This week's top credit cards
Emma Roberts gives the lowdown on some of the best credit card deals around.
Best for cash back
We all love free money. Personally, just finding a 50p coin on the street can brighten up my entire day. The good news is that some credit cards offer cashback as a reward.
Everything that you buy using one of these nifty little cards adds to your bonus cashback pay out that you receive at the end of the year or on the anniversary of when you opened your card.
So if you make big payments with your cash back card, you could be looking at a big payback.
Just be aware that a cashback card is only suitable if you can afford to pay off your bill in full as otherwise the amount you have to fork out in interest will far outweigh the amount you receive in cashback.
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Card |
Cashback offer |
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Up to 5% cash back for 3 months, up to a maximum of £100. After that the rate of cashback is tiered. You get 0.5% if you spend £3,500 or less. You get 1% cashback if you spend £7,500 or less. And you get 1.5% if you spend more than £7,500. There is no maximum cashback you can earn after the first three months. American Express is not accepted everywhere.
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You can receive 1% cashback on all purchases and a £10 bonus in January. An annual fee of £18 applies. |
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Receive up to 1% on purchases. An monthly fee of £1 applies. |
The American Express Platinum cashback card gives you 5% cash back for the first 3 months of your card, which is the market-leading deal - but be aware you can only earn a maximum of £100 cashback during this period, and Amex isn't as widely accepted as Mastercard or Via. After the first three months, the rate drops to between 0.5% and 1.5%, depending on how much you spend.
The other cards offer a flat rate of 1% cashback and are more widely accepted. However, they do charge a small annual fee of beween £12 and £18.
Best for 0% purchases
Rachel Robson explains how negative order of payment works and how to avoid it.
With the average credit card interest rate standing at a massive 18.7%, you could save a lot of cash by switching to a 0% purchases card.
Some cards offer a long interest free period. So you can pay the minimum monthly payment during this period, and you won't rack up a penny in interest.
You have to make sure you pay off your card before the interest free period ends though, as if you don’t, you’ll be hit with high interest rates. See below for details.
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Card |
0% period |
Typical rate (% APR) |
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13 months |
16.9% |
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12 months |
15.9% |
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12 months |
16.9% |
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12 months |
16.9% |
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12 months |
18.9% |
The Teso Clubcard credit card has the longest interest free period of a whopping 13 months, which I think is great.
What’s more you also get clubcard points which can be used to redeem some useful rewards. The Sainsbury’s credit card is a close competitor and offers 12 months' interest free on both purchases and balance transfers, although you do need to have a nectar card to sign up.
With any credit card, be cautious of the dangerous trick of negative order of payment, where your most expensive debts are paid off last, forcing you to pay heaps more interest.
Best for 0% balance transfers
If you’ve already got a pesky plastic that’s charging you heaps of interest, then you should consider transferring your debts to a 0% balance transfer card.
These helpful cards give you a period of up to 16 months interest free but you do have to pay an initial transfer fee, which is usually around 3%.
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Card |
0% transfer period |
Transfer fee |
Typical rate (% APR) |
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16 months |
2.9% |
16.9% |
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16 months |
2.9% |
16.9% |
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16 months |
3% |
16.9% |
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15 months |
2.9% |
16.9% |
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14 months |
2.98% |
16.6% |
The three top cards in this table all share an 0% transfer period of 16 months and have a typical rate of 16.9% APR. The Yorkshire bank gold Mastercard has a slightly higher transfer fee but only by 0.1 percentage points!
Recent question on this topic
- Tom456456 asks:
16 months interest free credit cards? They told me in Nat West that If I won't pay back my balance in full at the end of the month I will have to pay
- SoftwareBear answered "You've transferred a balance to a 16 month 0% card with Natwest. They are now charging you a..."
- JoeEasedale answered "Are you sure that you know the difference between interest and minimum repayments?..."
- Read more answers
Take note that you can only get the Yorkshire bank gold card if you’re an existing customer or you have to go to one of their branches (which are mostly up north) to apply for the card. These restrictions don't apply to the similar deals on offer from Royal Bank of Scotland and Natwest.
Again, make sure you repay your debt before your 0% transfer period ends though otherwise you’ll be hit with much higher interest rates.
Also, you should avoid making purchases on your balance transfer card, unless the interest free periods are the same for purchases and transfers.
This is because you could be dragged into the vicious cycle of negative order of payment, as I explained earlier.
Best for lifetime balance transfers
If you’ve got a bigger debt to pay, which you think will take more than a year to clear, you could look into getting a card with a fixed rate lifetime balance transfer.
Instead of offering interest-free periods, these cards have permanently lower interest rates than normal balance transfer cards, as the table below shows.
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Card |
Transfer fee |
Typical rate (APR%) |
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2% |
5.9% |
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zero |
6.8% |
If you don't mind paying a transfer fee, the top card for lifetime balance transfers is the MBNA platinum credit card. This offers a low rate if 5.9% APR but does come with an initial transfer fee of 2%. By contrast, the Barclaycard Platinum simplicity charges a slightly higher rate, at 6.8% APR on all transfers and purchases, but there's no transfer fee, so it might work out cheaper. Do the sums before you decide!
More: Five super all-round credit cards| Best all round credit card|
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