Choosing the best credit card

• 0% Balance Transfer Cards
• 0% Purchase Cards
• 0% Balance Transfer and Purchase Cards
• Cashback Cards
• Long Term/ Life of Balance Transfer
• Low Standard Rate Cards
• Loyalty Reward Cards

Card	Rate	Duration	BT Fee	Typical APR
Capital One BT Exclusive	0%	Until 01/10/2009	3.0%	15.9%
Virgin Credit Card	0%	15 mths	2.98%	15.9%
Capital One Platinum	0%	Until 01/09/2009	3.0%	12.9%
Egg Card	0%	Until 01/09/2009	3.0%	16.9%
Barclaycard Platinum 'As on TV'	0%	14 mths	2.9%	14.9%

Card	Rate	Duration	BT Fee	Typical APR
Capital One Platinum	0%	Until 01/09/2009	12.9%
Capital One Platinum Exclusive	0%	Until 01/05/2009	11.9%
Halifax One Online Special	0%	10 mths	15.9%
Bank of Scotland	0%	10 mths	15.9%
Barclaycard Life of Balance	0%	10 mths	15.9%

Card	Rate	Duration	BT Fee	Typical APR
Capital One Platinum	Until 01/09/2009	Until 01/09/2009	12.9%
Capital One Platinum Exclusive	Until 01/05/2009	Until 01/05/2009	11.9%
Halifax One Online Special	10 mths	10 mths	15.9%
Bank of Scotland	10 mths	10 mths	15.9%
Capital One BT Exclusive	Until 01/10/2008	Until 01/10/2009	15.9%

Card	Rate	Duration	BT Fee	Typical APR
American Express Platinum	5% Moneyback for 3 months, up to 1.5% thereafter
Capital One Cashback	4% rebate until 01/09/08 on purchases, 1% thereafter
Shell MasterCard - Citi	3% rebate on Shell fuel spend, 1% on other purchases
Barclaycard Cashback	4% Cashback until 31/07/08, 0.5% until 01/01/10

Card	Rate	Duration	BT Fee	Typical APR
Barclaycard Life of Balance	6.5%	15.9%	Life of Balance

Card	Rate	Duration	BT Fee	Typical APR
Barclaycard Low Rate Special	8.8%	56
Capital One Platinum Exclusive	11.9%	56

Card	Rate	Duration	BT Fee	Typical APR
MBNA Platinum Rewards Card	1 point for every £1.00 spent

When comparing credit cards, consider how you usually repay the balance as well as interest rates and reward schemes.

When repaying credit card debt, people generally do one of two things:

1) Repay monthly balance in full

If the thought of owing money keeps you awake at night so your repayments are like clockwork and made in full, then look for a card with a good reward scheme. Low interest rates are great but they are of no concern to you (if you maintain this method of repayment.)

Instead think of the hundreds of pounds you could be saving on gifts, holidays or on extended warranties and insurance.

2) Spread repayments

If you make a purchase and spread your credit card payments out into affordable amounts, then you are part of the majority. Based on the average figures, it is also likely that you owe in the region of £1,500.

To play your cards right, you should be thinking about a balance transfer.

So when comparing credit card deals on the tables provided, bear in mind which category you fall into, it will help you get the most out of your card.

With this in mind, compare best credit card offers on our comparison tables to ensure you get the cheapest credit card deal. In addition, don’t forget to visit the Forum where you can read what other members have to say about credit cards as well as post a message of your own.

Customer Service

Up until recently, the big banks made up the pool of main credit card providers, which meant they had to fight it out amongst themselves for customers. However, with an sharp increase in the amount of credit card providers over the last few years, the big fish are noticing the water is beginning to stir. Supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s and Waitrose now offer credit cards which are not only competitive but fresh in terms of how they approach their relationship with customers. It may be natural for the main credit card companies who have enjoyed the lion share of the market for so long to get a little complacent, but personal credit is unforgiving territory.

A 2007 Which? Magazine survey exposed the difference between the traditional credit card companies and the newcomer – and stresses why shopping around for credit cards is vitally important.

According to Which? magazinne the major different between the ‘worst’ and the ‘best’ credit cards is customer service.

“Barclaycard and Lloyds TSB rate poorly for customer satisfaction compared with less well-used brands such as John Lewis/Waitrose and Nationwide. Meanwhile, newer brands such as Tesco easily outshine long-standing card providers like Abbey,” finds Which?

Credit Cards – The Best and Worst

Of all the customers who took part in the survey, the majority used Barclaycard, (10% have one of its cards as their main credit card, and 19% use it as an extra card.)

However, Which? states, “Only 41% said they are satisfied with Barclaycard overall, compared with 84% satisfaction for the top performer in our survey – John Lewis/Waitrose. As well as offering great customer service, John Lewis/Waitrose is also a Best Buy for its Partnership card, which offers a 0 per cent balance transfer deal with capped fee.”

NatWest is another provider with high customer numbers but low satisfaction ratings – seven per cent of Which? members have a NatWest card as their main card and 10% as an extra card, but just 48% said you were very satisfied with the service.

Marks & Spencer’s & more card is one of the most commonly carried among Which? members – six per cent have it as their main credit card and 18% as an extra card. M&S achieved fourth place in our customer satisfaction rankings and won the Which? Award for best credit card provider in 2007.

The M&S card was a Best Buy for its fee-free long-term balance transfer deal but has recently lost its crown. The Best Buys in this category are now Sainsbury’s Bank and Citibank. (Although subject to change, see Debts best buy tables.)

Nationwide – in second place overall, with 77% of customers said they were very satisfied – the Co-operative Bank, in third place with 75% and its subsidiary Smile, which is a Best Buy for its cashback deal, in fifth place with 72%.

Nationwide’s Gold Visa card is a Best Buy for purchases abroad, as it does not impose foreign exchange loading fees on purchases anywhere in the world.

“The worst performer among the big banks was Lloyds TSB, which charges 15.9% on purchases – higher than any of our Best Buys for borrowing. Just 38% of its customers said they were very satisfied,” says Which?

Virgin Money (36%), Bank of Scotland (34%) and Mint (32%) fared even worse.

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