28th February 2007
Are you, like many people, trying to make sense out of your financial situation? Looking for a way to make ends meet? Struggling to keep up your monthly repayments on credit bills? If so, you might well be tempted by the widespread offers of consolidation...
28th February 2007
Affinity cards are a special kind of credit card which are linked into the cardholder's lifestyle in some way, offering benefits of a more personalized nature than the typically available 0% balance transfer offers and the like. Examples of affinity progr...
31st January 2007
The days when the only way to get a credit card was to visit your bank in person are gone forever. Nowadays, it's even quite old fashioned to apply for a card by mail - it's much easier and quicker to apply online, and in many cases you'll even get an ins...
31st January 2007
One of the main selling points of credit cards over the past decade has been the balance transfer offer, where customers are tempted into applying for a new card with the promise of obtaining effectively free credit. By making use of a 0% transfer deal, t...
14th December 2006
Wherever we go these days we're bombarded with offers of credit, whether loans, credit cards, remortgages - there seems to be no end to the number of companies asking us to consider applying for finance through them. It's true that gaining credit is easie...
14th December 2006
In today's world of online shopping and bill servicing, credit cards have become almost an essential part of our everyday lives. No one would argue that they don't make life easier, but it's also true that they have a dark side in that it's all to easy to...
29th November 2006
There's no doubt you'll have heard plenty about debt consolidation loans - our TV screens are full of adverts promising freedom from financial worry, and the internet is positively flooded with solicitations to lock in a low rate with a refinancing packag...
07th November 2006
Credit cards are a great convenience in our everyday lives, allowing us to easily buy products online and by telephone, and freeing us from having to carry large amounts of cash when making purchases in the bricks and mortar world. However, there's a pote...
26th October 2006
Many people are wary about using their credit cards, especially online, because of the possibility of becoming a victim of fraud. While fraud does happen, and costs hundreds of millions every year, there are some simple steps you can take to protect yours...
12th October 2006
As with most financial products, credit cards are usually heavily promoted on their interest rate, or APR. The lower the APR, the more attractive it's supposed to be to potential customers. But is APR really the most important feature of a credit card?
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04th October 2006
For several years now, one of the most sought after features on a credit card has been a long 0% balance transfer deal, almost to the exclusion of any other feature except maybe the headline interest rate of the card. More recently though, balance transfe...
08th August 2006
When most people think about credit cards, they first think of a rectangular piece of plastic that is physically swiped in a machine when you make a payment. In recent years however, there has been an increasing trend towards borrowing on your account wit...
26th June 2006
Paying with plastic has become a common part of everyday life, with more people now using credit or debit cards than cash for day to day purchases. The rapid rise of online shopping means that it's almost essential to have some way of paying by card, but ...
08th June 2006
When credit cards were first introduced, they were a pretty simple proposition: use your card for purchases, and be charged a single rate of interest on your unpaid balance.
Then came the rise of the ATM (cash machine), and credit card issuers realised...
26th May 2006
The idea of a balance transfer deal was introduced to the UK in the year 2000 by innovative online bank Egg plc, who offered customers a bait of 0% interest for six months on balances they transferred from another credit card.
The feature was an instan...
