UK Credit Cards

Welcome to UK Credit Cards. We aim to bring you a summary of the top UK credit cards so that you can make an informed decision when deciding upon your new credit card. The credit card market has become increasingly competitive, so you can now choose from a wide variety of different deals, with a surprising variety of extra benefits.

Good Reasons to Apply for a Credit Card

There are many reasons why people apply for credit cards, and some reasons for making an application are better than others. Below we give the good reasons for applying for a credit card:

Credit cards give you additional protection when buying online. If when you have paid with your credit card you receive faulty goods or your goods did not arrive, and you are unable to claim a refund from the retailer, you may be able to claim from your credit card company. This is thanks to Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (see additional description below).
If you are in a healthy financial position and are able to pay off your entire credit card balance each months, you can benefit from credit card offers such as cashback or other rewards without having to pay any interest.
If you can pay off your credit card regularly, it will improve your credit rating for when you need to apply for a bigger loan such as a mortgage.
It's more convenient than paying with cash when shopping. You don't have to remember to go to the cashpoint before going shopping.
Your credit card statements will make it easier to track your spending and help with your financial planning. Most credit cards will give you online banking access so that you can view your credit card statements online.
You can use a credit card to set up automatic bill payment, which will save you time and the inconvenience of forgetting to pay a bill.

Bad Reasons to Apply for a Credit Card

- If you cannot sensibly control your spending when shopping then a credit card may not be for you.

Common Benefits Available for Credit Cards

0% Balance Transfer Credit Cards

If you have built up a large debt on a high interest credit card, then transferring the balance to a credit card that offers a 0% balance transfer deal can save you a lot of money. During the introductory 0% balance transfer period all the money you pay to the card will go towards reducing your balance. Do be aware however that many credit card companies have introduced a transfer fee, which is a small percentage of the amount transferred to them, but there are still companies that don't apply a charge so it may be worth hunting these out.

0% On New Purchases

Many credit cards will offer you an interest free period for any new purchases that you make. This is useful to those who spend on their credit card but rarely pay off their balance in full. If you need to make a big one-off purchase but don't immediately have the funds available, then a 0% interest period can be particularly useful.

0% Balance Transfer and 0% Purchase Cards

Some credit cards offer both the above benefits, i.e. a 0% balance transfer period and 0% on new purchases for a given period, although note that the 0% purchase period may be shorter than the 0% balance transfer period.

Charity Credit Cards

The credit card company will make contributions to a charity, so your credit card spending will be aiding a good cause. A wide variety of charity credit cards are now available so you should be able to find one that's related to your charitable interests.

Cashback Credit Cards

Suitable for those people that pay off their credit cards in full each month, cashback credit cards offer a percentage of money back when you spend on your credit card, making this one of the best methods of paying (providing of course you can always pay off your monthly balance in full). Typical cash back rates are between 1.5 and 3%.

Reward Cards

Many credit cards allow you to collect points towards shopping purchases or for travel, e.g. the popular Airmiles scheme.

Additional Buyer Protection

If you buy an item on your credit card, you get additional buyer protection in the event that the item you bought was faulty or was not delivered.This is covered by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and applies to single items between £100 and £30,000 in value. The credit card company is jointly liable when you have made the purchase on your card. Where you the customer have a claim against a supplier for breach of contract or misrepresentation, you will generally have an equal claim against the credit card issuer.

To qualify for the protection, the purchase must have been made by the principal card holder.

A summary of conditions that apply to Section 75 refund claims (correct as at Nov 2009):
- The price of the goods or services must be more than £100 and not more than £30,000.
- Credit card cheques are not covered.
- If the credit card is used to withdrawn cash to pay for the purchase, this scenario would not be covered.
- For a refund to be accepted by a credit card company, payment must have been made directly to the supplier. If the supplier is using a third party payment processing service, this can prevent the refund claim, because payment is not being made directly to the supplier.