Travel club with 8% holiday discounts, online fraud cover and global assistance scheme.
Discounts at Virgin companies and discount vouchers for High Street stores.
MasterCard Prepaid Debit Card. Load with $, £ or € at better rates than normally available. £9.95 initial fee. £1 per cash withdrawal.
Prepaid Mastercard. Top up free by debit cards or at a post office or for a fee at a Pay Point. 
The original prepaid, rechargeable maestro card. £5 initial fee and £4.95 p.a. maintenance fee. £1.50 ATM withdrawal
£9.95 then 2.95% on UK spending, 3.5% overseas. No top-up charge online or at Post Offices, elsewhere 2.75%. No monthly fee.| 0% on balance transfers | 0% on purchases | typical APR on purchases | Exclusive perks | |
| American Express Nectar | None | None | 18.9% | At least 1 nectar point for every £ spent |
| American Express Platinum | None | None | 18.9% | Cashback (5% for first 3 months) |
| HSBC | 13 months fee 2.5% |
3 months | 16.9% | Travel discounts |
| Virgin | 16 months fee 2.98% |
6 months | 16.6% | Discounts at Virgin outlets |
On this page we try to help you find the right credit, charge or prepayment card for use at home or abroad.
The different sorts of card can be confusing. Let's look at the essential differences.
Credit cards. Credit cards allow you to spend up to an agreed amount (your 'credit limit') using your card instead of cash or a cheque. You can then pay the credit card company the amount you have spent, either all at once or in bits. There are usually no fees for using credit cards (although there are exceptions).
If you have bought things using your card you have to make a payment each month by a date you will be given. You can choose how much you pay, as long as it is at least the minimum amount they tell you and as long as it is paid by the payment date. The minimum amount is usually quite modest.
One advantage with using credit cards is that it gives you a way to spend up to your credit limit, even if you have not got the cash at the time, without having to make fresh credit agreements each time you want to buy something. Another advantage is that, if you pay back, by the monthly date you are given, the whole amount you have spent on your card, there will be no interest to pay. So you have effectively received interest-free credit for that whole amount for that whole period. With some cards you might even get cash back or loyalty gifts - a sort of commission for just using the card rather than cash to buy things.
A less obvious bonus is that if you buy something using the card and something goes wrong, the card company may refund the amount you have paid. This can include breakages and thefts within a certain time after purchase (typically 90 days). It can even include refunding your holiday cost if you buy a holiday using the card and the holiday company closes, or refunding a payment you have made, using the card, to a retailer that goes out of business.
However, there can be disadvantages. An obvious one is that it is so easy to buy things using a credit card, that you might spend more than you intended: more than you would have spent if you had to find the cash up front. Another disadvantage is that you have to pay interest on anything you do not pay back by the monthly payment date, and the interest rates can be quite high.
Your choice of card from the very many available will depend on exactly what you are looking for. We have only provided links to cards that have a particular feature that may be of value to you.
| Credit Cards, summary of essential information | |
| American Express Nectar card | 18.9% typical APR (variable) |
| American Express Platinum card | 18.9% typical APR (variable) |
| HSBC | |
| Virgin | |
With the American Express Platinum card, for example, you get back up to 5% of whatever you have spent. This high cashback only lasts 3 months, after which it is more modest, but can nevertheless add up if you use the card a lot. The American Express Nectar card gives you Nectar points instead of cash as a reward for using it and is generally a favourite of Nectar point savers, including people who shop at Sainsburys and other shops and service providers that award Nectar points.
Bear in mind that quite a few UK retailers do not accept either of these American Express cards, because American Express charge them higher fees than most other card issuers, such as Mastercard and Visa. Many people who have an American Express card therefore choose an additional card, usually one of the Mastercards or Visa cards, for use where the supplier does not accept American Express.
If a long period of interest-free credit on balance transfers is what appeals, the HSBC and Virgin cards give you longer to pay of any balances that you transfer when your card is new, but a shorter interest-free period on new purchases. See the pink box for the details.
Charge Cards. Charge cards are similar to credit cards, except that you have to pay off the whole balance at the end of the month (you don't have the option to spread the repayments over a longer period). There is usually a monthly or annual fee. There may be a reward scheme and there may be some other perks - for example the American Express Platinum charge card gives you various travel benefits including free use of some airport VIP lounges.
Pre-payment cards. Whereas credit and charge cards let you spend the card company's money and settle up later, with pre-payment cards you put your money on the card first and you can only spend the amount you have put on. This is useful if you want the convenience of card payments without the temptation to overspend. It is also good for someone who can't get a credit or debit card - for example because of a poor credit record.
Pre-payment cards can be good for taking money abroad without needing to bother with travellers cheques or risking the loss or abuse of a credit or debit card. Some of these pre-payment cards can be expensive to use, though. There may be fees, which vary between cards, for putting money on or for spending the money. See the 'At a glance' boxes for details of the fees charged by the cards.
The Post Office Travel Card and FairFX card (stands for Fair Foreign Exchange) are particularly aimed at making it easy to take money abroad. In both cases you use your home currency (e.g. English pounds) to load the cards with pounds, euros or dollars. The conversion is done using the banks' wholesale rate, which is better than the retail rates you normally get on the high street or at bureaux, so you get more foreign currency for your pound. You can then use the card just like a debit or credit card to make purchases in the foreign currency.
The Post Office card has no initial fee, but there may be fees for use. The FairFX card does have an initial fee, but there is no fee for using the card to buy things abroad or for topping it up. You can also draw cash in the currency you have preloaded, at home or abroad but there are fees for this - see boxes above.
A few cards have other benefits. For example, the Virgin Prepaid MasterCard gives you 10% - 20% off at many Virgin outlets, such as Virgin holidays, Virgin insurances and Virgin Wines, so you could make a saving on bigger spends, such as holidays, even allowing for the fees.
Important
Please remember that we are not financial advisers. We do not give advice on the sort of product you should buy. We do our best to explain the sort of things available, and some of the product differences, and leave you to make the decisions about what to go for. If you do need advice, please consult a qualified independent financial advisor. In all cases, please click the image of the card to go to the company's web site to see any terms and conditions before deciding whether to apply.