Use it right and you can save loads! (Virgin Mastercard)

Member Name: daniash

Product:	Virgin Mastercard
Date:	18/05/09 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Exceptionally good balance transfer offers and options

Disadvantages: Customer service lines charged a bit too much

Like many others I got attracted to this credit card because of their long 0% interest period for balance transfers. I had a bit of debt here and there that I wanted to shove into a dark place and not be obsessed with paying it back regularly and this looked good.

This was the first time I applied for a financial product from Virgin, and the first impressions were good. Not that I consider any credit card company "like a friend" or "someone who can be trusted", but there are standards. Overall, I did not have any problems with any part of the process.

The application was done over the Internet and the decision was instantaneous - I didn't even have to wait for a letter to come. I had a small but decent credit score and I was instantly accepted - I was even told my credit limit straight away! I must say that considering the credit limits I was given by other credit card companies, this one was the highest, so they were quite generous, when considering my income and circumstances.

When you apply, if you want a balance transfer you can tell them straight away during the application, although you can always call up later and they can do it over the phone on the same terms. They do charge a 3%-ish on any balance transferred, but if you do your math you'll know that this is preferable to having your debt sit at 14.9% elsewhere for just a couple of months. The 0% rate this card offered was (at the time I applied) 18 months, which is very generous indeed.

As with any card marketed to people in need of balance transfers, it does try to tempt you into using it for spending, by offering 3 months 0% on purchases. If you know your credit cards, you'll know that this is to be avoided until you've paid off all the balance you transferred, or you may get yourself into an unfortunate situation where the benefits of being at 0% are completely wiped, and there's nothing you can do. I won't go into the details of why this is, but you can easily find information about it on the Internet. You must resist this urge - if you transfer a large balance, you must not use this particular card for spending until you've paid it all off.

Having said that important disclaimer, I'll move on to describe the card and the service. You get a choice of 3 colours/themes for the actual plastic. I chose the pink velvety one, and it was easily the cutest card I've ever had. What a shame that since I won't use it to spend, I keep it locked up at home and can never flash it to friends!
The service is good enough. Apart from the annoying fact that numbers are charged at slightly unfair rates (but that's the same with most banks), people are helpful and I even got forgiven once for missing one of my payments. I would have lost my 0% rate but I told them that I had simply forgotten and apologised, and luckily they turned a blind eye to it. It won't work if you do it all the time tho!
Customer service have a tendency to try to persuade you into transferring more debt into their card. I once got asked, "Now with the bank holiday coming up, why don't you do a balance transfer and free up some money!", when in fact there wasn't any bank holiday coming up for months :)

The GREAT thing about this card is that it lets do balance transfers not just from your other cards but also from your bank account! So if you have an overdraft that's costing you, you can shift that debt to this card at 0% and relax for a while.

To sum it all up, this is a credit card and you should be educated about what they are, how they work and how to use them responsibly before you apply for one. But if you have some debt lying around and you know what you're doing, this is a top one. Just remember all the caveats!

Summary: One of the best cards if you've already got debt