Summary - The American Pacific Bank is a basic credit card with no rewards. However, it comes with an annual fee which is not appealing considering most credit cards these days have no annual fee. Find out more. Fees and Rates - Though there is no annual fee for the first year, the annual fee on subsequent years is $18.00 The APR is 3% lower than the visa classic at 16.92%. The American Pacific Bank Gold Mastercard gives a 25 day grace period and uses the average daily balance method (including new purchase) of calculating balances.

Summary - The American Pacific Bank Gold Mastercard is a step up from the visa classic. It is a basic credit card with no rewards. However, it comes with an annual fee which is not appealing considering most credit cards these days have no annual fee. Find out more. Fees and Rates - Though there is no annual fee for the first year, the annual fee on subsequent years is $35.00 The APR is 3% lower than the visa classic at 13.92%. The American Pacific Bank Gold Mastercard gives a 25 day grace period and uses the average daily balance method (including new purchase) of calculating balances.

Summary - The Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card is a great credit card for those looking for a no-frills card with a low APR and a good balance transfer deal. Find out more about this card... Fees - The Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card has no annual fee. The APR is as low as prime rate plus 1.99% (depending on your credit). Furthermore, unlike many cards, Citibank uses the average daily balance (including new purchases) to calculate monthly balance. New cardholders get a 0% APR for balance transfers and purchases for up to 12 months.

You could be forgiven for being confused by the three types of plastic you are likely to find in your wallet or purse. However, only one offers credit in more than the short term. A debit card will be linked to your bank account, usually your current account. The cost of anything purchased with this card or any money withdrawn from the bank will be taken from your account more or less immediately. You might find it easier to think of a debit card as a plastic cheque! If you use a charge card, you may make purchases and in some cases withdraw cash using the card, "charging" these costs to the card account. However, you will be required to settle in full each time you are sent a statement of the account, usually monthly. Even so-called cheap credit cards, on the other hand, are a form of potentially open-ended borrowing. The card issuer will set you a maximum credit limit and you may spend as much as you like up to that limit, provided that you pay a minimum amount off each month.

The main reason to have a store card, which is just a credit card issued by a particular retailer offering credit in its chain of stores, is if the retailer does not accept other credit cards. In general terms you should be wary of store cards, they can and, in some cases, do charge up to a third as much again in interest as ordinary credit cards.

Most credit cards will stipulate a minimum payment of £5 or a small percentage, say 3% or 5% of the outstanding balance on your credit card account. Beware that some credit card issuers stipulate an even lower minimum payment of just 2.25% or the total of charges (interest, insurance, handling fees etc) plus £5, whichever is lower. This is not a way for you actually to save money. Obviously, the less you pay off, the more interest you are charged.

The answer to this question is "Yes" but for some people they can be a far too easy way to borrow and, ultimately, a very expensive one. Annual interest rates of more than three times the current bank base rate are by no means unusual among the big names among credit card issuers.

This can be very confusing, especially when you are trying to decide between competing offers from credit card issuers. You may see as many as three or four different interest rates quoted for each card. First of all, you will be charged interest each month on the outstanding balance on your credit card account. Typically (as of May 2007), this monthly interest charge will be between 0.75 and 1.5 per cent, giving us an annual interest rate spread of 9 to 18 per cent (there are both cheaper and more expensive cards around but most fall within this broad range).

Credit card issuers will tell you that a gold credit card is indeed one of the best credit cards to have - a status symbol that says something about you. In reality, all it says is that you are probably earning more than the national average wage and that the issuer has decided you are a better than average credit risk.

There are literally hundreds of different cheap credit cards on the market (and some not so cheap!) with a variety of terms and conditions. However, a large percentage of them actually operate through just two international credit card businesses, VISA and Mastercard, and it is these logos that you will see on your credit cards and in shop windows.