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.
Having a credit card can be a great way to help manage your finances, so long as consumers use the credit card in the correct way. Credit card holders can take advantage of using their card to help protect them when making purchases and budgeting. So long as they have enough money in their bank account to pay off their monthly credit card balance every month, they can help budget your money.It also gives protection to purchasers when using their credit card under the Consumer Credit Act which can be a great advantage.So long as consumers don’t use their credit cards as a source for money if they do not have the money in their bank account to pay off their monthly balance, they can be a great way to manage your money. But if you are not able to pay off your balance every month you could run into debt problems, and you don’t want that. Make sure you can pay off your monthly credit card bill every month. See our credit cards comparison table for the latest offers. Plus, reading our guides and tips pages can offer consumers more detailed information and money saving hints.
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.
