Choosing a Purchases Card
If you don't need the explanation
click here to see 0% purchase cards
Before we start
This Purchases Card Guide discusses how to select a card that you use for everyday purchases, where you may not be able to pay off the card in full each and every month. If you do intend to pay off the full balance each month, then you should consider a Cashback credit card instead.
Never use a Balance Transfer card for purchases
You might be reading this thinking, I already have a credit card, so why do I need to get another one for purchases, surely all credit cards can be used for purchases? Yes, all credit cards can be used for purchases, but some are better than others. If you use one card for everything, then it will cost you hard earned cash. In particular, you must never use a Balance Transfer credit card for purchases because you will be paying interest on those purchases forever, even if the card has a 0% on Balance Transfers rate. The only exception to this is when a card has a 0% offer on balance transfers and a 0% offer on purchases that are for exactly the same length of time. If the 0% offer on purchases is shorter than the 0% offer on Balance Transfers, don't make any purchases at all on the card.
How to choose a purchase card
If you are unable to pay off your credit cards in full each month, then the key thing you need to look for in a purchase credit card is the interest rate that you will be charged on your purchases. This will normally be expressed as an Annualised Percentage Rate (APR). Watch out for lenders who quote a monthly interest rate, because a monthly rate can sound quite insignificant when it is anything but! For example, a monthly rate of 1.5% is the same as an annual rate of 19.56% APR. If you do get quoted a monthly figure, you can use our interest rate converter to convert it to an APR for comparison purposes.
Standard Rates versus Introductory Rates
You have reached this point because you want to use a credit card for short term borrowing. You now need to think about how short term your borrowing requirements are actually going to be. If you believe that you can pay off your planned purchases within 12 months, then consider choosing a card that has a 0% introductory rate on purchases that lasts at least 12 months. If you plan to pay it off sooner, then a shorter 0% introductory rate would do the job. Take a look at our 0% on Purchases table to choose the best deal for you.
To Tart or not to Tart that is the question?
If you plan to borrow for longer than 12 months, then you have one more decision to make. Are you prepared to be a tart? A rate tart is someone who moves debts around from card to card in order to minimise the cost of their debts. While this is a good way of reducing the interest charges, it does involve some effort and also incurs Balance Transfer fees for moving money around. If you are happy to do this, you should now select a card with a long 0% introductory rate on purchases. When the introductory period comes to an end, you will then need to transfer the balance to a Balance Transfer card. For more about being a rate tart and using Balance Transfers, read our guide to choosing a Balance Transfer card.
If you are not prepared to be a tart, then choose a credit card with the lowest standard rate for purchases from our low APR cards table. Alternatively you could consider a personal loan which is likely to work out less expensive.
Other things to consider
Credit limit
When taking on any debt, you should always have a plan for how much you are going to borrow, how you are going to pay it off and in what time frame. If you have such a plan, then you can work out what the maximum debt you will have at any given time. Your credit limit needs to be able to cover that maximum debt.
Never use a 0% purchases card for Balance Transfers
At the top of this guide we explained that it was crucial never to make purchases using a Balance Transfer card. The same applies the other way round too. If your card has 0% on purchases, never use it for balance transfers because it will cost you interest every month!
How widely is the card accepted?
Another consideration is how widely accepted your chosen credit card is. This is not a problem if you have a Visa or Mastercard credit card, but it is a consideration if your primary purchase card is an American Express card . Most major stores, hotels, garages, airlines and travel companies accept American Express, but small shops usually do not. If AMEX is you preferred purchases card, have a Visa or Mastercard cashback card as a backup.
What do I do next?
Select your 0% on purchases card from our 0% purchases table or select your low standard rate purchase card from the low purchase rate table.