Credit Card Deals Disappearing

Credit Card Companies have begun to take away some of their easy credit offers of the past. With the recent credit crisis in the US and with talk of recession the credit card companies are beginning to realise if they don’t make some fast changes they could be in the same position as the subprime mortgage companies with more and more defaults. Since they are beginning to realize balance transfers could be the cause for millions of dollars lost in the next few months the credit card companies have decided to remove these deals from the mass market.

The lenders in the UK and everywhere are becoming more worried about offering easy credit to their customers. This trend in credit cards has been around for more than ten years now, but with the mortgage sector in the dire straight they are realising the folly of offering the balance transfer deals and other easy credit.

Research has been completed by several groups regarding the credit card deals. The studies have found in the last ten months there are only 20 cards on the market offering zero percent interest on balance transfers. The credit card market used to offer over 200 different deals, so you can see how this is reduced by quite a bit. Many of the credit cards deals still offering balance transfers are with branded products and it is just one card from the issuer. Other companies have been unwilling to allow their customers to switch to these better deals as well. This leaves the consumer unable to transfer the balances that they would like to.

Citibank is just one of the credit card companies that will not allow you to switch cards at the moment. The Shell MasterCard they offer as well as the Easy Jet and BMI Baby cards are just a few that will not allow the transfer of balances. These cards deals are charged fees as well. If they will allow you as the consumer to change the card balance to another there is a fee associated of up to 3 percent for the transfer. This has essentially put an end to many of the residents trying to change their balances as they don’t want to be charged the fee.

The fee associated with balance transfers have also risen over the last few years. The fee used to be under 3 percent, but now it is at least 3 percent. Luckily because of the rate hikes there is now a cap on the credit cards for that transfer fee at 3 percent. Some are still finding deals where there is a fee more attractive. They are saving about 18 percent interest when they decide to transfer so a little 3% fee is nothing in comparison. As long as these deals are going to be offer consumers are going to seek them out in order to help them pay off their debts. The trouble is sometimes the credit card companies don’t offer the great deal, in fact there are only nine cards that seem to offer the deal and follow through.

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