Is this the best stable relationship credit card (5.9% APR)?

icebergx

Hi all,
I've just come across this credit card from the Halifax that has a 5.9% interest rate on new purchases.

http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/flat_rate.shtml

This seems to beat Martin suggestions of the American Express blue, Barclays Simplicity and Capital One's 'No Hassle' Platinum card which are offering 6.9% APR.

I just wanted to garner some feedback from you MSEs to see if anybody has any experience of using this card, and whether or not it's too good to be true. A bonus with this card is it also has a 5.94% life balance transfer facility which, although not market leading, is amongst the lowest available.

Any feedback or opinions on this card will be greatly appreciated.

chaos5678

I've just had a quick look at this and seems like a decent card.
It's good for life of balance, I'm off to apply and see how it goes.

makemone

chaos5678 wrote:

I've just had a quick look at this and seems like a decent card.
It's good for life of balance, I'm off to apply and see how it goes.

Yes, I have had a look at it as well, looks good . I'm considering to use one for me and my boyfriend, have a nice weekend all !

magentadreamer

If do a 4.95% card

http://www.if.com/creditcard/creditcard_home.asp

mrcol

The Halifax card has no interest free period, you will pay 5.9% from the day of purchase regardless of if you pay in full every month.

icebergx

Good point but not completely correct.
If you pay off your card in full each month then you don't pay any interest (but if you always do this, it doesn't really matter what APR you have). If you don't pay off the total balance they add the interest onm to your next bill.

T&Cs are here:

https://www.halifaxcards.co.uk/NASApp/halifaxcards/do/SummaryBox?sc=C1225630I&special=halifax

It would be interesting to see if this works out better value than the 6.9% cards mentioned above, in the long run.
Also, I think the acceptance criteria for this card are not as strict as the others.

MPH80

Hi there,

I'm not sure you're right Icebergx.

Here are the full T&Cs:

https://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/conditions_7222.shtml

And the relevant portion:

3.4 We will charge you interest on purchases and cash advances from the date of the transaction and for cheques, balance transfers and all other amounts from the date we first charge the amount to your account.



3.5 If you do not pay the total balance shown on your statement, at the date of the next statement we will add the interest we have charged on the unpaid amount to the balance we charge interest on. We will continue to charge interest, at our usual rates, on any unpaid balance after this agreement has ended and both before and after we have got a court judgment. If we allow you to miss or reduce one or more monthly payments, we will continue to charge interest on the full amount you owe on your statement (including on the interest for that month).

So - I read that to mean that if you don't pay the full balance, they will CONTINUE to charge interest on the unpaid amount of the balance.

M.

YorkshireBoy

icebergx wrote:

Good point but not completely correct.

Could you explain what this means then...?

Interest Free Period: There is no interest free period on any transactions

Source: Your link to the summary box.

icebergx

What I'm trying to say is that you may 'generate' a potential interest payment from the day of your transaction, but if this is not added to your next bill. The interest is added to to the bill after that, but only if you don't pay off your previous bill in full.
This is my interpretation of the 'Interest Charging Information' from the T&Cs.
Ultimately, I guess the main questions are:

1) Does this card represent better 'value' than the 6.9% cards
2) Is the credit check easier to pass with Halifax than the 6.9% providers (who I understand are quite strict).

Please let me know your thoughts.

MPH80

IceBerg - that's the way most credit cards work.

But they are phrased very specifically to give you "upto 56 (or whatever) days interest free".

Because the summary data on this card clearly states there is no interest free period, and the phrasing of the T&Cs - that indicates that interest will be added to each bill.

In the event that you fail to pay the bill completely, then the remaining interest is added to the balance so that it ends up being compounded.

At least that's how I read it.

So as a LOB balance card for a BT - it's fairly competitive - it just isn't competitive for purchases - but finding out how easy it is to get can only be done one way.

M.

mrcol

If you look at money supermarket http://www.moneysupermarket.com/cards/cardsresults.asp
and go for lowest standard rate, then proceed, then hover your mouse over the third card down, the card in question, it confirms what i said.

There is no interest free period on this card.

There are better cards around, the interest is low but would you be better of with this rather than the barcalycard or capital one at 6.9 with 50 odd days to pay it off interest free?