Egg Money World MasterCard launched

Internet bank Egg has announced the launch of a new credit card: The Egg Money World MasterCard.

The card offers an extensive range of features and benefits, but customers will be charged £1 per month if they take out the card.

The new card offers 1% cash back on all purchases, although this is capped at £200 per year. It also offers 8.9% life of balance transfer with no balance transfer fee.

How this offer compares to other cards depends on how you intend to clear your balance. The Virgin Money credit card offers 0% on balance transfers for 16 months with a 2.98% transfer fee, with the APR reverting to 16.6% after the introductory period. So if you believe you can clear your balance during that time, Virgin still offers the better deal. However, if you plan to take longer to clear your debts, the Egg Money World MasterCard could work out cheaper.

Other benefits packaged up with the new Egg card include discounts of up to 25% from selected online retailers, purchase protection for items over £75 for 90 days, event cover for tickets worth over £20 if you can’t attend, 12 months extended warranty on electrical items costing over £50, personal travel accident insurance, and a ‘price promise’ meaning that if you buy an item with your card costing more than £50 anywhere in the UK and if you find it cheaper locally within 30 days, Egg will refund the difference.

Bert Pijls, CEO of Egg said:

“Egg Money is for people who want to earn cash back from either everyday spending or expensive purchases and be protected at the same time. It is also for customers who want certainty in their transfer rate so they can take more control of their finances whilst continuing to be rewarded for any new purchases.”

“Egg Money is the only credit card to combine 1% cashback, discounts, protection and a low life of balance transfer rate. To offer this level and variety of benefits to customers there is a small fee of £1 a month; good value for what we believe is the best all round card on the market.”

“Finally this card not only rewards and protects customers but with tools such as the Spend Tracker and Egg Money Manager it also helps customers manage their finances better.”

Louise Bond of uSwitch said:

“As fee paying credit cards go, £12 a year for the innovative new ‘packaged’ style credit card from Egg is a bargain if you use the benefits.

With a 1% cash back facility, the fee can be recouped by spending just £100 per month on the card. However, for people that don’t pay the balance off in full every month, this will not be the case as any cash back earned will be negated by the interest incurred.”

“This card also offers a competitive life of balance rate of just 8.9%. This means consumers will pay just £145 interest on the average balance transfer of £1,846, £143 less than the interest incurred on a standard credit card with an average APR of 17.69%. As with all balance transfer deals, it’s important to remember that the order of repayments will not work in your favour if you mix the two. We would never advise consumers to use one credit card for both balance transfers and purchases unless you fully understand the interest implications first.”

“The benefits on the Egg Money MasterCard are great if you use them and they tie in well with the tension around the current financial climate. Just one word of warning, consumers shouldn’t treat this as a substitute for any type of insurance as the benefits are very specific to stand alone items.”

If you’re looking for a balance transfer deal, head over to http://www.totallymoney.com/credit-cards/ where you can compare the best offers from top UK lenders to find the card that works best for you. When you’ve found the one you want, just click Apply to start the application process.