The Nicest Christmas (Credit) Cards by Finance News Bulletin
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Published: 17/11/07
With Christmas Day less than seven weeks away, our yearly Yuletide expenditure spree has already begun Indeed, we Brits will spend around £53 billion over the Christmas period, according to banking payments collection APACS Of this total, over £22 billion will be exhausted on debit cards, and nearly £12 billion on credit cardsIn other words, we'll spend almost two times as much on debit cards in December as we will on credit cards
Given the UK's huge personal-debt mountain, paying by debit certificate seems the more sensible option -- especially as most credit cards charge yearly interest tax of 165% APR or more However, there are several advantages to paying by credit card The first is greater consumer rights in the occasion that goods are faulty or fail to arrive
I explained this valuable protection -- which also applies abroad -- in Great News For CardholdersA next advantage to paying by credit card is by timing your transactions well, you can take pleasure in between 45 and 59 days of interest-free credit For instance, delaying your purchases until just after your statement date can give you almost two months' grace before paying for items However, this interest-free period vanishes if you don't disburse off your bill in full every month
Therefore, I'd recommend always paying your entire balance by journal direct debit or standing orderThe third advantage of paying by credit card is that you can earn as you spend, either for yourself or good causes If you're emotion generous, there are 75 different charity credit cards which canal donations to good causes, according to trick partner Moneyfacts Most are issued by the ethical Co-operative store, followed by Halifax/store of Scotland and MBNA
So, just by switching your spending to a charity credit card, you can donate more to your favourite high-quality cause These credit cards more often than not offer a one-off initial donation when you start using them, advantage a percentage of your spending is donated to the aid organization each year However, most aid organization credit cards accuse above-average rates of interest Thus, if you don't disburse off your monthly bills in full, then high interest rates will more than wipe out your donations
In other words: bewareHere are the most kind Best Buy charity credit cards, according to Foolcouk's independent look for wizard:For the record, veterinary charity PDSA has the highest initial gift at £25, compared to just £6 for comedian Relief
Then again, the comedian Relief card pays the uppermost percentage donation, so it wins through for better spenders For a monthly spend of £500, first-year donations vary between £33 and £40, but trip to £15 to £30 in later yearsAlthough I'm a quite charitable being, I never spend on a charity credit card That's because there's a far more good-looking way to give to high-quality causes
By combining a leading cashback credit card with tax release from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), you can be far more generous at no additional cost Take a look at my next table to see what I mean:Of the three cashback credit cards listed, I use the assets One certificate, as MasterCard is accepted in more outlets than American state Indeed, I spent perhaps £6,000 in three months on mine, earning cashback of £240 in now one quarter Marvellous
I mentioned duty relief earlier, so here's how this works Charitable aid made by taxpayers under the Gift Aid scheme automatically receive 22% tax relief Thus, a gift of 78p becomes £1 after the taxman chips in 22p Higher-rate taxpayers can then get back a further 18p via their tax returns, reducing the cost of a £1 gift to now 60p
Thus, the £105 cashback earned over the course of a day with our Capital One card becomes £13462 under Gift help Higher-rate taxpayers can claim a tax repayment of 18% of this sum, or £2423, which further subsidises their generosity
So, if you want to be kind this Christmas, then use Gift Aid and a Best Buy cashback card, not a gift credit card Your favourite good causes will greeting the extra money, and it won't price you a penny© Copyright 1998-2007, The Motley trick Limited All rights reserved
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Earn 5% Cashback! - Published:03/11/07
A friend of mine boasted to me at the weekend that she's over her Christmas shopping already Being an organised girl she's taken advantage of a figure of early Christmas offers, snapping up presents in "3 for 2" deals and taking benefit of all kinds of discounts She admitted her credit card was slightly crowded, but with two pay packets still to come before the end of the year she knows she can comfortably pay for it all before the end of the yearShe's got a good tip, too If more of us intended ahead and started our Christmas shopping previous we could spend less (deals and discounts are typically never available in not on time November/December, plus shops have more stock at the moment) and budget to pay for it all before JanuaryBut the most excellent thing, she told me, was that the credit card she'd used for her spending was her novel Capital One Cashback With World MasterCard, which gives a whole 4% of her spending for the first three months back as cash (and one per cent thereafter) Not awfulNow as she knows I'm a huge cashback credit card admirer -- after all, how often can you be paid to spend Indeed, previous year's cashback has paid for a compact disk player, and a good amount of an iPod in my homeBut for those that aren't sure how they work, here's a very quick clarification Basically you use the credit card for all of your spending, and for every £1 spent, you'll get a certain percentage (depending on the card characteristically between 01% and 4%) back as cashback This tots up over the year and when you've had the card a day you'll usually be sent a cheque for the cashback you've earned Simple, ehOf course it goes without proverb that cashback cards are for the restricted only -- if you don't pay off that equilibrium in full each month the interest accrued will wipe out your cashback But if you're a canny trick, you could make a decent sum of money1 Firstly, you need to put every pound spent on that credit card This is a funny state of mind to get your head around; after all, paying £140 for a newspaper on your card in WHSmith can sense a bit silly But in my experience shops hardly ever mind (probably because so many other people now do the same obsession)What's more, some energy companies, nurseries and other service providers allow payment by credit card, so you could move practically all spending to the certificate (although check first that you won't be paying more for this freedom2 Depending on the credit card you've selected, you need to work out when is the most excellent time to make any large purchases (where likely Many cards (like my friend's Capital One card) have bonus periods when you'll make more cashback create large purchases in this time and you'll rack up more cash3 If you have a partner you faith you can potentially make even more cashback by taking out an additional card and hopeful her/him to use it for their spending, tooThere are other benefits to using a credit card for purchases too with cards contribution Section 75 defense, plus many card companies offer free purchase cover should you accidentally leave your shopping on the means of transportationClearly, if you have a lot of shopping to do this Christmas, you could do worse than to take out a cashback credit card to pay for it all What's more, I've actually found a certificate that beats the Capital One certificate my friend has, in the short term at leastThe American Express Platinum Moneyback certificate has just increased the cashback rate to a whopping 5% for the first three months, after which you'll earn 05% on spend up to £3,500, 1% for spending from £3,501-£10k and 15% thereafter What's more, cardholders also have 90 days free buy protection (should they lose or damage eligible items bought with the certificate refund protection and an online deception guaranteeNow it's worth noting that the 5% cashback period has a condition -- the utmost cashback that can be earned in this time is £200 following which you'll revert to the tiered scheme The Capital One card on the other hand has no utmost, and reverts to 1% cashback when the first three months are up It's therefore worth working out your prototype of spending before choosing which card to be relevant forBut according to Moneyfacts, if you were to spend an standard of £1,000 per month on the card for a year, you would be looking at a cheque for £210 with Capital One card, and £24750 with the Amex certificate, which does show that both cards offer a huge way of earning cashbackSo if you're a disciplined credit card user that would like to make some cash while they spend, check out cashback cards like my friend did and see how much you could make After all, it's not bad to be paid while you use© Copyright 1998-2007, The Motley Fool Limited All rights reserved This fabric is for personal use onlyPlace of Reg: England & Wales corporation Reg No: 3736872 VAT Reg No: 735 7818 01 Registered place of work: 30 Great Pulteney Street, London W1F.
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Balance transfer fees waived on cards - Published:12/01/07
Yorkshire have an account and Clydesdale have an account customers are set to benefit from the waiving of balance transfer cost on credit cards until the end of FebruaryFor those wishing to move their existing credit card equilibrium to either of the banks, transfer cost will be halted until February 28thThe fee waiver relates to the bullion MasterCard at the Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks and once the six-month zero per cent preliminary offer is over, the typical APR reverts to 149 per cent on the cardsKiaran McEvoy, senior advertising manager at Yorkshire Bank, remarked: "Many of us will probably find we can't quite obvious our credit card bill this month following all the expenses incurred over Christmas"Transferring the balanceto another card now can put aside you a lot of money in interest payments in the months to come and - with the move fee now being waived - our certificate should be particularly appealing to anyone bearing in mind this"Both Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank are part of the National Australia have an account group which can trace its.
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Load 'em up and take hold of the readies - Published:30/10/06
All era are London time Search News in the FTcom siteSearchSearch Quotes in the FTcom siteQuotesYOUR MONEY Your bankingBreadcrumb follow direction-finding:FT Home > Your money > Your bankingEDITOR’S CHOICEStretched customers rack up banks’ incomeWell-heeled walk a path to the pawn shopCustomers can click on recommendation beyond comparePayment protection comes under FSA spotlightAnti-fraud way are a sign of the timesSavers frustrated by three-week delayIgnore the freebies for a high-quality financial educationLenders make bigger interest-free credit periods Borrowers hit after interest base rate go up Avoid going bust on the beachIf you make a claim on your home insurance policy or pace off a flight to find your luggage has not arrived with you, you may now find that you are reimbursed with a pre-paid certificate rather than cash or a chequePre-paid certificates – cards laden with money that can then be withdrawn or used to disburse for goods or services – have been in the UK for around five years But over the past 12 months their presence has really taken holdcustomers,especially those who do not have right of entry to credit or debit cards, can obtain them without credit checks and they do not require a bank account They are also increasingly popular with businesses looking for more efficient ways to pay employees and customersPSE Consulting, the European payment consultancy, estimates that the sum number of pre-paid cards issued in the UK will go up from 2m at present to 44m by 2010 It expects that by 2010, €15bn will be spent on pre-paid cards each year in the UKMasterCard has tie-ups with airlines, counting KLM and Austrian Airlines These companies are by pre-paid cards to provide recompense to passengers who are delayed or have lost their luggage British Airways is also looking at offering a travel permit pre-paid card for the same purpose Reuters, the media group, provides pre-paid cards for journalists to cover charge while travelling overseasCards being second-hand by businesses are generally Visa or MasterCard-branded as these cards can be used at any money machine or retail opening bearing the relevant logo Cards that have a fairly little one-off balance – perhaps £50 or £100 – usually do not require a pin number or signatureAccording to Rich Wagner, leader executive of Advanced Payment Solutions, the major advantage of using cards instead of cash or cheques is that the money is right away available to the cardholder, whereas cheques can take days to obvious Cardholders do not need bank financial records to use the card These cards also provide a safe alternative to cash: if a card is lost or stolen, it can be immediately blocked-up and reissued by the supplier, usually at no cost to the consumerInsurance companies are also entering the pre-paid market Norwich Union, one of the UK’s main insurers, gives customers the option of receiving their cover claim on a pre-paid Visa Electron cardSo, for example, if someone makes a maintain for a stolen TV or a piece of jewellery, the company might send out a pre-loaded certificate that can be used to pay for a replacement This method the claimant gets the money right away and does not have to pay out of their own pockets and then get back from the insurerCarol Heath, head of pre-paid at Visa Europe, expects strong enlargement in the car and health insurance industries She says you could be issued with a certificate to pay for a course of physiotherapy, for exampleChris ruddy, head of pre-paid at Mastercard Europe, says another fast enlargement area is payroll Recruitment agencies and contractors are using pre-paids to disburse foreign nationals or temporary workers Fifa, the football association, paid temporary staff working at this year’s World mug tournament via pre-paid cardsMore traditional uses for pre-paid cards are also considering strong growth These cards were initially used as gifts, and as an option to travellers’ cheques Now they are widely second-hand online to purchase groceries, holidays or disburse for services such as the congestion charge, council tax or broadbandSales of MasterCard’s pre-paid certificate, Cashplus, are growing at a rate of 20 per cent every month, and persons are increasingly loading on larger values Almost £25m has been loaded on to the Cashplus card since its launch a year ago Meanwhile, travel permit has seen insist for its pre-paid cards quadruple in the past yearYou can buy these cards online, by phone or at retailers, such as money transfer agencies MasterCard says its Cashplus certificate can be reloaded at 14,000 locations worldwide, including all position OfficesThe downside of these cards is that they are fairly expensive You will characteristically have to pay £1-£250 to withdraw money from ATMs in the UK and up to £3 overseas There are also first and monthly fees According to Moneysupermarket, MasterCard’s Cashplus certificate costs £995 initially and then certificateholders can disburse a monthly subscription of £495 or £1 per transaction Liquid, a card obtainable by Newcastle Building Society, charges the same initial fee but only a £2 periodical feeOther cards intended for taking money abroad are cheaper These are offered with no charge by Travelex and Western Union, although exchange rates may not be competitive The position Office charges £10 for its travel money card and American state charges £20RSS information feeds = requires subscription to FTcom* Minimum delay 15 minutesAll times are London timeFT HomeSite mapContact usHelpAdvertise with the FTPress enquiriesStudent offersFT ConferencesFT Research CentreCorporate subscriptionsFT collection Copyright The Financial era Ltd 2006 "FT" and "Financial era" are.
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