INTRO

I first decided to get an Egg Credit Card to take advantage of a 0% Interest Balance Transfer (BT) about 2-3 years ago. This was so that I could buy a £1,000 laptop (Samsung Q35). The interest free period was only 6 months but that's all I needed to pay off the balance. I think the BT fee was about 2.5% back then. It's a bit higher now, circa 3% in line with other credit card providers. They also have a 0% on purchases offer on the same card, at the same time alongside the balance transfer offer but this is usually shorter than the balance transfer so if you use both and you don't clear the balance before the end of the 0% interest on purchases period, you end up paying interest on the purchases spending unless you clear the entire balance as this is a sneaky tactic that most BT cards use.

ACCOUNT OPENING

Opening the account was done entirely online and was pretty easy. Naturally, it's subject to status and you do have the chance of getting your application rejected. Mine was accepted after a few days of applying and I did get a higher credit limit than all my other cards, which was nice. Once all is good, I received documents and my card in the post. Can't remember if my PIN came through the post or not as a more recent egg card just asked me to log in to view my PIN online.

ACCOUNT FACILITIES

Logging in involves providing your first name, last name, date of birth, postcode and then your security details such as your mother's maiden name followed by your password. The first four details can be 'Remembered' on your PC so you don't have to keep entering them if you use the account frequently although this is not recommended on public or shared computers. This is easy and once logged in, my account area lets me view all my Egg accounts. I also had an Egg Money savings account back then so that was there. Clicking through to the account showed my balance and enabled me to manage my account such as pay bills, amend direct debit details, request an additional card, view my PIN, as well as send a secure message to customer service. Everything one would expect of a credit card online account.

Once I'd received the Egg Credit Card, I was able to activate the card online as opposed to having to phone up. Free number (0800) or not, I really don't like having to phone up and they ALWAYS try to sell you their rip off Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), so this is a good thing, being able to activate online. However, Egg did phone me up a few weeks after opening the account as a courtesy call to see if everything was okay and they did try to sell me the PPI there, which I of course, declined to take up.

You are emailed each month when your statement is released. A text message each week updating you on your balance is also possible, which is handy.

BENEFITS

Having opened the account for the balance transfer, even after the promotional period had ended, every once in a while, they offered me further interest free balance transfers, typically for 6 months. I think I took up the offer one other time. This is quite good for those whom sometimes need a bit of breathing space with paying off cards and even better for those whom are finding it difficult to apply for new credit cards due to past arrears (bad credit score) or due to lenders being a bit more picky due to the credit crunch. Another benefit, which I utilised a few times is the Instant Cash back Offer. Clicking through the rewards section in the online account, you can get discounts through the listed retailers if you shop at their website using your Egg card. The discount is automatically applied. The discounts currently offered are;

0800flowers.com - 10% off
lastminute.com (travel) - 5% off
7digital.com (MP3 downloads) - 10% off
Figleaves.com - 10% off
Joe Browns (clothes) - 15% off
Virgin Wines - £60 off
Buyagift.com (gift experiences) - 20% off
Under Travel and Privileges;

Egg Travel Insurance - 10% off
Lounge Pass (for access to airport lounges) - 10% off
Holiday Autos (car rental) - 10% off
Holiday Extras (Airport hotels and parking) - 13% off

Great if you use those but percentages change. They used to have Dixons on there, which gave a discount of 5% and even 7% off at one point. Dixons was the only one I used so I'm not really happy that they removed the offer even if I seldom used it.

Another one, which is very limited is 2% Cash back for petrol spends at (participating) Shell petrol stations. I'm guessing other shopping at Shell garages counted as well as they probably don't differentiate what you're paying for at the garages. This one would be handy for a lot of drivers, and they can even use it in conjunction with the Shell rewards card but unfortunately, this offer only popped up twice or something and each time only last 2 or 3 months. I already have a Barclaycard, which gives me 2% cash back off petrol spend and I use that in conjunction with my Nectar / Tesco Club cards so there wasn't enough incentive for me to use Shell as my petrol is paid by my work so getting a Shell card for cash discounts wouldn't do me any good anyway.

Lastly, this card also offers free purchase in transit protection meaning with any item you buy that's over £25, you're covered up to £1,000 if it gets lost in post but this does seem to have a lot of terms so most things won't be covered! My Egg Money card has similar for over £50 but includes items being lost within 3 months so much better in my book. Also, Egg Money has a price guarantee whereby they'll refund me the difference of an item I find cheaper within a certain amount of time if the purchase is more than £50. It only does this for items bought offline, which is a shame!

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Customer service can be reached via their online secure messaging system or via telephone. I have contacted them via both means and have always received satisfactory responses. One time, I paid off my balance and then forgot that I had already done so and made the same payment to pay off the full balance again. That's £700 so didn't really want it as a credit balance on my card when I need to use it elsewhere so I duly phoned them. Egg did a BACS payment back to my bank account, which showed up a few days later so all was good again. Other times, I used the online secure messaging system, which is sort of like an internal email system for contacting Egg. I usually receive responses in 2-3 working days. Overall, I find customer service pretty good.

Recently, I've decided to close the card as I wasn't using the card and got myself a Egg World Money Mastercard instead as that offers 1% Cash back. Contacted Egg via their messaging system on Friday 2nd October in the morning, got a response on Tuesday 6th and finally received a confirmation of account closure on Friday 9th. I've found that they actually reply on Sundays as I've asked a question with regards to my Egg Money card and got a reply on a Sunday.

SUMMARY

PROS

- Cash back benefits
- Occasional interest free balance transfer offers
- Good customer service
- Easy to manage account online
- Other Egg credit cards have some better/more benefits

CONS

- Other cards offer longer balance transfer periods and with lower fees
- Cash back offers a bit limited

VERDICT

Do I recommend the Egg Credit Card? Yes and No. If you can make do with a short balance transfer and would likely make use of the cash back offers, then yes, otherwise, there are better balance transfer deals out there (i.e. Virgin Money with 16 months 0% BT, which money article sites just won't shut up about). Also, the Egg World Money card may just be better for those whom don't need/want the balance transfer or purchases promotional periods and those unlikely to use the discounts with the named retailers, and of course, those who want the the cash back.

Thanks for reading!