Applying For The Best
Credit Card
It may be very tempting
to think that in order
to get the best UK
credit card you need to
look for the cheapest
card available. Tempting
as it may be, it would
also be wrong. In order
to know whether or not
you have the best on
offer, you need to make
sure that the card meets
most, if not all, of
your needs. And to that,
you need to look at what
the card offers:
Fees
In order to be
considered among the
best deals lists of
cards on offer, a number
of providers advertise
low annual percentage
rates of interest, but
counter for this by
charging their
cardholders fees for
being members. These
fees can include
transaction fees and
annual membership fees.
If you find that your UK
credit card company is
charging you fees, but a
lower APR than other
companies are, you may
find that adding the
amount you pay in fees
to the APR you are being
charged makes the amount
you pay at the end of
the day more than if you
had selected a card
provider who offered a
slightly higher APR, but
with no fees.
Interest free credit
days
These days not all
providers offer the same
number of interest free
credit days in which to
make payment following a
purchase on your card.
Indeed, the number of
interest free credit
days can be as varied as
36 54 days. So, what's
better, to have a UK
credit card provider
that offers a lower rate
of interest but for 36
days, or a UK card
issuer that has a
slightly higher rate of
interest but gives you
54 days of interest free
grace before charging
you interest on the
balance?
Loyalty programs
It is possible, with
loyalty programs, to
make your credit card
work for you. Consider:
what if you had a UK
credit card company that
offered you cash-back
rewards with every
purchase you made but at
a marginally higher APR
against a card company
that offered you no
reward program with a
slightly lower APR.
Which would be better
for you? Well, obviously
this would depending on
your habit, but is you
were the type of card
user that paid off your
balance at the end of
each month, then most
certainly the card
issuer that offered you
the cash-back reward
program would be better
for you!
Insurance
Under the law, UK credit
card companies must
offer you insurance on
the product that you
purchase, i.e. within a
select number of days
you can return the gift
if it is faulty. But,
does this apply to
overseas purchases? Does
it apply to items you
break yourself? Indeed,
will your card provider
offer you additional
insurances, like medical
insurance when you
travel or holiday
cancellation insurance
when you buy your
holiday with your credit
card? If not, you may
need to purchase these
separately and the
additional cost may end
up costing you more than
additional cost of your
slightly more expensive
credit card.
Determining whether or
not you are getting the
best UK credit card deal
depends very much on
what you intend to use
the credit card for. One
thing it will most
probably not depend on,
however, is whether the
card is the cheapest
card available on the
market.
Joe Kenny writes for the
UK personal finance
sites http://www.nationsfinance.co.uk/credit_cards/
and also http://www.cardguide.co.uk
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