Guide to Credit Cards - Page 5

Shopping around for the best credit card deals

Before you start shopping around and comparing what's on offer you will have ideally identified what's important to you in terms of:

the type of credit card you want i.e. to transfer debt, support a charity, or a mixture of borrowing activities,
how much you can afford to borrow and pay back, use our credit card calculator to help work this out,
what it will potentially cost you to use, i.e. the APR, other charges and insurance.

Stay focused on what
you need, it costs nothing to shop around but could cost you a lot if you end
up with the wrong card.

This will make the process of comparing what's on offer much easier as the sheer number of card issuers makes it a very competitive marketplace. Lets start with who the major issuers are:

Type of issuer	Who are they...?
Bank	Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Citigroup, Co-operative, HFC, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, MBNA, Royal Bank of Scotland etc..
Finance company	American Express, Capital One, Morgan Stanley, Saga Personal Finance and Virgin Money to name a few.
Online company	Online companies, banks and finance companies, for example, the Bank of Scotland is affiliated with Marbles online cards and Citigroup owns Egg online.
Partnerships and affiliates	Banks and finance companies also partner with other businesses, and each other, some current partnership examples are: Barclays with Thomas Cook, Hilton HHonors®, Priority Club® and Bhs. The Co-operative Bank with charities including Save The Children, Oxfam and Greenpeace. MBNA (part of Bank of America) with over 600 organisations from charities like the RSPCA to companies such as Sony and Virgin Atlantic and UK football clubs. American Express with British Airways among others, licences to Banks such as Lloyds TSB and MBNA

A Credit Cards ll reputable credit card issuers should hold a consumer credit licence and be registered with (and regulated by) the UK Financial Services Authority, you can check this by looking at the FSA Register.

The myriad of advertising campaigns across all aspects of the media and huge variety of interest rates and options can be overwhelming, it's easy to become distracted by enticing promotional offers which can come to you via:

direct mail and flyers
TV, radio, online and high street advertising
phone campaigns
articles and adverts in newspapers and finance magazines.

A good place to start your research is usually online. Doing a search on the type of credit card you're interested in, for example "balance transfer credit card" will return several links to review. There are also comparison websites which let you enter your criteria and they provide current credit card offerings from all types of issuers for you to compare. Here are some links to credit card comparison sites to get you started:

beatthatQuote.com compare 0% Credit Cards, Balance Transfer Cards, Travel Cards, Business Cards, Reward Cards and Platinum Cards.

creditcardsweb.co.uk compare the latest UK credit cards and their offers.

Once you've found a credit card offer that appeals to you check out the Summary Box information for it. Don't be afraid to phone or email the credit card company to ask for more details and find out what their requirements are for new applicants, i.e. what information they require, what checks they do and how long it takes to process an application.

Download the Credit Cards PDF Guide here - see our other free PDF guides here

Guide Contents

Thinking about a credit card?
How to manage credit card debt
Balance transfer and other types of credit cards
Understanding credit card charges
Shopping around for the best credit card deals
What to expect when you apply for a credit card
Credit card FAQ
Where can I go to get more credit card help?

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