Credit card providers are battling harder than ever to win a share of what is currently a buoyant credit card market as evidenced by two new best buy deals.
Virgin Money has just launched a table topping limited offer of 37 months interest free on balance transfers as it seeks to grab a slice of the activity in this sector of the market where 6 million balance transfers with a combined value of more than £13.4 billion were carried out in the 12 months to the end of July 2015.
Today MBNA has launched an impressive all round card called ‘Everyday Plus’ – it offers a low rate of 7.4% APR, no fees for balance transfers, money transfers or cash withdrawals and no fees for using overseas.
The low rate makes it less of a financial burden if you decide to roll a balance over from time to time – for example a £2000 balance carried over for 1 month would cost £12.57 in interest charges compared with £32.10 on a card at a market average rate of 18.9%APR.
This card will prove fierce competition for the Halifax Clarity credit card which is also free to use overseas but recently increased the interest rate from 12.9% APR to 18.9% APR for new customers.
Increased confidence on the back of the UK economic recovery has seen the total sum outstanding on credit cards at the end of July rise to £41.36 billion (Source- BBA) up by £3.4 billion in the last 12 months.
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