Those who have
Virgin Money
credit cards will be able to save themselves money in interest,
as the company is changing its system so that the most expensive
debt is automatically paid off first. Before now,
repayments would always go towards paying off their cheapest
debts first, which meant that zero per cent purchases and
balance transfer deals are dealt with before purchases and cash
withdrawals.
New rules announced by the government and the
credit card industry are pushing through the change, and
Virgin are changing over four months earlier than required. The
change will come into effect on September 1 this year, after which
the most of those who do not pay off their all their balance each
month will have to pay less in interest. All UK
credit card providers will have to upgrade their order of
payments by January 2011.
Virgin Money, which has 2.5 million customers, is following other
card providers, such as
Nationwide,
MBNA,
Co-op Bank and
Saga, who have already committed to the rule change. Virgin
have said that a customer who transfers GBP3,000 to a Virgin Money
card at a 0 per cent promotional rate, and then spends GBP1,000 on
the card at the higher standard rate over the course of a year,
will be GBP70 better off.
Grant Bather, a spokesman for Virgin Money, said Our aim is
to make everyone who is a
Virgin Money credit card customer better off and we hope this
change goes some way to achieving that.