The card you must have for purchases

One of the best purchase cards around just got even better!

I’ve had a big couple of years, spending wise.

Last February I bought my first home, and so spent far more weekends than I'd ever choose to in Homebase, Ikea and the like, sorting out sofas, dining tables and everything else we needed to make our home inhabitable.

Then last October I got married – not a cheap exercise at the best of times, particularly when you have a big family as I do. And that's before you even add on the cost of the honeymoon.

And now, in six months' time, we will be having a baby. Again, not exactly something associated with frugality.

Spreading your payments

One thing that has kept my finances in relatively decent shape throughout all of this spending has been my choice of credit card. I knew that between the new house and the wedding, it would cost me a fair bit, and that after putting down the deposit on the house I wouldn't have much left in the way of savings to pay for everything.

As a result, I knew a good credit card would be pretty useful.

And in this instance, a good credit card meant one that would allow me to spread my payments over time, so that I could pay it off in manageable chunks. In other words, one with a nice long period of 0% interest on purchases.

Going with Tesco

So I chose to go with the Tesco Clubcard credit card.

The reasoning was pretty simple. It offered a full year free from interest on all purchases which, at that point, was more than any other card was offering.

That gave me plenty of time to pay off all those purchases, whether it was the sofa in the front room, the cupboard in the bedroom, or the morning suits for myself and the rest of my groomsmen.

Clubcard points

However, the real bonus was the fact that the Tesco credit card offers bonus Clubcard points on your spending, whether it's in Tesco or elsewhere.

With the Tesco Clubcard credit card, you get one point for every £4 you spend, wherever you spend it. But what's really clever is that the credit card doubles as your Clubcard, so your shopping in Tesco gets you even more points than usual!

Given that we paid for our honeymoon with my Dad's Clubcard points, which he had converted into Airmiles, I'm a big fan of the Clubcard scheme.

Add to that the fact that I live in the town where Tesco has its headquarters, as well as one of its largest stores nationwide, and so spend an awful lot of time and cash in there. I already had a nice healthy balance of Clubcard points, so the opportunity to get a further boost was too good to be missed.

Turning it up to 13

At the time, Tesco was pretty much the only card offering such a long period of 0% interest. Of course, since then a succession of cards has launched, offering a year free of interest on purchases. As a result, the Tesco card doesn't look so special any more.

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Or at least it didn't until this week.

In a bid to reclaim top spot, Tesco has revamped its Clubcard credit card. It now offers nine months of 0% interest on balance transfers, but more importantly, it boasts 13 months interest-free on any purchases you make.

As a result, it is once again top of the tree when it comes to purchase credit cards.

Some of you will no doubt question whether this really makes any difference. What difference is there in the grand scheme of things between a card that offers 12 months and one that offers 13 months?

And it's true that if you only plan to do some modest spending on the card, there is not much difference between the two. However, from experience, if you've racked up some serious spending on your card, and you have an extra month to pay it off before you start getting hit with interest, it can be seriously helpful.

The other options

Sadly I've now come to the end of my 0% period, and can't apply for a second Tesco Clubcard, so I face a few decisions. While I'm fine paying off my usual monthly expenditure on my card (I put all my travel expenses and bills on the credit card to help rack up even more Clubcard points), with more big spending still to come, spreading my payments would be pretty useful.

So I have two choices. Option number one is to go for one of the other credit cards offering a decent period interest-free on purchases, which I've detailed in the table below.

The other option is to move the money I spend onto a 0% balance transfer card. This is a pretty attractive option, as the 0% interest periods on offer from the best balance transfer cards are far longer than a year. The downside is that usually, a transfer fee will be added to the debt.

To find out more about the best cards to go for, be sure to read The best ever 0% balance transfer credit cards

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