When it comes to comparing credit cards, it’s best to always shop around because credit nowadays can be expensive and if you’re not careful, then you could be paying over the odds for what is a competitive financial product.

There are a huge number of credit cards out there all vying for your business and the best way to get a handle on what’s on offer is to use a good credit card comparison site.

And without a good credit card comparison site, it is very difficult to find the deal that best suits you, not only in terms of interest you’re paying on the money you might ‘borrow’ on the card, but also in terms of its flexibility.

Also, it’s best to be aware that each card has particular strengths and weaknesses, which means it is worth matching a card with your particular purchasing profile, so as to get the best deal out there.

So a good credit card comparison website will make that search so much easier for you and categorise cards in terms of their strengths. For example, up first in any comparison list should be the top cards, the ones that not only are good in terms of money, but also have a few other goodies attached as well.

Next category often features those cards which offer good balance transfer deals. This is a key starting point for those wishing to compare credit cards. If a card won’t give you a good deal on a balance transfer, then ignore it. What you’re after here is a low-rate incentive to get you to move and then some more goodies thrown in (such as purchase protection schemes).

Then the comparison site might look at those cards which give the best rates when it comes to purchasing goods, a good thing to consider if you intend to hammer your credit card.

Further categories might include those cards that offer rewards, are geared towards travel offers, or standard rates. A upmarket section is usually included, as Platinum cards tend to cost more, but do have added incentives attached. Business cards for those that need that facility are also usually included and an interesting category, and on highly relevant in today’s straightened times, are Credit Builder cards.

These are geared towards people with a less than perfect credit history who want to demonstrate that they can use a credit card sensibly again over a period of time. The downside with these cars of course are high interest rates and low amounts of credit on offer, but they can make all the difference to someone who needs to prove they are financial viable again.

A more advanced search will look at particular needs, including 0% balance transfers; no balance transfer fees; purchase incentives; low interest rates; no annual fees; high credit limit; 0% charges of foreign currency transfers; and, cashback deals.

And once you have decided upon your personal parameters, you then get down to the business of comparing. A good search engine for comparing credit cards should give you the name of the provider (Barclays, HSBC etc); the rate offered on balance transfers (plus the length of that rate); same with the purchase incentives; the typical variable Annual Percentage Rate, or APR as its known; and, any benefits that the card might have.

Armed with all that, you will then be able to make a sound decision when it comes to comparing credit cards.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Barclaycard has announced that spending on credit and debit cards was up over the 2009 festive period.

Barclay Payment Acceptance, which is one of the largest processors of credit and debit card transactions, said that UK shoppers spent more using their plastic than they did last time. The figures compare 19th December to 31st December, 2009, to the same period in 2008.

And the busiest day turns out to be the 23rd December, when a whopping £497 million was spent using credit and debit cards. Further examination of the data might show of course that this was men doing their last minute shopping.

The next busiest day was 29th December when no doubt attention turned to sale bargains. On this day some £376 million was passed through the tills using plastic.

The total turnover for the period under review was a quite staggering £4 billion, not bad considering the country is still officially in recession. It was a 2.4% increase over 2008 which saw just shy of four billion being spent.

Breaking the data even further, reveals that spending after Christmas was also up from 2008, with £1.68 billion compared to £1.64 billion.

On Christmas Day itself (thought that was a holiday), there were 700,000 transactions totalling £24 million. These appeared to peak at 12.08pm (maybe in readiness for lunch and the Queen’s Speech), with 32 transactions a second. The online retailers accounted for £9.5 million’s worth of trades on the day itself, compared to £8.1 million in 2008 (up 17%).

On boxing day, many of the transactions, which averaged around £73, were driven by the DIY sector.

Head of Sales at Barclaycard Global Payment Acceptance, Marc Pettican, said:
“Our retailers have seen an increase in turnover compared to the same period last year with over £4 billion being spent. We’ve also seen a stronger post-Christmas performance as shoppers take advantage of the sales discounts and consider the effects of the imminent VAT increase.”

Guest Article by Neil Camp

In these straightened times, U.K. citizens are turning away from their credit cards and relying more on their debit cards.

So says payments association ‘Apacs’ which reported that the total spent on plastic in the first quarter of 2009 was £94.2 billion, up a total of 5.4%. And the number of purchases was £1.9 billion, up 6.5%. Debit cards were responsible for 74.5% of all plastic card purchases in the first quarter of 2009, up 4% compared to first quarter 2008. In the same period, purchases by credit cards dropped 3%.

The use of cheques fell again, with the number clearing through the system down by just over 10% and their total value falling by 9.4%.

Apacs also reported that automated cash machines (ATM) were doing a roaring trade, with £45 million being withdrawn in the first quarter.

Those financial institutions and individuals using The Faster Payments Service continues to gain in popularity, with the first quarter of 2009 seeing a tad over 60 million payments processed. These payments totalled up to a respectable £20.6 billion.

Since the launch of The Faster Payment System in May 2008, which is designed to speed the processing of money between financial institutions, over £50 billion of payments have been processing, representing 142.9 million payments.

Guest Article by Neil Camp