The vast majority of all credit card providers operate a negative order of payment, meaning that your monthly repayment is used to pay off the cheapest debt first, leaving such items as cash advances (which attract a high interest rate), to accrue yet more interest. This may be good news for the provider’s profits but it’s certainly bad news for the consumer. The Department of Trad...

The experts say that using plastic is safer than cash, and that card fraud is actually less common that it used to be, thanks to the introduction of the Chip and PIN system. However, fraud is on the increase - by 16% in the cases of “card not present” transactions (for example internet, mail order and telephone sales) - and cases of card cloning are up by 3%. According to the UK’s ...

Halifax has become the first high-street bank in the UK to launch multi-currency ATMs that will allow customers to withdraw cash from a current account or credit card in Euros and US Dollars. The machines will accept Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards, dispensing Euro and Dollar banknotes in denominations of 20 at a competitive rate of transfer. Halifax customers and those with other ...

Back in July, we gave you a round-up of the best charity cards on the market. Charity, or “affinity”, cards are certainly popular and the better ones raise substantial sums of money for good causes. And yet...with a wide range of cards offering cashback, y...

A new problem with using credit cards for hotel check-ins has been highlighted in recent weeks. There is a chance that you could go over your credit limit without knowing - simply because you checked in at a hotel. It is a common practice at hotels, but many people do not even realise what is happening to their credit card at check-in. When your card is initially swiped, what is really...