Ulsterbank personal finance
One of the best current credit card deals comes from Ulsterbank personal finance services. The Northern Irish bank, which these days is under the umbrella of the rather beleaguered Royal Bank of Scotland group, is offering 0% on balance transfers and purchases for the first six months on its Visa and MasterCard products. Thereafter, interest reverts to the usurious norm of the banks – 19.9% APR being its standard variable rate. Nothing unusual about that, but as ever you must ensure that you switch to another product before your interest free period ends.
Ulsterbank personal finance also offers a Gold Card which, like most gold and platinum credit cards in our opinion, offers the customer little extra apart from the spurious kudos of having a gold coloured piece of plastic rather than a red, black or garishly patterned piece of plastic. The yearly interest rate is somewhat lower at 16.9%, but as you aren’t going to be daft enough to pay interest on your credit card anyway, that shouldn’t concern you. It DOES offer free travel insurance and free extended warranties on certain products, though you’d have to cost out the saving very carefully against some of the very good travel insurance deals already out there to check it was actually paying for itself.
Ensure you aren’t getting ripped off on your credit card. Read our piece on zero percent credit cards and low APR credit cards and make sure you’re getting the best possible deal.