Entries Tagged 'Credit Cards' ↓

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Apply for Nectar Credit Card »

The Nectar Credit card is issued by the American Express Services Europe Lmt. It comes in an attractive get up of rich purple, with a tawny drop of nectar and offers equally fascinating offers.

Nectar Credit Card Features:
The Nectar Credit Card offers an incredible credit point scheme which gives an ideal opportunity to cash in on your expenditures. For first time users, the first purchase would earn them 1000 Nectar Credit bonus points. After that you will be awarded one point for every pound spent and four Nectar Credit points for each pound spent at Nectar Sponsors. However Nectar Points are not earned on Balance Transfers, purchase of American Express Traveler cheques, Cash Advances, Express Cash or Foreign Exchange transactions, late payment or Referral charges, charges for dishonored cheques or on any expenditure above the credit limit.

The Nectar Credit card charges 15.90% APR, typical (variable).  For transferred balance an interest rate of 15.90% per annum which is deducted on a daily basis till the amount is fully paid off. For balance transfer 2% handling fees are charged.

The Fraud Detection system keeps 24 hour watch over your account. Any uncharacteristic spending are immediately detected and further dealings through the card is stopped until the purchases are verified by the customer. Card information is kept confidential with the help of secure encryption technology. In case your Nectar credit card is used without your consent then you would not be liable for fraudulent charges.

The other card features include:

• An introductory offer of 0% interest on purchases.
• Card Type- American Express.
• 56 days of interest free purchasing period, as long as payments are made in full balance within due date.
• Online Access
• No annual credit card fee.
• 24 hour card replacement facility.

Eligibility Criteria:
To be eligible for the Nectar Credit Card the applicant has to be 18 or above and a resident of UK. For online applications, bank or building society details along with a Nectar account number is all that is needed for a Nectar Credit Card.

Apply for Capitol One credit cards »

An incident which was blamed on ‘a systems error’ by Capitol One credit cards, have sparkled off a series of debates over hidden interests and fees charged by credit cards. In January, Olathe resident John Wittenborn was shocked to receive late penalty fees and raised interest charges, even though he had made his payments on time. Fortunately he was able to support his claim with evidence. Capitol One received his payment on January fourth but did not register it till January 11. Even though Capitol One termed it as ‘a systems error’ and left it at that, consumer groups and Congress members have latched onto it.

In the last few years, the nation’s debt has soared to a whopping $750 billion, and a significant chunk of that includes unexpected penalty fees and interests. This has led many agencies to question the practices employed by credit card companies. Ed Mierzwinski, the director of consumer section, US Public Interest Research Group, believes that the industry is more concerned with enhancing profit than reducing risk factors.

In May, Senator Carl Levin introduced a legislation to contain the interest hiking maneuvers of credit card companies. However some believe that exposure of credit card regulations will be more effective than prohibiting certain practices. This will give the customers a chance of managing their expenses. According to the managing director of American Bankers Association, Ken Clayton, “…people should be aware of fees that will be charged. And they can adjust their actions in ways that best work for them.” Congress, however, feels that this is not enough. The “Stop Unfair Practices in Credit Cards Act” would address the following issues-

• Retroactive Interest Charges
• Unjustified Interest Rate Increases
• Repeat Over-Limit Fees
• Fees for Paying a Bill
• Double Cycle Billing

According to the Congress, this Act would bring some much needed relief to the average, middle-class Americans stooping under heavy credit card debts.

In other news, the Capitol One credit cards recently got entangled in identity theft issues when Judith Washington reported an unaccounted transfer of $12,000 from two Capitol One credit cards to her JCPenney Master Card. Since she had no Capitol One credit card, it became a matter of grave concern for her. The card issuer, however, assured her that this was not a case of identity theft, but a result of fraudulent activity.

Apply for Virgin Credit Cards »

For over a decade, Virgin Money has been a North Star in the personal finance market. Putting the primary emphasis on money where it matters most to the customer, Virgin Money has introduced many novel yet simple investment, savings, loan and insurance schemes. Similarly, Virgin Credit cards have been designed keeping in mind the diverse, dynamic tastes and requirements of the modern generation.

Credit Card Features:
Virgin Credit cards charge a 15.9% APR, typical rate. The introductory offer of 0% interest on purchases for a three month introductory period is a chance that customers should not miss. Virgin money does not levy interest on credit card purchases if the payments for present or any pending balance shown on the statement, are made in full balance within due date. Moreover its savory discount schemes allow no money tension dampen your occasional shopping spree.

• 10% off at Virgin Wines.
• 10% off at Virgin Mega stores (DVD, CD, Games)
• 75% off at Virgin Active
• 10% off at Virgin Holidays
• 10% off essential cover for car, home, holidays, pets and annual travel insurance.

Virgin Cards offer 0% balance transfer rates for an introductory period of 13 months with 2.98% handling fees. Through this balance transfer scheme customers can save up to £159 on a balance of £1000. However, it has to be kept in mind that no balance transfer from any other MBNA cards is allowed as Virgin Credit cards are issued by MBNA.

The most captivating feature of Virgin Credit Cards is the intriguing colors. These cards become classy fashion as well as financial statements. They come in three different trendy colors- the classic Virgin Red, the Cheeky Pink and the Sexy Black.

The other features include:

• An introductory offer of 0% interest on purchases for 3 months
• A Master card.
• 50 days of interest free purchasing period, as long as payments are made in full balance within due date.
• Standard APR (cash advances) - 24.90%.
• Secure Pin and Chip cared.
• Online Access
• No annual fee.
• Credit limit- up to £50,000

Eligibility Criteria
Applicants over 18 and UK resident with bank or society account are eligible for Virgin Credit Cards.

Apply for Barclay card Flexi-Rate Credit Card »

Barclay card Flexi-Rate Credit Card has broken new grounds with its innovative scheme of flexible interest rate. While the other credit cards are busy lowering the minimum payment rates, Barclaycard Flexi-Rate has come up with a variable interest scheme which encourages customers to increase their credit card payments. This way both borrower and lender share the responsibility of debt clearance.

Features:
As the name suggests, Barclaycard Flexi-Rate offers flexible interest rates for customers who maintain a regular credit payments. The current APR (purchases) is 14.9%, typical.  For customers who pay more than 10% of their monthly payments the interest rate will be reduced to 9.9% and those who pay more than 5% are charged with 12.9%. In this way Barclaycard Flexi-Rate, offers a reduction of interest rate for customers who are making an effort to repay their debts faster. However the reverse is also true. Customers who pay less than 5 % are charged with an interest rate of 16.9%. Standard APR for cash advances is 27.90%.

Barclaycard Flexi-Rate has opened up an effective way of saving money. For example, if a customer borrows a thousand pounds at a standard interest rate of 15.9% and pays only the required minimum rate per month then it will take him approximately 21 years and 3 months to pay off the debt with an interest of £1,400. Through Flexi-Rate, a 10% payment would take only 4 years and 6 months to pay off the debt with interest £110, saving £1,290.

Customers can also take advantage of the introductory balance transfer rate that allows customers to transfer balance, up to £5000, from another credit card at a 0% interest rate for 12 months. The offer lasts till the first of July, 2008. For balance transfer the customers will have to pay a 2.9% of handling fee.

The other features include:

• An introductory offer of 0% interest on purchases for 3 months
• A Visa card with chip and pin security features.
• 56 days of interest free purchasing period.
• Zero annual fee.

Barclaycard Flexi-Rate includes all the card protection, purchase and fraud   protection offered by the Barclaycard credit card company.

Eligibility Criteria:
Barclaycard Flexi-Rate is offered to customers who are 21or more and have a permanent UK address, at least for three months. They must also have good credit history and must not have a record of missing multiple credit balance payment in the last 12 months. Customers who already have a Barclaycard are not eligible for the Flexi-Rate credit card. Students or people with annual income less than £10,000 cannot apply for Barclaycard Flexi-Rate credit cards.

Apply for Barclaycard Purchase Credit Card »

Barclaycard is UK’s leading credit card issuer (Barclaycard Purchase Credit Card), controlling over 15% of the market. It has over ten million customers and a million of them may have to pay dormancy or low usage charges of £20. However, last year business had hit a rough patch due to bad increase in bad debt among credit card holders. Reports suggest that this move has been made purely to enhance their profitability.

In introducing dormancy or low usage charges, Barclaycard is merely following suit of Lloyds TSB, who in February introduced a dormancy fee of £35. This scheme could prove to very profitable for the company. On one hand the card holders who have shifted to another credit card but did not close their Barclaycard account will be forced to sit up and take notice. Card holders who do not use their accounts would close their account which would reduce company expenditure on credit card statements and account maintenance. The amount collected as fee will increase company income. Besides this will encourage low spenders to use their cards more often, which in turn might lead to interest payment if they fail to repay monthly bills on time.

In other news, the Barclaycard has launched three new Visa credit cards specially suit the preferences of Indian customers. With these three credit cards, Barclaycards hope to get a head start in the Indian credit card market.

The Barclaycard gold allows customers to exercise their freedom of choice while setting credit limit, selecting interest rate and the minimum monthly payment rate (5%, 7% or 10%). For transactions over Rs 2500 an Equal Monthly Installment plan is available.

The Barclaycard Small Budget Card is a user-friendly card that allows the user to alter the monthly payment account, irrespective of the amount he has spent that month. The monthly payment day or the credit limit can be adjusted (within certain limit) to suit the circumstances of the user.

The most striking of the three is the Barclays Premier League Barclaycard. A special offering from the Barclays Premier League, the card is designed specially for Indian football fans. It offers incredible football prizes which include newsletters about the Barclays Premier League and if lucky the user can get tickets to football games. Like the Barclaycard Gold, the monthly billing dates and the credit limit are flexible. Similarly balance for expenditure of more than Rs 2500 can be shifted to an Equal Monthly Installment account.

According to Kusal Roy, leader of the Indian venture, these cards offer both flexibility and simplicity and “no nasty surprises when the bill arrives”.

One of the forerunners in the field of internet banking, Egg is best known for its credit card services. The Egg Credit Card introduced the balance transfer concept in the UK credit card market in 2000 and a few years later, implemented the concept of balance transfer fee. It also provides loans, mortgages, insurance and investment products. However, in the last few it has witnessed a significant downslide in business after a catastrophic investment in the French markets.

From the very beginning of the year, Egg plc has been in news for its proposed sale to Citigroup. The agreed price (£575 million) is significantly low from the £1.5 billion that was reportedly offered by the Royal Bank of Scotland three years ago. Prudential, the owners had paid £900 to buy out the minority share holders just a year ago, to bring Egg under the folds of the larger Prudential business. However the problems were more serious than expected. In fact, Egg sustained a loss of £145 instead of the predicted £80. Egg put the blame on defaulting credit card holders for this loss. Moreover an increase of interest rates to 5.25% has made matters worse.

To add to its embarrassment, within a space of three months, Citigroup has dropped the prices from £575 million to £546 million. The sales price had depended on the performance of the bank in the first quarter of the year. After the sale, Citigroup will have more than 4 million customers. According to Ian Kerr, appointed by Citigroup to run the Egg, “The combination of Egg and Citi will be a powerful proposition.”

Even after the acquisition has been successfully completed, Egg is still on news, especially due to its Credit Card interest hike. Thousands of Egg Credit Card customers will have to pay now higher rates. With a mere one week notice, some customer may find themselves charged with 21.90% interest instead of 16.90% interest. Although the new owners argue that the new rates are required to gauge the creditworthiness of the customers but reports reveal that customers who had never missed their payments or made late payments are facing these price hikes. In fact some reports suggest that customers who have never used their Egg Cards nor have balance on it are being asked for extra payments. Citigroup argues that some customers have been gainers as they have their interest rates lowered to as less as 10.90%. However, no statistical data were provided to support this.

The Sainsbury Credit card is popular for being one of the very few credit card companies that offer 0% interest on new purchases in an introductory period that lasts as long as ten months. In fact in a financial atmosphere where lenders are busy hiking their interest rates, Sainsbury’s reduced rates offer acts as a much needed relief.

Sainsbury Credit Cards offers 0% on purchases for 10 months, with balance transfers charged at 5.94% a year for the lifetime of balances transferred in the first six months (the typical rate after that is 15.9%). In fact it is one of the very few lenders that offer interest rate lower than 6%. This has made the Sainsbury Credit Card one of the leading lenders in recent years. This has given rise to the need of software that could provide effective management solutions for customer selection and communication.

For this reason the Sainsbury bank has tied up with Unica’s Affinium Campaign to manage its huge customer database. The head of customer analysis at Sainsbury’s Bank, Mike Boyle, says: “We have a database of around 2 million Sainsbury’s Bank customers. Affinium will enable us to better consolidate and analyse the needs of our current and potential customers to deliver our comprehensive range of products and propositions selectively and in the right context for the customer.”

“We chose Unica following an extensive vendor review against detailed business and technical evaluation criteria. We were using a third make the right offering to the right customer at the right time. Party data house but that didn’t allow us to use our data most effectively - we could only execute campaigns on a monthly basis. With Affinium we can contact people with relevant offers at just the right time.”

A survey conducted by IBM Business Consulting Services implies that supermarket banks are placed in an advantageous situation by virtue of their existing relationship with the supermarket customers. This enables them to strengthen their market hold over in the traditional financial services, as long as they can manage their existing customers. In an estimated market of 14 millions, Sainsbury financial services has a great chance on utilizing this online customer influx. But this needs excellent customer service and that is where Unica comes in. According to Carol Meyers, the Unica head of marketing
“Sainsbury’s Bank is well positioned to capitalise on this expansion with a dedication to excellent customer service. Affinium will further equip the company to meet growing customer demands and deliver offers and marketing messages when they are most needed.”

Abbey National re-launched its business and brand in 2003 under a new shortened name, Abbey. One of UK’s leaders in personal finance sector, it has near about 18 million customers under its folds.  Abbey credit cards incorporate features to accommodate the needs of all types of credit card clients.

Features:
Abbey offers two credit cards; the Balance Transfer Credit Card and the Flat Rate Credit Card. These cards are designed to meet the individual requirements of customers along with providing all the basic services.

The Balance Transfer Credit Card offers an introductory 0% per annum, for the first 12 months. It charges a 3% handling fee. The APR is 15.90%, typical (variable). Besides for the first three months of purchases the company would charge you zero percent interest.

The other features include:

• An introductory offer of 0% interest on purchases for 3 months
• Card Type- Master Card.
• 56 days of interest free purchasing period, as long as payments are made in full balance within due date.
• Online Access- you can check balance, transfer money, make payment and view pin.
• Credit limit- £50,000.
• Zero annual fee.
• Minimum monthly payment- 2.25% or £5, or the full amount if it is less than £5
• Cash Withdrawals- 24.90% APR (variable).
• Late Payment- £12
• Exceed Personal Limit- £12
• Unpaid Direct Debit- £12
• Payment Protection- 79p per £100 (incase of unemployment due to sickness, accident or some involuntary causes)

Abbey Flat Rate Credit Card charges one interest rate on your purchases no matter where and how you make use of the card. The APR is 10.90%, typical (variable). The same interest is charged on cash machine withdrawals, balance transfers and credit card cheques.

In both the cards interests are charged on a daily basis so that customers have to pay less interest with increase in payments. Customer satisfaction is the guiding mantra for Abbey Credit Cards.

MBNA Corporation is one of the largest independent credit card lenders in the world. An unwavering dedication to customer satisfaction and meticulous care in maintaining service quality, has earned them customers all over the world. MBNA credit cards are designed to meet the diverse requirements of modern-day life. The MBNA Platinum Rewards credit card is dreams come true for spendthrifts.

Features:
The MBNA Platinum Rewards credit card charges a 15.90% typical APR, variable. There are no annual credit card fees. The balance transfer scheme is just as great. For the first 12 months, customers have to pay 0% as interest and a minimum of £3 or 3%, initially as handling fees. Customers can save precious interest money with this balance transfer scheme.

There are outstanding rewards for credit points made through holidays, shopping or any other activities, be it ten-pin bowling or a plain coffee with a friend. The MBNA Platinum Rewards credit cards offer an outstanding 2000 MBNA point reward for shopping done within 90 days after opening a new account and after that one point for each pound of shopping. After having secured a tiny piggy bank of points, the customers can convert them into shopping vouchers with discounts on high street shopping, expensive wine deals, holidays or travel expenditures. No one should miss this offer, it’s not often when you get rewarded for your purchases.

Another distinctive feature of MBNA credit cards is its worldwide 24/7 customer service facilities. Card protection schemes are very flexible. As long as stolen or missing card is reported really soon, customers are not liable for excess payment.

The other features include:

• An introductory offer of 0% interest, up to a period of three months.
• A Master card.
• 56 days of interest free purchasing period, as long as payments are made in full balance within due date.
• 1 credit point for every £1 spent.
• Online Access
• Annual fee- Zero
• Minimum Household Income- Not Applicable.

Eligibility Criteria:
To apply for the MBNA Platinum Rewards card the customer must be 18 or above and a resident of United Kingdom. No minimum household income required.

The guiding mantra of Sainsbury Standard Credit Card is personal attention to individual care.  And this is the trait that sets it apart from all other credit card companies. Its interest rates are determined according to personal circumstances of the customer.

Features:

The most striking feature of Sainsbury Standard Credit is it flexible APR. The customer will be charged 15.9%, 18.9% or 20.9%, depending on his circumstances and financial history. The interest rate for purchases and transfer balance are the same.

The balance transfer features of Sainsbury Credit Card are simply incredible. For balance transferred in the first six month an interest of 5.94% is charged until the balance is paid off. For balance transferred after the first six months, customers will have to pay 15.94% pa, 18.95% pa or 20.95% pa, depending on their financial circumstances. In each case no balance transfer fee is charged.

The Sainsbury Standard Credit Card comes in three attractive designs.

The most distinctive feature of Sainsbury Standard Credit Card is its Creditcare Payment Protection program. It has been designed to give you protection against untoward incidents. In case of an accident or illness or unemployment problems, Sainsbury Creditcare Payment will take care of your credit card bills. In exchange of 79p per £100 on the outstanding statement balance, you get precious peace of mind. Besides, the Sainsbury credit card provides cover of £250,000 for travel accidents. It also covers for emergency legal and medical assistance abroad, flight delays, accommodation and expense coverage up to £750, lost luggage cover up to £1500. If you avail the Sainsbury car insurance then you will get a 10% discount payment made through a Sainsbury Credit card.

The other features include:

• An introductory offer of 0% interest on purchases for 10 months. Offer will last till 2008.
• Card Type- A Visa Card.
• 50 days of interest free purchasing period, as long as payments are made in full balance within due date.
• Online Access
• Credit Limit- subject to individual customer status.
• Zero annual fee.
• Security Features- Chip and Pin.

To withdraw cash, the Sainsbury Credit card can be used in over 80,000 ATM outlets and 19 million bank counters all over the world.

Eligibility Criteria:
To be eligible for Sainsbury Credit Card one has to over 18, an UK citizen with a bank account.