or 15 months interest free on your balance transfer, let’s say that you have £5000 left to pay.  Now you’re required to pay the interest rate, so lets say that it’s 16.9%.  Well 16.9% of £5000 is around £845 isn’t it?  You tell me your maths is probably better than mine, but either way that’s a lot of money.

So you see it does make a difference how much the interest rate is when you choose a card.

• At the moment the HSBC is offering there pretty standard credit cardf with 0% interest for 15 months on balance transfers and 0% interest on purchases for 3 months with an interest rate of 16.9%.
• Virgin are offering 0% interest on balance transfers for 14 months and 0% interest on purchases for 3 months with an interest rate of 16.6%.

So take your pick, is that extra month with HSBC really worth the extra .3%?  I suppose it depends on your balance.

It’s all a matter of getting the right credit card for the job basically.  You don’t need to saddle yourself with mountains of debt by getting a credit card, just get one that suits your needs perfectly.  This is why doing a credit card comparison is very important and virtually essential in today’s financial climate, particularly since there are so many credit cards out there already trying to get your business.

They can’t all be bad right?  Yes, you’re right, they can’t all be bad, and indeed they are not.  There are credit cards out there that can help you get what you want, and if you use them correctly you can have it for virtually no charge at all.  Get your things earlier rather than later with a credit card with 0% interest on purchases for the first few months; however, do be careful to make sure that you can pay it off eventually, there is one thing these credit card companies are very good at, and it’s getting you into a shed load of debt!

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.

So why am i saying such things about credit card companies?  And why wouldn’t they want you to pay off your balance?  Well i’ll tell you why.  If you have a credit card you’ll know that there is one thing that the company relies on to make any money itself.  It’s all good and well lending people money to buy the things they want, but they must get something in return right?  Well of course.  They make their money from the interest on your balance.   So this is one good reason they don’t want you to pay off the balance of your card.  The more you pay off the less interest they can charge you.  If you spend £100 on your credit card and then pay it back, say when you get paid, you won’t add any interest beause you paid it back so quickly!

Another reason they don’t want you to pay it back is that if they are the type of credit card that offer rewards and incentives for spending money (like points for example), and you go and pay off your balance each month before they add on any interest, then you’ve done it again, you’ve got something for nothing!

Be wise, be credit wise!