While credit card pricing varies across many categories, comparisons are typically made in three areas:
1. Annual fee.
2. Annual Percentage Rate (APR) interest charge on purchases and on cash advances.
3. Late payment fee.
1. Annual fee: Many card issuers, including market leaders Bank of Ireland (B of I) and AIB Bank, charge an annual fee.
Neither B of I nor AIB charge their fees in the first year of the account. The £10 (€12.70) fee on AIB cards is waived if the card is used more than 49 times in one year. Similarly, the B of I's £8 fee is not charged if the card is used more than 59 times in one year.
2. APR interest charges: These vary considerably. The cheapest rate on the Irish market is the 12.9 per cent charge on the AIB Low Interest MasterCard. There is no interest-free period, so the charge is applied from the date of purchase. The card is marketed as a flexible overdraft facility by the bank.
Other standard card APRs for purchases include the 18.2 charged by NIB, the 18.9 per cent charged by the TSB and MBNA, 20.9 per cent at the AIB, 20.8 per cent at B of I and 22.56 per cent at Ulster Bank.
Standard card APRs for cash advances - typically from an ATM - are often, though not always, higher than those for purchases: e.g. 22.71 per cent at AIB and 24.43 per cent at Ulster Bank.
Where a partial payment is made after a monthly statement is issued, most issuers charge interest on the full amount of the transaction from the time of the purchase until the partial payment is made, and then on the debt outstanding.
Given a notional purchase of £200 on September 1st, and a £150 payment into the account in mid-October, interest will be charged on the full £200 until mid-October, and then on the £50 debt outstanding. This is the situation at AIB, B of I, Ulster Bank, NIB and at MBNA, when the customer is not clearing their balance in full at the end of each billing period. For purchases, TSB charges interest on the full amount only from the statement date until the time of partial payment and then on the debt. The bank charges interest on cash advances from the time of the advance to the time of partial payment and in the debt outstanding
3. Late payment fee: AIB charges a late payment fee of £3. The comparable charge at MBNA is £12. However, the head of business development at MBNA, Mr Andrew Luckin, said the company had waived this fee before. "If it's a genuine oversight, you'll need to talk to our customer services people and I'm sure we'd be able to look at the circumstances," he said.
Note: While cards with the two main acceptance marques, Visa and MasterCard, can be used worldwide, foreign exchange fees may vary outside the euro zone.
Gold cards offer higher spending limits and lower APRs - 17.9 per cent at AIB and 19 per cent at B of I. However, the annual fees are generally higher - £20 in the case of AIB and B of I.
All credit card accounts are subject to an annual Government tax of £15.
