Commenting on the launch of the new Egg Money MasterCard

Published:

11/07/2009

Topic:

Press Release,Credit Cards

Commenting on the launch of the new Egg Money MasterCard, Peter Harrison, credit card expert at moneysupermarket.com, said:

"Egg is the first major credit card provider to introduce fees on mainstream products, and this is only the tip of the iceberg. We are likely to see more providers follow suit as they try to claw back profitability following the launch of the Consumer Protection White Paper last week.

"The new Egg Money MasterCard offers a competitive life of balance transfer deal at 8.9 per cent if you want to pay back the debt over a longer period of time - with the card acting as an alternative to a loan, especially as this product no longer has a balance transfer fee. And the one per cent cashback offer could be tempting for anyone who wants to make purchases on their card, but they must be careful to pay the balance off in full at the end of the month or they will incur a hefty 16.9 per cent typical APR. 

"As ever, people must weigh up the pros and the cons and see what will suit their needs best, and as a general rule of thumb anyone planning to pay their balance off in full within two years would do best with the Virgin credit card.

"Egg's move is indicative of a changing market. There are now much fewer providers in the balance transfer space, for example Capital One has withdrawn from the 0 per cent balance transfer market, RBS (which operates the NatWest and Mint brands) now only offers 0 per cent balance transfer deals to existing customers, and Tesco has reduced its 0 per cent balance transfer offer. Further consolidation with the market might very well lead to less competition, and time will tell if Santander and Lloyds will put the same sort of balance transfer exclusions on their products as MBNA and their associated brands already do.

"Lenders are also sharing more information with each other and this could further decrease the number of people being accepted for the best balance transfer deals. This will come as a shock for the many rate chasers that have grown used to consolidating debt onto new 0 per cent balance transfers deals over the last few years."

-ENDS-

Download This Press Release

Download as RTF

Related Links

Related Resouces