Egg's New Balance Transfer Offer Outstrips Virgin's

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The steps taken by Virgin and other credit card providers such as MBNA to help consumers to avoid accidentally getting into expensive debt makes their 0% balance transfer deals much more appealing.

(PRWeb UK) January 14, 2010

The New Year will be ringing in changes throughout the UK this month and the credit card world is no exception, as applications for the Egg credit card overtake Virgin's market leading balance transfer offer for the first time.

The Egg credit card has attracted 3% more applications through Credit-Card-Comparison-Online.co.uk than the Virgin credit card which has been sitting at the top of credit card comparison tables for months, according to figures from Credit-Card-Comparison-Online.co.uk.

The lead comes in spite of the fact that Virgin were attracting 47% more new applications than Egg through the comparison site in December 2009.

Virgin is currently offering the longest 0% balance transfer credit card deal on the market - sixteen months interest-free.

The Egg credit card, on the other hand, is offering a 0% balance transfer deal just three months shorter than Virgin's, when consumers sign up before April 1st.

Egg credit card is currently offering 0% on balance transfers until 1st March 2011 for customers who sign up before the 1st of April 2010. Since the end point of the offer is likely to be updated every month until April to keep the offer at a stable price, that’s thirteen months interest-free available for the next three months.

The New Year is traditionally a boom time for credit cards boasting 0% balance transfer offers as consumers who have spent more than usual at Christmas rush to avoid borrowing at high interest rates.

Research from Santander has suggested that 4.5 million UK residents will transfer credit card debts onto 0% balance transfer credit cards in the next few months.

More Flexible Plastic

While Egg may be ahead at the moment, Virgin’s new, fairer, way of allocating credit card payments is likely to attract consumers keen to keep their plastic flexible.

Virgin now apply payments made to their credit card to lower rate transactions and shorter promotional rates first. This means that their credit card holders can now use the three month 0% rate on purchases available with the Virgin credit card without racking up large amounts of interest.    

Credit Card Comparison Online staff writer Emily Gorton commented: "The steps taken by Virgin and other credit card providers such as MBNA to help consumers to avoid accidentally getting into expensive debt makes their 0% balance transfer deals much more appealing."

"Other credit cards with 0% rates on both balance transfers and purchases, such as the Egg credit card, require the balance transfer to be paid off in full before any payments can be applied to purchases. This could potentially be very expensive for credit card holders," she continued.

Research commissioned by Santander recently found that the total number of balance transfers in 2010 is expected to be a third higher than 2009. In this climate, comparing credit card balance transfer offers has become more vital than ever.

As Ms. Gorton put it: "while the Egg credit card offers an excellent deal for consumers and it's unsurprising that it's proving popular even against Virgin’s mega 0% balance transfer deal these little kinks in the terms and conditions really are what will make the difference for consumers."

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