H2X TO MAKE-U-MONEY? (Halifax Platinum Credit Cards)

Member Name: marandina

Product:	Halifax Platinum Credit Cards
Date:	07/01/03 (714 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Low rate

Disadvantages: No cashback

Credit cards are part of our national make-up. A fact of life along with buses arriving in threes and manufactured pop bands dominating the ratings, credit cards allow huge swathes of the population to buy now, pay later. Should you be one of the few that doesn't possess a plastic friend then dipping into this already very crowded market can be a little intimidating. I mean, there are affinity cards, cashback cards, balance transfer deals, flat rate cards and the list goes on. However, if you are one of the growing breed that looks to get the cheapest deal possibly by, primarily, dealing on the Net then look no further than a comprehensive offering from HBOS.

Before going on, I need to point out that Credit Card providers do segregate offerings based on demographics. In it's most rudimentary form, gross annual income is taken and, as a general rule of thumb, standard cards are offered at an annual gross of up to £19999. £20000 sees a Gold card offered and those lucky enough to earn £25000 are eligible for a Platinum Card (indicative only: various providers will apply different criteria e.g. higher/lower income bands and there are further types available e.g. cobalt!). The difference comes in the shape of the APR charged and the "goto" rate after any special introductory rate has finished. Most cards now offer some sort of special rate and in our case I am concentrating on the Platinum offering albeit with a view to highlighting the latest online offering - H2X.

H2X is the latest generation of online credit card for the astute individual that uses a bit of nouse by exploiting the cost benefits of the WWW. As mentioned above, this card is only available to those folks earning £25000 or more per annum. If you don't fall into this income bracket then don't lose heart because the credit card market is a cut throat world and by looking at the web sites mentioned below, you should be able to pick a competitive deal to suit your
circumstances.

The headline APR is 9.9% and applies to both purchases and balance transfers. An incentive to bring balances across from othe
r cards means a 0% deal for the first 5 months. If you are one of the 50% that subsidises everyone else by paying interest on your outstanding balance then you really should be thinking about getting that interest-bearing burden across to a deal like this one. There is an online calculator that allows you to calculate potential savings by tapping in the card issuer and balance outstanding. This may or may not convince you to make the switch.

The deal can only be offered in this way by restricting maintenance to the web so you won't have access to branches. Needless to say, all the facilities that you might expect are online including viewing monthly statements. Payment is by direct debit, which may put one or two off who prefer to have a say in when payments are sent, but, on the other hand, at least you won't have to remember to send a payment off.

Other features include:

 No annual fee

 Up to 59 days interest free credit as long as the balance is cleared in full each month

 Free purchase protection covering most major items against theft or damage for up to 100 days

 Up to £100000 free travel accident cover when booking the tickets using the card

Things to watch for:

 £3 charge for paper statements

 Phone calls to H2X charged at premium rate. The preferred method of contact is by e-mail.

 There is a link to the Halifax Shopping Extra site, which may entice you to part with more money via discounts on shopping, travel and leisure.

How to apply
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If this is for you then application is,surprise, surprise, via the website at Halifax.co.uk. As with all credit based products, there will be a credit search so you'll still need
to be aware of possible rejection if either your credit score is low or you have a poor credit history.

You'll get a choice of cool blue or hot orange colours and the questions are, as you'd expect: name, address, tel.no., employment details etc.

All being well, if you are accepted then the H2X card is dispatched from Cardiff although delivery does vary between 7 and 14 days subject to post and postcode.

H2X won't suit everyone. Personally, I love the cashback concept as I always clear my balance in full every month. My recent cashback at the end of November was £115, which went very nicely towards paying for Christmas. As it stands, there is no advertised cashback on the H2X deal so it will be more suited to folks wanting to switch balances at the 0% offer and turned on by the low APR as they have no intention of clearing the balance each month.

There are other online offerings from companies such as the ubiquitous Egg (APR 12.3% typical) but they do seem to have hit a brick wall in terms of service and rates so you might want to shop around before making a decision. Cahoot are advertising an aggressive APR of only 7% but the interest free period is only 46 days as opposed to the 59 here. If cashback is your thing then the standard Platinum card via HBOS still pays 0.5% rising to 1% after a £12000 pa spend. In this case, the APR is 17.9% (Special intro rate of 3.9% for first 5 months).

This is a new offering so it's too early to tell what service back up will be like but HBOS has a good reputation online through it's other dealings so there should be no need to worry on that score.

As ever, there is a plethora of decent financial sites that can help including the reverential MoneyXtra.com amongst others.

Now is a great time to revamp those musty old, overused pieces of plastic in your purse or wallet so take advantage of the break and start the New Year with a clear conscious by redu
cing your outgoings by either applying for H2X or finding a suitable deal for you from the online resources available (try the comparator at http://www.moneyxtra.com).

Thanks for reading and a Happy New Year.

Marandina

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