Credit Cards Balance Transfer war extended to the U.K.

The credit card balance transfer war has finally caught up with credit card issuers in the UK.

Not to be outdone by their counterparts in the US, Barclaycard led the assault in UK with a 0% interest on balance transfers for 20 months deal on their Barclaycard Platinum Credit Card.

This has somehow created a storm in the marketplace. Not to be outclassed by their competitors, MBNA Europe Bank introduced 0% on balance transfers for 18 months deals through MBNA Platinum Visa Credit Card and Virgin Credit Card.

Nationwide Credit Card has a 0% interest on balance transfers for 17 months deal with low 15.9% APR (variable) and commission free purchases abroad until 31st July 2011.

In choosing the right card for their balance transfers, cardholders need to take note of the balance transfer’s handling fee aside from the introductory offer period.

The balance transfer’s handling fee in UK is considered reasonable if compares to the 5% rate in the US. And with such a long period of 0% interest rate, it is not possible to get one without balance transfer’s handling fee.

If you decide to carry the balances beyond the introductory period, it is important to take into consideration the balance transfer interest rate after the 0% introductory offer ended.

Nonetheless, it is to the cardholder advantage in paying off the debt within the introductory offer period to resolve their credit card debt issue.

And if you decide to use the balance transfer card for new purchases, make sure you pay the amount in full every month to avoid any new debt.

Go here now to compare for the best balance transfer credit cards in UK.

Credit Cards Balance Transfer war in the U.S.

For the first time since the financial crisis, credit card issuers in the U.S. is more than willing to lure cardholders with attractive credit card balance transfers offer.

During the financial crisis, 0% balance transfers offer was hard to come by and if available, only limited to 6 months.

However, credit card issuers is taking the extra initiative in the new year 2011, immediately after the Christmas season, expecting there might be cardholders overspend and need some relieves to their accumulated debts.

The balance transfers war caught fire in the early January 2011 when Chase introduced 18 months 0% balance transfers and purchases with Chase Slate Card.

Before the war started, Discover More Card is the leader in 0% balance transfers with 18 months offer. Now with the game heating up, Discover More Card matching if not exceeding their rivals by offering a range of limited time promotion(valid through February 28, 2011).

With the new promotion, it once again taking the lead with 24 months 0% balance transfer offers.

More significantly, one of the Discover More Card is offering “No Balance Transfer Fee” on 0% balance transfers for 12 months, which is not available ever since the financial crisis. In fact, the balance transfer fee has been increased to as high as 5% after the financial crisis.

To fully take advantage of the balance transfer war, cardholders are encouraged to pay off the debt within introductory offer period. Even if it is not possible to pay the balances in full within the introductory offer period, it is to your advantage to put extra efforts in paying as much as possible in the given period.

Go here now to compare for the best balance transfer credit cards.

Singapore Credit and Charge Cardholders breaking the 6 millions mark

The number of credit and charge cardholders in Singapore reaching 6,022,786 as of October 2010. The number of supplementary cardholders stand at 1,369,820 as of October 2010.

This is a significant figure in the republic with an estimated total population(residents and non-residents) of 5,076,700 as at 2010. The Singapore resident(citizens and permanent residents) stand at 3,771,700 in the same period.

It took almost two years to breakthrough the one million mark; where the number of cardholders was at 5,025,587 as of November 2008.

66,163,000 credit cards in UK – Highest in Europe

There are 66,163,000 credit cards in UK as at 31st December 2008, making UK the nation with highest number of credit cards in Europe; even though there is a decrease of 1,148,000 cards or 1.71% compares to 67,311,000 cards in 2007.

Lastest figure available(as of 31st October 2009) shown the number of credit cards in UK has decreased to 61,561,243.

Nonetheless, the number of credit cards in UK is still leading other nations in Europe by leaps and bounds; with 34,005,040 credit cards in France as at 31st December 2008, ranking second in Europe.

In 2008, credit cards in UK recorded 1.791 billion transactions with a total value of €143.36 billions.

Interestingly, even though there is 6.25% increase in the number of debit cards issued in UK, and contribute directly to 6.88% increase in the number of debit cards transactions, the transations value for debit cards has decreased by 6.48% to €342.53 billions in 2008.

Go here for more updates, news and statistics on UK credit cards.

€5.88 billions credit card usage by Norwegian

There are 10,629,000 payment cards(credit cards and debit cards) issued in Norway as at 31st December 2008. This translate into 2.25 cards per capita in Norway, only second to United Kingdom 2.44 cards per capita in Europe.

There are 4,338,000 credit cards in Norway as at 31st December 2008, recording 56.50 million transactions with a total value of €5.88 billions during the period.

Interestingly, even though the number of credit cards in Norway increased by about 1% in 2008, the number of transactions and the total value showing a growth rate of about 15%.

Go here for more info on norge kredittkort, where you can find latest update, news ans statistics on payment cards in Norway.

CAD$407,729,739 Loss in Canadian Credit Card Fraud for 2008

For the year ending December 2008, CAD$407,729,739 loss to credit card fraud has been reported in Canada, involving 450,322 Canadian issued cards. This is an average loss of CAD$905.42 per account.

Counterfeit cards is the main culprit in terms of dollar volume with CAD$196,653,970 loss involving 158,503 accounts.

Whereas fraudulent e-commerce, telephone and mail purchases has reported the highest numbers of cases, involving 210,430 accounts with CAD$128,362,477 loss in value… more interesting facts on Canada credit cards fraud statistics can be found here

The US Credit Card Issuers Adopting Relationship Banking

Looking for better rewards or offers on your credit card? Then look no further than the bank where your checking account exist.

Relationship banking has been practised in Germany for years when it comes to credit card. Know as Girokonto Kreditkarte, a free credit card is attached when you open a bank account.

At times, a rewards program is attached such as one found in DKB Visa Cash Card. Instead of creating their own rewards program, the issuer prefers to work with established rewards program, card4you which has over 7,000 existing partners.

Such trend is nothing new and has been adopted worldwide. In Asia, the credit card issuers have a tendency to offer credit card to their existing bank account holders. In Australia, a more favorable credit card offers is extended to their existing customer.

Finally, major banks in US are learning the rope themselves. Those with checking account at the bank are likely to find better credit-card deals now.

Under Chase Card Services’ Chase Exclusives program, for example, Chase Freedom cardholders who also have checking accounts at the bank can earn up to 10% more points on their spending.

The bank also rolled out a new credit card, “Slate From Chase,” that automatically refunds the 12th month’s interest charges each year if customers enroll in the bank’s AutoPay program from a Chase checking account.

On the other hands, Citi with a presence worldwide, is offering some customers an additional 2% cash-back bonus on qualified spending on Citi credit cards if customers also have a banking relationship at the company.

Moving forward, relationship banking will be the backbone of credit cards, especially those with bank accounts in the bank.

First, those with bank accounts means they have the money to spend and ability to pay for their credit usage. This is increasingly important factor as the unemployment threat no longer makes the credit ratings/scores accurate.

The creditworthiness based on credit history is now obsolete; thus a new, safer method to gauge a person credit is required. So what is clever way than knowing your prospect has money in your bank?

Australia credit cards competition heating up

Unlike their counterparts in US or UK, the credit cards issuers in Australia is busy competing in the Australia low interest credit cards market.

The sparks in low interest credit cards in Australia is led by Aussie MasterCard which launched the “9.99%p.a. on purchases for the first 12 months” and “4.99% p.a. on balance transfers for first 12 months” offers. This is followed by ANZ Low Rate MasterCard with a “low interest rate of 4.9% p.a. on purchases or the first 12 months” deals.

BankWest who is the leader in low interest rate credit card segment, finally responded with “Australia’s lowest MasterCard purchase rate
and longest balance transfer offer” on 29th June.

With savvy marketing copy such as “if your current credit card is with one of the big four banks, then you’re probably paying too much”, it is about time BankWest have to respond accordingly to maintain their position.

Instead of offering a low rate on purchases for 12 months, BankWest decided to go to the extreme by offering 9.99%p.a. with no specific time limit. And the “4.99% p.a. on Balance Transfers for 15 months” is by far the longest you can get, exceeding the norm of 6 to 12 months balance transfer offers in the Australia market.

This “low rate war” is not surprising since 70% of Australians want a lower rate on their credit card. Unfortunately, this healthy competition may not happened in US or UK in the near term.

Such scene is something new and refreshing, a good news to the consumer considering the current economy woes and financial instability.

Perhaps this shown the banking system down under is more solid than those in US and UK. As well as the willingness to compete wisely for a win-win situation.

Financial Mismanagement Main Reason for Credit Card Debt

With the recent 26-year high U.S. jobless rate of 9.4% in May 2009, it is easy to blame job loss as the main culprit for increasing credit card debt.

However, according to nonprofit NFCC(National Foundation for Credit Counseling) which helping financially desperate consumers, financial mismanagement is the main cause of financial distress. And job losses came in only second.

The number of people seeking help increase double-fold from 1.5 million in 2006 to 3.2 million in 2008.

What is more disturbing is people who seek counselling with NFCC had six credit cards with unsecured debt totaling 62% of their total household income. Be reminded that this debt is strictly credit card debt, not taking into account of their house or vehicle loan.

U.S. Credit Cards Charge-off Rate Rise in May

Capital One said the annualized net charge-off rate for U.S. credit cards, debts the company believes it will never collect, rose to 9.41 percent in May from 8.56 percent in April.

This trend is followed by every other major credit card issuers in US, which are reporting high and rising default rate.

This is lead by Bank of America reporting high charge-off rate of 12.50% in May, follow by American Express 10.4% charge-off in the same period.

Meanwhile, Citigroup the largest issuer of MasterCard branded credit cards reported charge-off rate of 10.50% in May. For record, Discover charge-off rate increased to 8.91% in the same period.

The spike in credit cards default in US is inline with the recent announced U.S. jobless rate in May, which rose to a 26-year record high of 9.4%.

The delinquency rates, an indicator of future credit losses, fell across the industry though. However, the delinquency rates is expected to rise in coming months. Analysts believe the decline was due to a seasonal trend, as consumers used tax refunds to pay their debts.