When the news broke about Lloyds TSB introducing an annual fee of £35 for
consumers who rarely use their credit cards, the company tried to play it down
claiming it would only affect about 1% of its customers. However, in an era when
consumers are fighting back you didn’t take the news lying down as more than
2,000 of you responded to our Rate Alert Poll (to view the results click here) to send a clear message to the
banks – these charges will not be tolerated.
An
incredible 73% of you stated that you would close your credit card account
immediately if your bank introduced a similar charge while 26% stated that they
would move to a new provider (only 1% said they would start using their credit
card again). Not surprisingly, these results clearly show that people who have
cards they don’t use that often don’t think they are worth paying a fee for and
the banks who might introduce such fees probably don’t want the costs of
servicing inactive cards. So it’s important that people who carry a credit card
in their wallet actually use it and that’s why I’m recommending consumers take
advantage of the many 0% purchase deals currently available.
Here are
some lengthy 0% purchase offers currently on the market:
Barclaycard Platinum 0% purchase credit card
– 0% on purchases for 10 months with a typical APR of 14.9%. There is no
annual fee and the card offers 5.9% pa
on balance transfers for the life of the balance with no handling fee.
Sainsbury’s
Bank Platinum credit card – 0% on purchases for 10 months with a typical APR of 15.9%.
There is no annual fee or balance transfer fee with 5.94% p.a. for life of
balances transferred in the first six months.
If
you’re one of the savvy customers who use a credit card to make the most of your
money then these 0% purchase deals are for you. For smart consumers, credit
cards are a great way of saving money and if used wisely they can offer huge
advantages. So don’t let your credit card sit dormant any longer, and definitely
don’t allow yourself to be hit by a fee for leaving your account stagnant.
Instead, get yourself on a better 0% purchase deal and put your new credit card
to good use so you can have the best of both worlds – by spending and saving!
