MBNA has improved the 0% periods on both purchases and balance transfers on its Everyday credit card.
MBNA has revamped the interest-free periods on offer on its Everyday credit card.
The Everyday card is an all-round credit card, in that it offers decent 0% periods on both purchases and balance transfers. As a result it's likely to appeal to borrowers who only want to use a single credit card, rather than keeping their new purchases and existing credit card debt separate.
The appeal of a 0% credit card
If I don't pay my credit card bill off in full each month I'll be whacked with an unpleasant interest charge. That's fine if you're just using your card to pay for your grocery shopping every month, but what if you have a big spend coming up and don't have the savings to cover it?
In this case, a 0% card is pretty attractive. It will offer you a certain period free of interest if you don't pay the bill off in full. As a result you can pay off the balance in chunks.
Improving the Everyday card
[SPOTLIGHT]Both purchases and balance transfers now enjoy an extra month of 0% interest thanks to this adjustment.
As a result, the Everyday card now offers 0% on purchases for eight months and on balance transfers for 18 months. What's more, the balance transfer fee is now a very low 1.99%.
It's certainly an attractive looking card if you have existing debt that will take you a year and a half to pay off, coupled with a big spend or two in the next couple of months. That's a very specific sort of borrower though. Personally, when it comes to all-round cards, I prefer the cards below that offer identical 0% periods on both purchases and balance transfers. Here are some examples of these.
|
Card |
0% period on purchases and balance transfers |
Balance transfer fee |
|
15 months |
1.00% |
|
|
14 months |
2.90% |
|
|
13 months |
3.00% |
|
|
13 months |
3.00% |
Best cards for purchases
Not paying a penny in interest on your purchases for eight months is a nice bonus, but you can get far longer 0% periods. The cards below offer the longest interest-free terms.
|
Card |
0% period on purchases |
|
Halifax Purchase MasterCard |
17 months |
|
16 months |
|
|
15 months |
|
|
15 months |
|
|
15 months |
So the top two cards offer at least double the 0% period on offer from the MBNA Everyday card. Indeed all of the cards offer at least six months more. So if you have a big purchase coming up, they are all worth a look.
Best cards for balance transfers
The MBNA Everyday card offers 18 months free from interest on balance transfers, a seriously long time. Indeed, it's longer than any of the all-round cards I picked out in my first table.
However, if you have a sizeable chunk of debt that needs paying off, there are a number of cards offering interest-free periods of two years or more!
The cards below offer the longest 0% periods.
|
Card |
0% period on balance transfers |
Balance transfer fee |
|
26 months |
3.50% |
|
|
25 months |
2.40% |
|
|
25 months |
2.50% |
|
|
25 months |
2.90% |
|
|
24 months |
2.89% |