MBNA Platinum Card: Rate Change

Please note that MBNA have increased the interest rate on their platinum card from 12.9% to 15.9% apr.

Egg Card Offer 14 Month Balance Transfers

We're able to let you know that EggCard is launching a new offer from November: 0% on Balance Transfers for up to 14 months.

Please find the full details below:

PROPOSITION

• Balance Transfers*: 0% until 1 January 2009
• Purchases: 0% until 1 February 2008
• APR: 16.9% APR typical variable
• 0% anniversary offer for up to five months on balance transfers (plus fee**) made in November 2009 and November 2010
• See your various online accounts in one place for free with Egg Money Manager
• Great offers with our selected online retailers

*On all introductory balance transfers there is a 3.0% handling fee.

** On all balance transfers made in anniversary periods there is a 2.5% handling fee.

MBNA Chelsea FC Credit Card – Free 07/08 Home Shirt Offer

MBNA are offering consumers a Free 07/08 Chelsea FC Home Football Shirt when a customer takes out an MBNA Card and makes a purchase within the first 90 days of the account being opened.

The MBNA Chelsea FC Credit Card also offers:

• 0% on Balance Transfers for 12 months [3% handling fee applies]
• 0% on Purchases for 3 months
• 15.9% Typical APR

Additionally, every time these customers make a purchase on their Chelsea FC Credit Card, between now and February 28^th 2008, they will receive an entry into a prize draw to win the Chelsea FC Ultimate Fan Package. See the application for full details and terms.

Click here to read more.

Barclaycard Tightens The Belt

Today the Telegraph reports that Barclaycard is rejecting about 55% of new credit card applicants and is also cutting the credit limits for users. Although the widely reported credit crunch may be to blame for the increase in rejected card applications, Barclaycard are reported to have been lowering credit limits for 500,000 of its customers over the past 18 months.

No PIN Required

I stopped for a coffee this morning at Pret-a-Manger in Cheshire Oaks with my wife.

She paid for the coffee and cakes by credit card. Interestingly, she didn't have to enter her PIN - apparently transactions under £15 do not require a PIN to be entered at Pret-a-Manger, your card is just plonked into the terminal and the transaction is completed. First time we've had a transaction that didn't require a PIN.

Coffee and cakes were great by the way. Service was fine too. Nearly went to Starbucks but changed our minds after passing a busy Pret.

I've previously talked about the introduction of wave-and-pay cards and whilst todays transaction wasn't exactly that, it does highlight than non-pin card payments are now here!

NatWest Credit Cards

NatWest are one of the latest credit card providers to offer a 13 month period for balance transfers at 0% (2% transfer fee applies). There is a 3 month period for 0% purchases. You can find out more here.

Tourism Card Fraud

Insure and Go, a travel insurance company recently published the details of a survey it undertook relating to overseas credit card fraud.

It appears that the number of British tourists falling victim to credit and debit card fraud overseas is on the rise. About 1.3 million UK overseas tourists have been card fraud victims over the past five years, a third of those being defrauded within the past 12 months.

Although we tend to be more relaxed when on holiday, do not forget to follow the same precautions as you would at home when using your cards.

Barclaycard Breathe Credit Card

We've received notice from our partner networks that Barclays are to replace their charity credit card with a new card entitled the Breathe Card. The Barclaycard newsroom describes this new product as such:

Barclaycard has announced plans to launch the first UK credit card that donates 50 per cent of its profits to give people across the country a greener card option. The Barclaycard Breathe credit card will see Barclaycard:

- Donate 50 per cent of Barclaycard Breathe profits to environmental projects dedicated to reducing carbon emissions around the world.

- Offer cardholders discounts and lower rate borrowing on green products and services.

- Take a greener approach to account management including online statements and recycling of card plastics.

Barclaycard Breathe states that it is donate a minimum of £1 million to environmental projects in its first year. The company will then donate 50 per cent of profits from the card in following years.

Barclaycard Breathe aims to help consumers make greener choices by offering discounts and lower rates on green products, for example energy saving products and greener transport options.

The card itself offers a greener customer experience with no paper statements - though note that the egg card has operated this way for several years. Marketing will be directed online and the cards themselves are made from PETg - a more environmentally friendly alternative to current PVC cards. A recycling scheme for old cards will be available when new cards are issued.

We're expecting to offer the card soon. When it's available you'll find it on our dedicated breathe card page.

Post Office Financial Reaches 1m Customers

Post Office Financial Services reports that it has now acquired their one millionth customer. The joint venture with Bank of Ireland was setup three years ago to offer various personal finance products. The Post Office now sells 1 in 50 of all car insurance policies in the UK. In 2006, it issued 1 in 25 of all new credits cards. We promote the Post Office credit card in our credit card centre.

Managing Director Alan Cook said:

Post Office Financial Services entered the market with the aim of challenging what other financial services providers were offering. Gaining one million customers in about 1000 days confirms we were right. People want easy to understand, good value products.

I'd find it interesting to see the figures detailing where the customers came from. How many came via the counter and how many cam via the internet?

GM Cards

No, not genetically modified cards but the credit card from GM Motors.

We've promoted the GM card for several years now and it is probably fair to say that it one of the more interesting reward cards on the market today. Here's why:

• The GM Card reward scheme has been rated one of the top reward schemes in the country by Martin Lewis - offering 3 Rebate Points (worth £3) for every £100 spent, which could lead to a saving of up to £2,500 off a new Vauxhall/Saab.
• There are about 400,000 GM Cardholders
• Hundreds of thousands of account holders have saved £000s on new cars with their GM Card Rebate Points.
• The average cash saved last year for people with The GM Card was £1,089 on their new cars (source: Daily Mirror)

So, if you are interested in accruing rewards while you spend on your credit card it might well be worth considering the GM card.

i24 Credit Card

We've spotted that Morgan Stanley are promoting a new credit card called the i24 card that is very much targetted at the premium end of the card market. It comes with a whopping annual fee of £275 though they suggest that you get over £1,000 of benefits with the card.

Morgan Stanley are obviously targetting a particular market that is different from say the Mint Card or the Virgin Card but I'm not personally swayed by airport lounge benefits and the like in return for a £275 annual fee.

What Does MBNA Stand For?

Now part of Bank of America, MBNA stands for Maryland Bank, National Association and is regarded as the world's largest independent credit card issuer, specialising in the affinity card market. It should be noted that in Europe the MBNA name is still used. MBNA Europe headquarters is in Chester England.

Credit Card Borrowing Dips

For the first time since records began, credit card lending fell last year reports the British Bankers Association (BBA). Figures show that the amount lent on credit cards fell by £1.8 billion in 2006, the first drop since 1993 when the figures were first compiled.

The BBA suggests that consumers are looking more closely at their personal borrowings and those that do need to borrow not only use credit cards but also overdrafts, unsecured loans and mortgages. The BBA also suggests the decrease in 0% credit card deals offered by card providers has had the effect of putting some consumers off making further purchases on card or applying for new cards.

From our own experiences with our credit card site, we can confirm that demand for balance transfer deals has dropped off from that of 12-24 months ago. The introduction of balance transfer fees has, in our opinion, had a big impact on the decreasing number of consumers actually transferring outstanding card balances.

Wave and Pay

I've read a few reports about Barclaycard jumping in to bed with the company that issues the Oyster Card, Transys. The Oyster Card is used in London I gather as a prepaid travel pass card that is contactless - the card isn't swiped, it's a contactless smartcard that is waved over a sensor and your card is automatically debited for the price of your journey on the train. More than six million Oyster cards are used by Londoners.

Barclaycard are joing forces with Oyster to create a wave and pay card that allows consumers to pay for small value transactions (under £10). For more expensive purchases a PIN will still need to be entered.

Currently, more than 75% of cash transactions are for less than £10, compared with about 20% of credit card transactions.

If the Barclaycard trial goes well in London the new wave and pay card will be rolled out around the UK.

Credit Card Collectors

Apparently nearly 3 million of us in the UK have 5 or more credit cards to our name. Possible reasons for this include people spreading their card debts over multiple cards and card holders simply switching from deal to the next without closing redundant accounts.

A Model Credit Card From Marks and Spencer

I'm reliably informed (by my wife) that it's Jodie Kidd, the super model, who features in the new promotional literature for the '&MORE' credit card from Marks and Spencer.

It's a card that we have affiliated with previously (though it's not currently on offer to the affiliate market generally) and the current offering appears to be quite competitive with 0% purchase rates for a 12 month period (16.9% APR variable). Though as always shop around (here is a good starting point) and remember we are not able to offer financial advice.

I wonder who they will pick to promote their personal loans?

Annual Fees To Return On Credit Cards

A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers suggests that banks may introduce annual fees of about £35 to maintain a credit card account.

It is suggested that such an annual fee may be levied by the card issuers to enable them to recoup the money lost on reduced penalty fees. Earlier this year the Office of Fair Trading restricted to a maximum of £12 the amount the banks could charge in penalty fees for customers who defaulted on their payments. Additionally the credit card market is being investigated over the credit card interchange fee (the amount the retailers pay on card transactions) and payment protection insurance products are under investigation too.

Here at cardtart we haven't heard that any of the credit card providers that we affiliate with are about to introduce annual fees. But if they do, we'll be quick to let you know who they are.

The EggCard Is Showing Cracks

A report over at the BBC informs that internet bank egg is not in the black when it comes to making a profit. Apparently consumers are borrowing less on their credit cards and more people are defaulting on their loans, many by using the ever-more popular IVA (individual voluntary arrangement).

We've promoted the eggcard on cardtart.com for what must be getting on for 3 years now and have enjoyed some success with the product. If my memory serves me well, I seem to recall that egg were one of the first credit card providers to offer 0% balance transfers. Egg were certainly pioneers of online banking - you don't even receive a paper statement in the post, rather you just receive an email informing you that your current statement is now available to view online.

I suspect that reports of a downturn in credit card borrowing will be on the increase. To some degree the market has itself to "blame". Card borrowing exploded when the 0% deals were easily had but now to curb the demand, transfer fees are applied to balance transfers by a majority of the card issuers. Perhaps at some later date the market will relax the criteria again?

Welcome Back citibank

As an affiliate it's great to have citibank back in the mix of finance merchants!

We promoted the citi credit card for a long time before the programme was taken offline some while ago. But now citi are back with a current account offering and what looks like a decent flexible, instant savings account that we've started to promote here. It's suggested that the citi card will also be back online in due course too.

Actually, whilst the credit card market is reportedly not as buoyant as it was say 12 months ago, there are a few new programmes coming on-stream in various affiliate networks. We should have one or two new offerings over at cardtart very soon.

Coffee On Credit

Starbucks has introduced Britain's first pre-pay coffee credit card.

The Starbucks card allows you pay cash in advance to top-up your card and then you simply pay for your skinny latte with your card at the till. Apparently there are some 100million Starbucks card users in the States.

Coincidentally I plan to frequent the Liverpool Starbucks next week so I'll see if I can grab any details on the card.

Whats In Your Wallet?

Almost half of all British adults (45%) are carrying around plastic that they haven’t used in the last 12 months, according to a new report out this week from the Morgan Stanley Credit Card.

The report, which investigates the use of plastic by British credit cardholders, reveals that the average number of active credit cards is 1.2 per adult. Just 23 per cent of cardholders have more than one card they regularly use or that carries a balance. The study also found that cards with a reward scheme such as cash back, or reward points such as Goldfish or Airmiles, are most likely to be at the front of a cardholder’s wallet for everyday spending.

Patrick Muir, marketing director for the Morgan Stanley Credit Card commented: ‘There has been much speculation about the increasing use of plastic in the UK but our report shows that British cardholders are perhaps more savvy than they have been given credit for. Millions of cardholders are taking advantage of loyalty schemes for their everyday spending, with these cards least likely to be lying idle in wallets.

Types of cards most likely to be active and inactive

• Cards with expired zero per cent offers are most likely to be lying dormant in British wallets (33%). Across the age groups this figure rises to 37 per cent of 30 to 50 years olds, compared to 31 per cent for those under 30 and over 50 years of age.
• Credit cards which were taken out with the cardholder’s main bank made up a further 21 per cent of dormant cards. Two thirds of these dormant cards were issued by the Big Four banks.
• Credit cards attached to a reward scheme accounted for 11 per cent of dormant cards, whilst cash back cards are least likely to be inactive, accounting for just 6 per cent of dormant cards.