February 2008 Newsletter
| Created: 19/02/2008 |
Dear Stoozer
Welcome to the February edition of our Stoozing newsletter. In this edition we bring you all the usual card news together with a provocative article on how the 'credit crunch' might affect stoozers. However the main items of news this month is that we have recently launched a brand new sister website: makesenseofcards.co.uk.
Best wishes
Stooz and Clariman
New Website Announcement
As a subscriber to the Official Stoozing Website's newsletter, we thought that you might like to hear some exciting news from the site's owners and developers. Stoozing.com's great strengths are its friendly community, its independence and its detailed focus on the topic of stoozing. This has enabled the site to become the place where stoozers seek the unbiased and reliable credit card information that they need, day in day out.
This format has been so successful, that we have recently launched a companion website for all credit card users. It will share the same values as stoozing.com. but will cover the whole credit card market and be applicable to any credit card user.
Stooz and Clariman are pleased to announce the launch of www.makesenseofcards.co.uk - the Community Website for UK Credit Card Users: friendly, trustworthy and totally independent.
You will be pleased to know that stoozing.com will continue in its current format and will sit alongside our new website. If you have found stoozing.com useful, then why not tell your friends about the great new credit card website at www.makesenseofcards.co.uk! You know that they will receive a warm welcome and independent, trustworthy information.
Thank you for your interest and support Stooz and Clariman
Other news
Egg's new owners Citibank have announced that they are closing the accounts of 161,000 UK credit card customers. As part of their announcement, Egg claimed that the only people affected were those whose credit profile had "deteriorated". However, the results of a Poll on our forums shows that many un-profitable customers had their cards closed too.
Articles
Is the credit crunch biting or feeding?
The credit card crunch might be bad news, but for stoozers, is there an up side? Read our new article.
Best Deals
Best Balance Transfer Cards
No change at the top with Capital one at 6 months still the only fee free mainstream 0% card on the Balance Transfers table, although it does require an "Excellent" credit rating. Britannia Building Society and Norwich & Peterborough BS along with Ulster continue to offer fee free cards but only to society members.
Still at the top of the capped deals table is Virgin Atlantic with its fee capped at £50. Being an MBNA backed card it has a track record of good credit limits, low minimum payments and the possibility of getting a deal extension at the end of the 0% period. The John Lewis card is also worthy of consideration but doesn't offer great credit limits.
Yet again Virgin Money continues to hold the top spot on the uncapped fees section, offering 0% over 15 months (yes 15 months!). In second place is the Egg Visa card Egg offers 15 months at 0% with a 3% fee.
Best Purchases Cards
HBOS increase the HSBC card to a 15 months offer, but this is hidden away. Make sure you use this link to the Halifax Purchase card. HSBC is still there with 12 months 0% on purchases offer which has proven to be very popular. Subsidiary First Direct has a similar offer.
Best cashback cards
The top cashback credit card is the ever consistent American Express Platinum credit card which has been a consistent player at or near the top of this table. It is offering a fantastic 5% cashback on all purchases for the first 3 months, followed by tiered cashback up to 1.5% thereafter. This is pretty much unbeatable for those with major expenses coming up or a fairly high level of credit card spending. For a straight 1% cashback, take a look at Capital One cashback card or Egg Money.
Best Life of Balance Card
In first position we have HSBC who offer an excellent 2.9% LOB rate for 2 years. with First Direct and Goldfish following up with 4.9% offers, but the goldfish has an attractive standrad apr of 12.9% as well.
Best Savings Accounts
ICICI remain a good deal at 6.41%, topped by only by Newscastle which expires in days.