All About Low Interest Credit Cards

You will find the best credit cards online and there are many websites who provide you with the opportunity to compare different credit cards so that you can choose the right one based on your requirement. The options are so many that every alternate day, you will find a luring offer from a card agency in your mailbox. Sometimes, you may assign them as spam, sometimes delete them or sometimes, you may give the advertisement a serious thought. Most credit cards highlight three main features: Interest rate, annual fees and balance transfer rate. The only way they can draw your attention is by offering zero annual fee, interest rate or balance transfer rate. But are the offers as good as they seem?

If you are shopping for a low interest credit card in UK then you need to look for the one that is offering you a low APR. APR stands for annual percentage rate and it is interest rate charged annually. Most advertisements that you receive through email or in the mailbox will highlight the APR rate. Always remember that there is a small star just next to the APR rate, which signifies that the 0% APR that you see is not forever. This APR rate is variable and will change after 3 months, 6 months or 12 months depending on the issuing agency. Normally, 9.5% to 9.9% is considered to be a good APR rate.

While shopping for a low APR card, you also have to consider other features of the card like the annual fee. There are some cards, which offer zero annual fee for the first year but from the second year, the annual fee charged is £ 50. What you need to look out for is ideally a card that has no annual fee for life. If you don’t find one or if don’t qualify for that card then the second best option is to find one with a low annual fee. A low annual fee in UK will be around £10. The next feature to watch out for is the balance transfer rate. Most cards these days offer a 0% APR on balance transfers but only for a limited period. This limited period will not be more than one year so you need to find the card that offers you a low interest rate plus 0% APR on balance transfers for 12 months. Remember that even though the interest rate is 0% on balance transfers, there will be a 2% or 2.5% fee applicable to all balance transfers. Credit card companies are always trying to find a way to take money out of your pocket.

Let’s look at some low interest credit cards in UK:

Bank of Scotland One

Balance T/F APR: 0%
Balance T/F Period: 9 months
Standard APR: 9.90%
Interest free days: 59

Barclaycard Flexi-Rate

Balance T/F APR: 0%
Balance T/F Period: 12 months
Standard APR: 14.90%
Interest free days: 56

Virgin MasterCard

Balance T/F APR: 0%
Balance T/F Period: 13 months
Standard APR: 15.90%
Interest free days: 50

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