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I went to fill up the car today and the card got flagged for authorisation. I called the number on the back of the card and got straight through to the fraud department. It turns out someone had used my card for two £1 Napster purchases followed by a £350 purchase from a major catalogue store (this transaction was subsequently declined).

Anyway, the lady on the phone went through it all with me and explained that the card would need to be destroyed and a new card re-issued. This will take 3 - 4 days, as the pin number needs to come separately.

This was great service by MBNA, as the fraud was spotted quickly and action taken, but what if I was relying on that card? I have another card I can use, but some do not. All I can say is make sure you have other means of payment to get by for a few days if you find yourself victim of credit card fraud, as I was.

As you know, the UK is now officially in recession. The cost of borrowing has increased while the interest rates on savings has dropped through the floor to the extent where the single incentive to have your money in a bank is so the thieves and burglars can’t get their hands on it.

With this in mind, it is overtly tempting to take advantage of the 0% interest rates on balance transfers on cards that are being offered at the moment. It seems to make more sense than ever to have your debt sitting on a 0% card rather than paying over the odds for a loan.

The trouble with this is everyone is doing it. People far and wide are racking up debt on these cards and have been for the last few years, knowing they can transfer it over to another 0% card at the end of the interest free period. This tactic is called being a “card tart”.

As with all things in life, when things looks too good to be true they usually are. As people, organisations and banks tighten the money-belt in 2009 they will want to make sure they are earning off the back of these people. This may lead to the credit card companies cracking down on the card tarts and trying to get them paying interest.

Whether this happens by the banks removing these offers, or whether it comes from them detecting the card tarts and declining credit card applications is unknown, but as things get more gloomy in the UK it is worth keeping in mind that although it is still worthwhile taking advantage of the 0% offers, do not rely on them still being there when the interest period is over.

Ride the wave while it is there, but get ready to jump off when you need to.

With the recent banks-go-bust fiasco in the UK there is a lot of worry amongst consumers about whether their money is safe. The £50,000 limit on your money being safe is not quite as straight forward as it first seems, as some banks are banded together, meaning that if you have over £50,000 within the linked banks then you are not safe.

This brings about the question, who owns my bank? Moneysupermarket have recently done some investigation and produced a table of which banks are linked to which others. Click here to take a look.

Some of them are obvious, such as First Direct and HSBC, but a lot of them are not, and an awful lot of people will now be in a position where they think they are safe from losing their money (should the worst happen) when in fact they need to be re-investing their money elsewhere.

There are other factors to consider, such as the timescale before you can get your money if the bank goes bust and you need to wait for compensation. This is covered in detail in the article above.

If you have in excess of £50,000 in the banking system, now is the time to double check it is safe!

Virgin Money have updated their product offering on the Virgin Credit Card. As of 12pm today, Wednesday 8^th October, the Virgin Credit Card will offer card holders the following rates and benefits.

- 0% for 16 months on balance transfers (from the date your account is opened. Transfers to be made within first 60 days. 2.98% handling fee applies)

- 0% for 6 months Now 0% for 3 months on card purchases* (from the date your account is opened)

- Discounts at loads of Virgin companies

- Discounted vouchers for leading high street stores

- Typical rate 16.6% APR (variable)

NOTE from Lowestcostcreditcard: Don’t forget, if you take this deal for the 0% interest free, DO NOT BUY THINGS WITH THIS CARD (click for details)

I recently applied for an Egg credit card with a view to transferring a balance onto the 0% offer. Having taken delivery of the card I have noted some really nice touches.

• The activation is all done online
• You have access to your PIN through the online interface
• Balance transfers can be done online
• You can choose to pay however much you want to pay each month

The last point is certainly one to keep in mind if you are using the card as I am, for a 0% deal. If you are looking to make a dent in the bottom line figure you will need to pay more than the minimum but presumably not the full amount (or you wouldnt have the card).

The Egg interface lets you give a set amount to pay each month, which is fantastic to work out how much you will owe at the end of the 0% period. The best way of using this is to divide the interest free months by the outstanding balance, then at the end of the 0% period you will have paid the card off.

Of course you may not be able to do this, but it is a great feature to have and I wish more credit cards had such a feature, as opposed to relying on you to make manual transfers every month if you want to pay more than the minimum.

This is a question I have had a few times and it is hard to say accurately. I would recommend 2 months before the end of your current 0% period you should start looking for a good deal. This gives you a week or so to shop around (come to this site and check out the 3 best 0% cards!) and apply for the best card for you.

Most of the major credit card companies give you an instant decision and they say they get the cards out to you within a few days. In practice I have found they can take a few weeks to get the card out to you.

Once you have the card you will have to sort out the balance transfer. Get the current balances, along with your card details ahead of time, so you can do all of this in one phone call (or online, if the card allows).

All in all, 6 weeks should cover it, from applying for the new card to getting the balances transferred.

The answer to this is more to do with your mindset than anything else. If you are carrying a balance on a credit card in the long term then you have a problem. If you are dealing with it then it is not too bad, transferring a balance can be one of the most cost effective ways of managing your debt, but if you are doing it because you are burying your head in the sand then that is not good.

The question you need to ask yourself is when is the balance going to be paid off in full? Do you know? If the answer is no, then that is the danger sign. Sit down, plan out how much you can afford to pay off each month (be realistic!) and then work out how many times you will need to balance transfer. Whatever the result, you will have a goal in mind and providing you stick to it this is the best solution for you.

If you don’t have a game plan in mind then it may well be wise to take out a loan, or switch to a low rate for the life of the transfer, and then make sure you pay off what you can when you can.

If you are not going to pay off your credit card balance within the 0% period you should think about what you are going to do after the period is over. Some credit card companies are better than others. Often it is worth pre-applying for another card and shifting the balance, but it is worth keeping the following options in mind, as it may be worth staying where you are.

MBNA

MBNA always seem to offer good deals for existing customers. They will write to you fairly often and offer you reasonable interest rates for existing debt. It is worth looking into these or giving them a call to see what they offer before you leave. (MBNA group includes all the MBNA cards, Virgin and Alliance & Leicester)

Barclaycard

Barclaycard don’t seem to offer 0% deals once the 12 months is up, but they do offer a low interest “for the life of the balance” rate, which could be good, especially if you have made inroads into the balance and plan to get it paid off soon.

EGG

Egg have a unique option for a short term (5 months) 0% deal, 12 months after your acceptance date. This means you can in effect plan ahead for when your deal expires.

There are an awful lot of 0% offers out there now, and the interest free duration has been extending further and further. It is now possible to get 0% on balance transfers for 15 months. With these sort of offers on the table the credit card companies will be keen to differentiate themselves from the competition. Hopefully this will mean lower balance transfer rates.

Over the past couple of years we have seen the rates creep up gradually to what is pretty much an all time high. The average balance transfer rate is 2.4%. Depending on how much you are transferring this may or may not be significant. In terms of whether it is worth transferring a balance or not there is still no question it is better to pay the fee than carry a balance on a high APR card, but it makes “low APR for the life of the balance” cards seem a genuine alternative, depending on how quickly you can clear the balance.

Despite the increase in charges for transferring balances the number of people transferring a balance has risen once again, and the average amount being transferred is approaching £2000. This is presumably down the the credit crunch, as well as people getting more and more savvy to the benefits of exploiting 0% credit card deals.

A lot of credit cards have 0% offers. These can be great for taking advantage of introductory offers and avoiding paying interest. However, there is a catch!

You will find that most credit cards have a 0% on purchased AND a 0% on balance transfer rate. The balance transfer rate is generally longer than the purchases rate.

So what?

This is the catch. When you pay off some of your balance on the card the credit card company pays it onto the lowest interest part of your balance, in this case the 0% balance you transferred. This means that the item you bought during the introductory 0% on purchases period is still accruing interest, and will continue to until all the balance transfer is paid off.

How to avoid this?

There are two ways to avoid this trap. First is to get a card where the 0% on balance transfer time limit is the same as the 0% on purchased time limit. This is vary rare.

The second method of avoiding this trap is actually straight forward. If you need to transfer a balance AND you want to avoid interest on purchases, get two cards. Transfer the balance onto the first card, then cut it up! Never use it again and simply use it to chip away at. Use the 0% on purchases card to purchase what you need.