Exclusive market-leading credit card

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Published:
04 September 2009
Topic:
News,Money,Credit Cards

MBNA is offering a new credit card which has a 12-month interest-free period on purchases. It's a market-leading deal and it's only available through moneysupermarket.com.

The MBNA Platinum Exclusive could be ideal if you need to make a large purchase that you can't afford to pay for now in one go or you're wanting to spread the cost of Christmas, as you can take up to a year to clear the debt without having to pay any interest. You should definitely try and repay it within that time, though, as you'll be charged an annual rate of interest of 15.9% once the interest-free period ends.

You'll need to act quickly if you want to take advantage of this offer as it is only likely to be around for a few days.

However, there are a few things to be aware of: Only use this card for purchases of £100 or more. If you spend less than that on a single purchase you'll only benefit from a six-month interest-free period. You then risk falling into the 'payment hierarchy trap'.

After six months, any outstanding balance on the purchases you have made totaling less than £100 will start incurring interest at a rate of 15.9%, while your larger purchases will be interest-free for a further six months. Your monthly repayments will go towards clearing the cheapest debt first. It's quite complicated, so the easiest thing is just to avoid using this card for small purchases.

There is also no introductory offer on balance transfers with this deal, so it won't be suitable if you're looking for a new credit card because you've outstanding debts elsewhere.

 

What else is available?

If you owe money on other credit or store cards and are looking to move that debt onto another deal with a lower rate of interest, the Virgin Credit Card is the market-leader. It has a 16-month interest-free period on balance transfers, although you'll be charged a 2.98% transfer fee.

Avoid spending on this card, however, as you'll be caught out by the payment hierarchy trap described above. The interest-free period on purchases only lasts three months and you'll be charged the standard rate of 16.6% after that.

If you want a credit card for spending, as well as to transfer a balance onto, the leading deal is the Halifax All in One card. This has a nine-month interest-free period on both balance transfers and purchases. The balance transfer fee with this card is 3.0%.

Please note: Any rates or deals mentioned in this article were available at the time of writing. Products underlined can be applied for directly.

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