Credit Card Blog

Vanquis have a credit card with an interest rate of 39.9%. It’s pretty easy to just see this figure and nothing else – it seems ridiculously high. A lot of other credit card providers have rates of 14.9% to 19.9%, which means that your cost of borrowing is much lower. So what have Vanquis got? [...]

There’s always a lot of hype about what specific effects the credit crunch and economic downturn will have – and this applies to credit cards as well. Will people start using them more as prices go up and it becomes harder to live off the same wage? Will people who are struggling turn to credit [...]

Natwest have a dedicated student credit card – but is it worth getting? At first glance, you might think not. The interest rate (APR) is 18.9%, which is ok but not the best on the market. Some cards have rates of 14.9% for example. There’s no interest free period on balance transfers so no potential [...]

I had a credit card when I was a student – I’d only use it for emergencies and sometime when I couldn’t find my debit card (and yes, it accidently got used a few times when I couldn’t find my debit card) but on the whole I’d try to keep it away from day to [...]

This is a question I get asked a lot – “are the credit cards which are dedicated student credit cards best for me if I’m a student?” It’s a pretty difficult one to answer, and I always now start by asking why do you want a credit card in the first place. Student credit cards [...]

This is another very useful bit of information from Experian – which actually explains what your credit score is   The information in your credit report is key to getting the loans you need – but it is only half the story. Before deciding whether or not to lend money, many organisations take your report, [...]

A few years ago I remember hearing from loads of people that if you check your credit report, the actual score would go down! Honestly, it put me off signing up and seeing what my credit score was, and how my history looked. Well, I’ve done a bit of research and here’s what really happens.  [...]

Here’s some really good advice from Experian: With bills for everything from food to electricity rising faster than the speed of sound, it can be hard to work out where your money’s actually going. If there’s a growing gap between your income and your spending, take heart – there are ways to lower your outgoings, [...]

It’s a long phrase – “negative payment heirarchy”, and it doesn’t sound like it’s a good thing, but what does it actually mean? Very simply – when you have a credit card you can get charged different interest rates if you use it for different things. For example, you could use the credit card for [...]

Random fact – but apparently you should take your Natwest credit card abroad with you. Why, you may ask. Well according to Natwest it’s accepted in 24 million outlets.  That’s a fairly large number of places. Chances of getting stuck somewhere that I can’t use it should be slim then… or does anyone have any [...]