May 06, 2010
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News: A Run For Their Money
American citizens have not been solely alone in dealing with the recession; countries across the globe have also faced the credit card crisis, an unstable economy, a deteriorating housing market, and high unemployment. Two countries that have suffered as greatly as the U.S. have been Scotland and England. Residents from these two countries can celebrate moderate signs that their economies have begun to turn around. And to help them celebrate, two local banks are offering a new credit card with a zero percent interest. The card, a Gold MasterCard is being offered to new credit cardholders on transfer balances. Cardholders will receive zero percent interest for 16 months on the balance transfer plus an additional zero percent on all purchases for the first three months.
The new Gold MasterCard deal is being offered by Scotland's Clydesdale Bank and England's Yorkshire Bank. At the end of the zero percent time period, interest rate on all Gold MasterCard credit cards will revert to a 16.9 percent APR interest rate. To sweeten the deal, there will be no annual fee assessed against the credit card accounts. The deal will give Virgin Money a run for their “money” since Virgin has been the forerunner in offering zero percent interest. However, the Clydesdale and Yorkshire's offering goes two months beyond Virgin's 14 month offering.
Both the Clydesdale Bank and the Yorkshire Banks are subsidiaries of the National Australia Bank and have not previously been very active in the credit card business. This newest offering is a sign that the credit crunch is improving for both Scotland and England. It is not likely the banks will be lax in issuing the new zero percent balance transfer to just any individual. The offer is sure to be extended to only those individuals with impeccable credit ratings. As it should be, since the past carefree and careless issuing of cards to just anyone played a major part in a global recession.