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Choosing the right credit cards for you
Many of us have a slightly confused attitude towards credit cards. On the one hand they're a relatively convenient system of payment and offering you manage the repayments sensibly offer a handy substitute to cash. At the same time we're all instinctively wary of them. Everyone's heard horror stories of lifestyles consumed by credit card debt and many of us have had to deal with a, hopefully fleeting, taste of how owing money can very rapidly spiral out of control with a few missed payments and a couple of silly purchases. "I'll pay with my card" has become a turn of phrase touched with a frisson of danger.
The approach to picking a credit card has thus matured into, for many, quite important. We all want to know that we're not getting ripped off and, as far as possible, we'd all like to believe that, unlike all the other saps, we're saving money. In truth of course it's maybe best to forget the idea that there is one credit card that towers over every other and represents the ultimate deal for everybody. No such holy grail exists and in fact there's really no such thing as a one-size-fits-all credit card.
This isn't to say that there are no good deals out there; it's just that it's more a case of going for the right card for your specific needs. The onus is also on you to manage your credit cards effectively and make them work to your financial benefit. So the first enquiry is: Do you currently have credit card debts? If you do then your priority should be to find a card with a good balance transfer rate - there are plenty out there with a 0% balance transfer offer. When you transfer your credit card balance you are effectively paying for your existing debts on one card using a new card so that you now owe money to the new card.
If that new card has a special introductory cheap rate for balance transfers then your previous, more expensive, card will be debt free and you'll be paying less interest, potentially 0%, on your new card. Now, all you need to in order to rid yourself of this credit card burden at no further cost is to hammer away at the arrears - and in doing so, make sure that you work away at a rate swift enough to pay the debt off in entirety before the end of the introductory period.
The most valuable rule to keep in mind is not to purchase anything with your current balance transfer card; if a card allows a genuinely good balance transfer rate then the chances are it won't offer a similarly attractive purchase rate. If you still want to spend on a credit card then you'd be well advised to get another card for purchases and focus solely on paying off your balance transfer debts with the first card. If you're doing this, it's obviously in your interests to find a card with a good introductory deal on purchases. At the time of writing the NatWest credit card was offering the longest 0% interest on balance transfers for 13 months 0% interest on purchases for 3 months with a rate of 13.9% thereafter thereby buying you more time to pay the card off. HSBC is offering the longest 0% on purchases deal of 12 months and then a 15.9% typical APR; Co Operative's credit cards include a platinum fixed rate at 9.9% APR, and even the supermarkets are muscling in with reasonable offers with the Asda 0% credit card being the strongest.
Living in the information age, we are blessed with a number of web sites similar to Moneysupermarket, which assist you to compare credit cards and find one that meets your needs. Always make a note on the calendar or your electronic diary so that you can switch as close to the end of your introductory period as is allowed to avoid falling back into the trap and paying through the nose.
So which card is best for balance transfers? If you're hunting for the longest 0% period then Virgin steams in front with an impressive 15 month interest free period on balance transfers, they do however charge a relatively high 2.98% fee. Perhaps the best overall deals at the moments are offered by Natwest credit cards and RBS credit cards who both offer 0% for 13 months and a lower 2% fee. Other decent 0% credit cards worth investigating are offered by Asda Finance(0% PA for 9 months, 2.5% fee), Capital One Platinum (0% PA until 1st August 2008, 1.7% fee) and Mint (0% until 1st Oct 2008 (2.5% fee).
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