The Halifax has announced a new credit card called the All in One card, with an introductory offer to both new and existing Halifax customers of 11 months interest free balance transfers and card transactions.
Customers can get the bonus if they get the credit card before 21 September and put at least GBP1,000 per month into their Halifax current account. When the zero percent offer is finished the card will have a typical interest rate of 15.9 percent with no additional fees to pay.
A spokesman for the Halifax felt that customers taking up the offer could find themselves savings several hundred pounds in interest savings and therefore expected the credit card to be very popular.
The worldwide credit squeeze is beginning to affect UK borrowers now, with holders of MBNA credit cards seeing interest rates climbing.
It seems that MBNA are trying to recover their losses in other markets by really pressing credit card clients, in some instances simply doubling the interest rate payable and then levying additional payments when accounts have got into difficulties.
The bottom line is that banks like MBNA can do whatever they choose with interest rates when they are classed as variable, which all credit cards are. Right now it looks like the UK borrowers are paying for the difficulties in the USA, literally. A typical example is of a lady who had never missed a payment and was what would be categorised as an excellent credit risk. Her rate went up within a couple of months from just under 16 percent to almost 28 percent. Knowing someone has the means to manage their credit and will pay the extra cost is no justification for doing so.
The credit card market seems to be hotting up as companies aim to offer the best deals in order to win customers. The latest Capital One credit card is one such deal and is expected to be very popular.
As credit has become harder to source the natural outcome of this is less customers to go around the different credit card companies. Capital One and the many others out there are all looking to gain the customers that are left and so have to entice them with attractive deals. Consumers looking for a new credit card have never had it so good.
The Capital One offer includes zero percent on both balance transfers and purchases, meaning that consumers using the card do not have to worry about the interest payments for some time, a situation that, with the financial pressures hitting them right now, is a good position to be in.
