Is the credit card market turning?
Even though there are very few 0% balance transfer credit card deals available at the moment, with even fewer offering no fees, the move by Virgin Money has somewhat shaken up the market in the UK. The opportunity to transfer your existing credit card balance to a Virgin Money Credit Card and escape any interest charges for nine months, with no setup fees, is sure to attract the attention of many in the UK.
However, Virgin Money has confirmed that the offer will only be available for a very short period and could be taken off the market at any time. This is a clever piece of advertising and promotional work by Virgin Money because ultimately the deal could disappear tomorrow but the headlines have put the company back at the forefront of the UK credit card market.
Until we see other leaders in the UK credit card market follow suit it would be very dangerous to suggest that the UK credit card market has turned. UK credit card interest rates have continued to rise even though UK base rates are stuck at 0.5% and default rates are pushing higher with more and more UK credit card customers struggling to meet their monthly payments. The market will turn at some point but it would take a brave person to guess when this may be!
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