APR is just one factor in the mix when deciding on the best card for you, writes Laura Slattery

They can be black or blue. More often, they are metal-coloured - gold, zinc or platinum - or just plain standard. Some carry pictures of universities or charity logos, while a newer breed have anti-fraud microchips or are curved in one corner.

But although our flexible friends may have different attributes on the surface, one thing that all credit cards available to Irish consumers have in common is a double-digit interest rate.

The new credit card cost survey by the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) shows that the lowest annual percentage rate of interest (APR) available is on offer through One Direct's gold card, at 10.9 per cent on both purchases and cash withdrawals.

At the other end of the market, AIB's classic card and American Express Blue both charge 18.9 per cent on purchases, a margin of 16.9 per cent over the European Central Bank (ECB) rate of interest - the rate at which banks borrow.

IFSRA did not make any comment in the survey on the rates of interest or the level at which a range of other fees are charged to cardholders. However, last year the financial watchdog's consumer director, Ms Mary O'Dea, highlighted to an Oireachtas committee how average spreads over the ECB rate had increased substantially, from 13.45 per cent in 2000 to 16 per cent by the middle of 2003.

"It is worrying that as official interest rates are falling, the interest rate spreads are widening," Ms O'Dea said.

Since then, there has been some downward pressure on rates. But credit card interest rate margins will be included in IFSRA's study on the passing on of ECB interest rate cuts by financial institutions, due to be published soon.

As the Irish Bankers' Federation was quick to point out last week, just over half of all Irish cardholders are not particularly bothered by the high interest rates on credit cards.

This is the half of the plastic-owning population that pay off their debt in full and on time in each billing period.

Consumers who regularly slide their cards across shop counters safe in the knowledge that they're in this category are advised by IFSRA to look for a card that offers low fees and charges and the longest interest-free period.

"The APR is not as important, as you will usually avoid interest," the regulator says.

People rarely benefit from the full 56 days most card-providers offer as a maximum interest-free period on purchases, Mr Eddie Ryan, head of card marketing at Bank of Ireland, notes.

If a cardholder is sent their statement on the fifth of every month, they will only benefit from the full interest-free period if they make a purchase on the sixth.

"On a 30-day month, people are probably getting on average 15 days interest-free on the statement month and they then have 25 days to pay it. So you're looking at an average of 40 days," he says.

IFSRA's survey also shows how only some card-providers, namely AIB, American Express, Bank of Ireland, Barclays and EBS, offer an interest-free period on cash withdrawals.

According to Mr Ryan at Bank of Ireland, 5-7 per cent of its monthly credit card spending is from cash withdrawals.

MBNA, National Irish Bank, One Direct, Permanent TSB, Tesco Personal Finance and Ulster Bank do not have an interest-free period on cash, meaning customers will be charged 13.9- 19.7 per cent APR from the second they grab the money from the ATM.

Cardholders who are comfortable with testing the limits of their credit card may be interested to know that the fees charged for going over your credit limit range from nothing at all at Bank of Ireland, EBS, National Irish Bank and Permanent TSB to €12.70 at MBNA and One Direct.

Other second-line charges are typically incurred when cardholders use their card to manage money on holiday.

Even holiday-makers who normally maintain a strict approach to budgeting tend to adopt a "spend now, worry about it later" attitude when they're on the beach.

If holiday-makers load up their credit card with their own money, they can avoid the cash-advance fees charged by most card-providers. These fees range from 1.5- 2 per cent of the value of the withdrawal.

Only EBS, National Irish Bank and Permanent TSB do not charge a cash-advance fee, and none of these offers an interest-free period on cash.

On non-euro purchases and cash withdrawals, MBNA and One Direct are again more expensive than the rest, charging 2.65 per cent of the value of the transaction.

Most of the rest charge 1.75 per cent of the value of the transaction, with Ulster Bank in the middle at 2 per cent.

For consumers who don't want their wallets to be jammed with crumpled notes or jangling coins, all types of plastic cards are handy to pay for goods and services.

Credit cards have the advantage of allowing people to manage their month-to-month expenditure and satisfy all the demands on their household budgets without having to plunge into a current account overdraft.

On the other hand, sticking to debit cards - Laser - means consumers can avoid the temptation of drawing on money they don't actually have.

"It is when you regularly fail to pay your bill in full that credit cards become a costly item to have in your wallet," Ms O'Dea says.

IFSRA advises consumers who usually carry over most of their balance - letting credit card debt amass into one potentially unwieldy outstanding balance - to shop around for a card with a low APR and low late-payment charges.

"Making comparisons on just the APR isn't giving the full picture," says Mr Nicholas Moore, marketing manager for AIB credit cards.

"If you take an average balance of €500 and you put a penalty fee of €15 on it [for late payment], effectively that's adding 3 per cent to the APR on that account. If you trip up twice in year, it's double that."

Bank of Ireland, National Irish Bank and Permanent TSB do not charge late payment fees. AIB charges what it calls a "nominal" amount of €3.81, as does EBS. At the top end of the scale, MBNA and One Direct charge €15.24.

This is why credit cards in the Republic often work out cheaper to use than cards in the UK, where most late-payment fees and charges for exceeding the credit limit range from £12-£25 (€18-€37.50).

Thanks to the manner in which the Government applies credit-card stamp duty, a person who switches cards will end up paying the €40 duty twice, unless they cancel their old card in March and take out a new card in April, after the tax has been deducted for the previous year.

So cardholders will need to estimate that they will save at least €40 by switching.

For example, MBNA's Platinum and Bank of Ireland's Gold Advantage cards share the same APR at 13.9 per cent. But Bank of Ireland has no late payment fee, while MBNA's is €15.24.

So a customer who moves from MBNA to Bank of Ireland will only have to slip up on repayments three times before they have recouped the extra €40 stamp duty expense.

This assumes, of course, that such a customer's credit history is not so poor that Bank of Ireland would refuse to accept their application.

The myriad charges that cardholders can incur on top of the headline APR means that choosing the best credit card is a complex task, and that's before the merits of introductory offers and interest-rate discounts are considered.

With credit card providers mining profits from several rich seams within the terms and conditions of their products, card-carrying consumers may find it sobering to remember Barclays chief executive Mr Matt Barrett's recent comment that he did not borrow on credit cards, "because it's too expensive".

IFSRA's credit card cost survey is available online at www.ifsra.ie or by calling its consumer helpline on lo-call 1890 777 777.