Consider lifetime balance credit card, says uSwitch

Fri, 24 Feb 2006

Price comparison website uSwitch says that a lifetime balance credit card could be the best option for credit card holders who are not interested in constantly shifting credit card balances to deals offering a 0% interest rate.

Those credit card holders who "do not have the discipline nor inclination" to search out 0% interest credit card offerings to transfer balances could benefit more from a lifetime balance credit card, the switching service claims.

According to uSwitch, holders of the new Intelligent Finance credit card that was launched this week will accumulate interest of £740 on a balance of £3,101 over the lifetime of the card.

This will take 17 years if credit card holders only repay the minimum amount required every month, uSwitch calculates.

Like the Intelligent Finance card, the American Express lifetime balance card also comes with an interest rate of 4.9 per cent.

However, repayment of the same amount of debt on this card will result in total interest of £492.82 to be repaid over a period of 14 years, the website calculates.

uSwitch ascribes this difference to the minimum repayment levels imposed by the credit card company – in the first case two per cent and in the latter three.

Those who are considering various credit card deals should take all the factors into account, experts agree.

"If you have multiple needs then possibly think about multiple cards," is the advice from Andy Smith, the manager of personal finance products at uSwitch.

add to favouritesnewsletterlink to this pagesend to friendpost comments

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.

Credit Crunch Savers
Tesco Insurance Sale
50% discount on car and home insurance.
Offer ends 7th Jan 09
Post Office Instant Saver
Protect your savings with the Post Office saver
Amex Cash Back
Credit Card
Get 5% cash back on purchases with Amex
Virgin Credit Card
0% APR on balance transfers for 16 months