The best all-round credit cards

These cards offer identical interest-free periods on both purchases and balance transfers, allowing you to keep life simple.

My wallet is a bit of a mess at the moment. I’m a sucker for a loyalty card, so have cards from Waterstones, Subway, Tesco, Nectar and many others on top.

Then add on the finance cards that clutter my wallet. There are credit cards, the debit card for my current account, the debit card for my joint account, and the debit card for my ‘back-up’ current account (which I left open when I moved to Santander, just in case). It’s crazy.

That’s one of the reasons that having an all-round credit card appeals to me. With an all-round card, I don’t need a separate card for my purchases and balance transfers, as they offer identical 0% periods on both. Everything is in one place, on just one card.

Keeping things separate

That said, there is a logic to keeping your cards separate.

For starters, you get better deals. If you take out separate 0% cards for purchases and balance transfers you can dodge interest on purchases for 18 months with the Select card from Nationwide, and 23 months on balance transfers with the HSBC Visa card. As we shall see, that’s a fair bit better than the offers from all-round credit cards.

And if you only have one card, you create an opportunity for the credit card companies to rip you off.

Let's say you want to get a 0% card for a big purchase, and you also need a 0% balance transfer card to help you pay off some debt.

You might go for a card that offers a 12-month 0% period for purchases, and an 18-month period for the balance transfer.

Then you'd hope that the credit card company would initially put your repayments towards the purchase as it's the shorter period.

But some providers use clever ruses to put the money towards the balance transfer. As a result, you may find that you're being charged interest after a year even though you think you've repaid enough money to pay off the purchase. Read more in The credit card trick that won't die.

I only want one card!

Keeping things separate is a bit of a hassle though. You have to keep on top of two separate credit cards, two separate payment dates, two different application processes, perhaps two different online banking systems and passwords too.

There can be implications for your credit record too. Say I have a balance transfer card and a purchase credit card. Each provider gives me a credit limit of £10,000, though I only actually use £2,000 of that limit. If I apply for a loan or mortgage, the lender may be a little nervous that I have so much unused credit at my fingertips.

If I just had the one all-round credit card, with a smaller credit limit, there’s less chance of that happening. For a guide to the things that really do affect your credit rating, check out 10 astonishing lies about credit ratings. 

If you’re a simple being like me, it’s very comforting to just have the one piece of plastic to worry about.

So which are the best all-round credit cards on the market today?

Here are the top five that offer identical interest-free periods on both purchases and balance transfers

*current account holders only

As you can see, there’s not a huge amount between the best deals – for the extra month that the Halifax All in One offers compared to the Barclaycard 14/14, you’ll have to pay an extra 0.1% on the transfer fee.

To put that into context, on a £2,000 debt transfer, that’s the difference between a fee of £58 and £60. £2 for an extra month in which to pay off your debt, not a bad deal!

Just remember to ensure the debt is cleared before the 0% period comes to an end. If you think it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to do that, it may be worth sacrificing simplicity for the sake of a few extra interest-free months. Check out The very best 0% purchase credit cards and Halifax launches new fee-free balance transfer credit card for comprehensive round ups of the best purchase and balance transfer credit cards.

More: New Capital One balance transfer card helps you rebuild your credit rating | Why credit cards are better than payday loans