Latest UK credit card news

• New credit card added

  We have added the latest card from HSBC.

• New credit cards added

  We have added business credit cards and credit cards for people with credit problems and bad credit. More football clubs have been added to our football credit cards section including Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United. Barclaycard credit card section updated with new cards for students, charity and flexi-rate.

• Reward cards now more popular than 0% interest offers

  According to a new study credit cards that offer cashback or other rewards, such as points redeemable for goods, are now more popular than those offering 0% interest offers.

  However over 50% of people still have standard credit cards offering no discounts or rewards.

• New credit card added

  We have added Amazon credit card to our list of credit card providers.

• New credit cards added

  We have added Barclaycard and Egg Card to our list of credit card providers.

• Overseas credit card fraud

  Recent research by Barclaycard has revealed that Turkey is the overseas fraud hotspot for UK credit cards. Other countries in the top four are France, Spain and the United States.

  Between them these four countries accounted for over 56% of all foreign fraud recorded by Barclaycard last year.

  The full top ten is printed below.

  1. Turkey
  2. France
  3. Spain
  4. USA
  5. Italy
  6. China
  7. Thailand
  8. Ireland
  9. India
  10. Netherlands

• Beware order of payments

  When searching for your credit card check how the provider allocates payments.

  Almost all UK card providers choose to allocate payments first to outstanding balances at the lowest rates of interest (eg. 0% balance transfers). This leaves balances at higher interest rates, such as purchases and cash advances, to continue to accrue interest.

  If you take out a credit card offering a special low rate but allocating payments in this way you will not benefit fully from the low interest rates.

• More credit cards added to site

  In our lifestyle section - England Rugby card.

  In our charities section we have added cards for Childline, National Trust, WWF and Breakthrough Breast Cancer Care.

  We have added a football section including cards for Manchester Untied, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Celtic and Rangers.

• Voice recognition credit card in the future

  Scientists are developing a credit card that will not work unless it hears its owner's voice. This type of card could be used in the future to combat fraud.

  The card requires it's owner to give a spoken password that it authenticates using a built-in voice-recognition chip. A prototype has been made but presently it is three times as thick as an ordinary card.

• OFT caps late payment charges

  The office of fair trading (OFT) have decreed that charges for late payments on credit cards are disproportionate and unfair to consumers and must be reduced.

  It has capped the new penalty at £12, specifically targeting credit card providers charging between £20 and £30.

  Credit card providers have been threatened with legal action if they fail to comply.

• Internet sales continue to rise

  In the last five years, internet retail sales in the UK rose by over 350%, compared with growth of only 20% for all retail sales.

  In 2005, the typical online shopper spent £560 online, and forecasts suggest that this could grow to over £860 per year by 2010.

• Credit card spending set to double

  Overall credit card spending is set to double from £645 to £1,225 over the next three months with spending on the home and car likely to fuel this increase reports suggest.

  Credit card holders are preparing to splash out for the DIY season estimating they will spend an average of £363 on the home and car.

• More credit card debt for older cardholders

  Alliance & Leicester research details how much people have outstanding on their credit cards, broken down by age of the card holder.

  On average the under-30s have £1,073 outstanding on their credit cards

  30-50 year olds have £2,580 outstanding on average.

• UK consumer debt over £1 trillion !!

  UK consumer debt reaches £1.1 trillion. However confidence among borrowers remains high.