The Virgin card is currently the market leading credit card, with the longest 0% offer for balance transfers and a competitive interest free period for new purchases
Ready to apply?
It takes just minutes to apply online. (Don't forget you need to be aged 18 or over, and a UK resident with a bank or building society account.)
Click here to launch the summary box and tick the box to confirm you've read it.
Credit card companies don’t exist to be generous, their single goal is to make money. Not satisfied with the revenue generated from their highly inflated interest rates (average is 17.2%, base rate is 0.5%), credit card companies have resorted to some unorthodox methods to generate even more cash from you. Here are some of the sneaky tricks they use.
Never withdraw cash from your credit card if you can possibly avoid it. Ever. Interest on cash withdrawals is charged at a far higher rate than normal transactions – up to 25% in some instances. Adding insult to injury, you’ll also be charged a fee for using the cash machine when you withdrew the money. Even if you pay your off your balance in full every month you will be out of pocket, because interest is charged on cash withdrawals from the day you take it out.
Articles & Guides - Order of payments
Got a nice deal on your balance transfer? Either 0% for a limited period or a lifetime deal for a few percent? Then ensure you never use that card again. Because if you do, you will be charged the card's highest interest rate on the new spending until the very last of your balance transfer is paid off. This is because almost all card providers use your repayments to pay off your cheapest debts – such as balance transfers – first, which means your additional spending collects interest for as long as possible.
Your credit card is your flexible friend on holiday, the adverts say, accepted in thousands of shops around the globe. What they don't tell you is that you are charged a fee – generally around 2.75% of the purchase price - every time you use your card abroad. Think 2.75% isn’t much to pay for convenience? Banks made £650 million last year from unsuspecting Brits using their cards abroad.
Articles & Guides - Credit card Cheques
Have you ever asked to be sent a credit card cheque? Credit card companies routinely send them to customers to encourage further spending. That seems very generous, but what’s not immediately apparent is that credit card cheques attract a higher rate of interest and – as with cash withdrawals – this interest is charged from the day the cheque is cashed.
Your credit card is your flexible friend on holiday, the adverts say, accepted in thousands of shops around the globe. What they don't tell you is that you are charged a fee – generally around 2.75% of the purchase price - every time you use your card abroad. Think 2.75% isn’t much to pay for convenience? Banks made £650 million last year from unsuspecting Brits using their cards abroad.
Articles & Guides - Credit card Cheques
Have you ever asked to be sent a credit card cheque? Credit card companies routinely send them to customers to encourage further spending. That seems very generous, but what’s not immediately apparent is that credit card cheques attract a higher rate of interest and – as with cash withdrawals – this interest is charged from the day the cheque is cashed.
Worried about losing your job or becoming ill and unable to pay your debts? Well then your card company will happily offer you a payment insurance service. The trouble is, these are often expensive, difficult to make a claim against and offer poor coverage - generally only meeting the minimum payment of your card. If you are genuinely concerned about making your repayments if you fall ill or lose your job, then take out a stand-alone policy that covers everything – rather than one just tied to your card.
Articles & Guides - Identity fraud protection
Identity fraud is one of the 21st century's fastest-growing crimes. Credit card providers are cashing in by offering additional ‘ID fraud protection services’ – for a fee. What you may not know is that it’s them who are actually liable for any fraudulent transactions on your card. ID fraud costs banks far more than it costs you, and they are working very hard to stop it regardless of whether you pay extra. Generally, checking your card statement and credit report regularly and knowing the number to call to cancel your card is more than enough protection – and costs almost nothing.
Some card companies are offering to lower the minimum repayments to help customers pay their bills. In reality, only credit card companies benefit from lower minimum payments. Reducing minimum repayments from 2% to 1% could add four years to the time it takes to pay off a £2,000 balance and mean you pay back an additional £1,974.57.
Articles & Guides - Store cards
The length of time between when you make a purchase and when interest is charged on it changes from card to card. And that's a problem. A study by Which? revealed that on two cards, both charging 15.9%, it would cost £83 in interest to pay off a £500 debt on one and just £58 to pay off the same debt in the same way on the other. That's £25 difference in interest, on two cards claiming to charge the same rate, all because of how long – or short – the interest-free period is.
Premium-rate phone lines
