FinanceTeam

Credit Cards

home equity loans

Every day thousands of people look through the credit card best buy tables and wonder which credit card is best for me. You may be surprised to learn that there are two different answers; in fact there are hundreds of different answers if we consider the millions of credit card seekers up and down the country. Why might this be so? Surely a good deal is a good deal.

The main reason is that we may only be eligible for certain card deals due to our financial circumstances.

For example a 40-year-old homeowner with a good income and a clean credit history will instil confidence in potential lenders and allow them to offer a low rate of interest because of the lower perceived risk.

On the other hand, someone without all of these factors in their favour will find it harder to get such a competitive deal, and as the negative factors mount up (unemployment, missed payments, CCJs etc.), so will the interest rates, joining fees and possibly the need for a guarantor or some form of collateral.

For those of us who are somewhere along the centre of this range, we should not find it hard to get credit but to find the best credit card deal it will certainly pay to spend some time looking at what is available. When you see the rate advertised as a "typical APR", that will be the rate given to our above-mentioned Mr Clean. The only way you'll find out exactly what rate you will pay is to make an application and let the credit rating agencies do their work.

This is why we can each find our own "best credit card deal", but the chances are it won't be the same as your neighbour's.