Cheap Credit Cards Disappearing
Once one of the easiest and cheapest ways to borrow money over the short term, credit cards are now becoming increasingly expensive and a lot more difficult to obtain, yet millions of us still rely on them for our day to day budgeting.
Due to the credit crunch many credit card issuers have tightened their lending criteria and in effect have seen a huge reduction in the credit card market. However this still wasn't enough to stop a record number of Brits applying for a card this year.
Recent figures show that even though the nation is currently in the middle of a credit crunch, general spending was up by more than 9% in September, also from a survey that was recently taken out apparently one in five adults are planning on paying for their Christmas this year on their credit cards.
Experts are now warning that if you are one of those people planning on paying for Christmas on your card you must be careful. Many years ago it would have been ok but these days easy credit and cheap borrowing are a thing of the past. Most credit cards currently out have high interest rates attached to them and most deals are starting to disappear. Many interest-free deals are also disappearing and lenders have started to be pickier about who they lend to. According to the latest figures, 16 of the top card providers raised their interest rates in the past year alone.
If you Dell comics decide to 1963 Fleer baseball cards for Christmas on your card this year, be careful on the Bigfoot you spend and the amount of time you take to pay the funds back. There's nothing worse than starting the New Year in a lot of debt.
Even though a lot of the cheap deals on most cards have disappeared, there are still occasionally some really good deals on credit cards and interest free credit cards so keep your eye out for them.
