How to Choose the Best Credit Card Deals
Looking for the best credit card deals depends on what you want. In an attempt to lure more customers to their best credit card deals, companies like MBNA often provide very attractive features to make their cards stand out in the competitive market.
You Plan to Carry a Balance on Your Charges From Time to Time
Ideally, a credit card user would pay off their charges before the grace period expires on any new charges. That way the credit card company would not apply any finance charges to unpaid balances on the account. These finance charges can really add up.
If you know that you will occasionally keep an unpaid balance on your account, the best credit card deals for you are cards offering the lowest APRs. Credit card companies often reserve their best APR offers for customers with the best credit scores.
You Want to Save Money on Finance Charges of your Current Credit Card Balance
What if you already have a sizeable balance on your current credit card account? Then the best credit card deals for you are cards offering zero APR balance transfers with the longest introductory periods (where the zero APR applies), lowest regular APR, and don’t forget to look for the lowest transaction fee.
You don’t Carry a Balance on Your Credit Card
If you do not plan to carry a balance on your credit card, then the most important thing to look at is the best rewards or cash back credit cards are available to you. Not every cash back programme is the same and you cannot compare them directly because they probably use different formulas for figuring out how much cash back you get.
The way to compare the various cash back programs is to look at two things:
1) How many points do you get for each pound spent? Usually, you might get a point for each pound spent. For certain products, you might receive double points.
2) How many pounds do you get when the points are converted back to pounds? The conversion rate might be .01% for example (100 points equal a pound).
You Plan to Stooze
If you plan to use credit cards as a source for zero interest loans, you want to look for credit cards that offer zero APRs for the longest introductory periods. Do not stooze that money with anything that is not guaranteed because while it might be a zero interest loan, it is not a free loan. You will need to pay it back, regardless if you made or loss money on it.