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By David Sewell Stevens Personal Finance Correspondent
Thursday, 19 June 2008
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The Halifax All In One Credit Card
The Halifax All In One Credit Card at a glance:
- 0% for 10 months on balance transfers
- 3% balance transfer fee
- Balance transfer must be made within 90 days
- 0% for 10 months on all purchases made on the card
- The card comes in black, pink, blue, white or red
- About 2/3rds of customers will get 15.9% APR. Others higher.
- Applicants must be 18 or over
- If you exceed your credit limit or miss a minimum monthly payment, you’ll lose your 0% rate
 Read our review of Halifax All In One Credit Card
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A NEW credit card from Halifax claiming it is the only credit card you’ll ever need may be stretching the point a little, but the troubled bank has done well to create a credit card that is suitable for balance transfers and spending.
Very few credit cards are suitable for both balance transfers and spending.
A common trick employed by credit card companies involves offering a lengthy interest free balance transfer period and a much shorter interest free purchase period, which can leave debts incurred during the interest free period languishing until the transferred balance has been paid off in full.
0% for purchases and balance transfers
The Halifax All In One Credit Card offers 0% for 10 months on balance transfers made within the first 3 months, as well as 0% on everything you buy on the card for the same period.
This means neither the transferred balance, nor the purchases will accrue any interest until the 11th month, unless you exceed your credit limit or don’t make the necessary minimum monthly payments which are still required in the interest free period.
While the rarity of having an equal period of interest free purchases as well as balance transfers makes this card worth applying for, there are some downsides.
Downsides
Halifax will lump you with a 3% balance transfer fee.
While a fee is now standard, 3% is at the top end and many balance transfer credit cards boast a fee as low as 2% along with a cap of £50.
This should only affect those transferring large amounts.
Also, Halifax boast about the 15.9% APR that kicks in after the 10 month period is up, calling it an ‘on-going saving’.
Many credit cards offer a much lower APR such as the Barclaycard Platinum Low Rate (8.8% APR), the Co-operative Bank Platinum (9.9% APR) and the Co-operative Bank Think (12.9% APR) credit card.
Even cards that offer a lengthy balance transfer revert to a lower APR than this Halifax All In One credit card.
More attainable
The Capital One Platinum card reverts to a 12.9% APR after it’s extremely lengthy interest free balance transfer period, which lasts from now until September 2009.
This additionally offers a 0% interest rate for purchases for the same period.
The Halifax All In One credit card, however, is far more attainable than its Capital One Platinum counterpart which requires applicants to have an impeccable credit ratings.
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