A secret truth about your credit card
By N.Faulkner
If you're not careful, this secret could cost you dear...
Your credit card may be hiding a dirty secret. Its parents.
For example, did you know that M&S Money - the provider of insurance, loans and credit cards - is wholly owned by HSBC and not Marks & Spencer?
Didn't think so.
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It just goes to show that favourite brands aren't necessarily controlled by your favourite organisations.
With credit cards , this matters more than you think.
There are well over 100 companies and charities that offer credit cards , but there are less than a score of card issuers. Understandably, HSBC is the card issuer for HSBC cards and for M&S Money cards. It's not surprisingly the issuer of First Direct cards, as it wholly owns that online bank too.
Yet it is also the issuer of Marbles and John Lewis cards.
Why does this matter?
Most card issuers will not let you have another of its cards, even if you buy a different brand.
You need to stop using your existing card for at least six months and in many cases longer before you will be considered for another card by the same issuer.
By N.Faulkner
If you're not careful, this secret could cost you dear...
Your credit card may be hiding a dirty secret. Its parents.
For example, did you know that M&S Money - the provider of insurance, loans and credit cards - is wholly owned by HSBC and not Marks & Spencer?
Didn't think so.
* How good is your credit rating?
It just goes to show that favourite brands aren't necessarily controlled by your favourite organisations.
With credit cards , this matters more than you think.
There are well over 100 companies and charities that offer credit cards , but there are less than a score of card issuers. Understandably, HSBC is the card issuer for HSBC cards and for M&S Money cards. It's not surprisingly the issuer of First Direct cards, as it wholly owns that online bank too.
Yet it is also the issuer of Marbles and John Lewis cards.
Why does this matter?
Most card issuers will not let you have another of its cards, even if you buy a different brand.
You need to stop using your existing card for at least six months and in many cases longer before you will be considered for another card by the same issuer.
- The problem is that the more times you apply for credit the worse your credit record
- looks. Therefore, you don't want to apply for another card from the same issuer.
This is a major problem if you wish to transfer you existing card balance to a cheaper deal. It may be that a new 0% credit card deal will save you hundreds in a year, but you endanger your chances of getting a new card, or any other form of credit, be it loans or mortgages , if you apply for a second card from the same issuer , and get rejected.
But how do you find out which cards have the same issuer?
Buried in the small print
It can be extremely difficult to find out who the card issuer is for any given card. I went to the Tesco Financial Services website and could not find anywhere who the issuer was. It's not in the summary box, which card providers are obliged to present to us at the earliest opportunity. To find out who issues Tesco's card, you must read the terms and conditions.
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However, it's not just that it's buried in the terms and conditions, it's also that the terms and conditions are buried! It's not until you've given Tesco all your personal data by going through its online application form that you are given the opportunity to read the terms of the deal you've just applied for!
What's more, the terms and conditions don't always say who the issuer is, which is why I had even greater difficulty with Sainsbury's Finance. It was only by calling each of these companies' press offices that I was able to discover that Tesco still uses Royal Bank of Scotland and Sainsbury's now issues its own cards. (It used to be Lloyds.)
These difficulties finding the issuer are not limited to supermarket credit cards so, to help you out, here's a list of card issuers, which I've worked hard to ensure is as accurate and up-to-date as possible:
Card issuer
Card provider (i.e. the brand/the company you applied to)
Allied Irish Banks
- SAGA
- American Express
- Post Office
- Argos
- Barclaycard
- Capital One
- BMIBaby
- Citicard
- Egg card
- Amnesty International
- Barnardo's
- Childrens Aid Societyf
- Co-op
- Greenpeace
- Help the Aged
- Labour party
- Liberal Democrat
- Medical Foundation
- Oxfam
- Ramblers Association
- Save the Children
- Smile
- Stroud & Swindon
- GE Capital
- Debenhams
- Paypal
- First Direct
- GM Card
- HSBC
- John Lewis
- Marbles
- M&S Money
- Waitrose
- all "lifestyle"
- Amazon
- Cancer Research
- Carphone Warehouse
- IF
- ipoints
- Lloyds
- More Than
- NSPCC
- Smart
- BikeCard
- BMF
- BMI
- breakthough breast cancer
- british heart foundation
- Childline
- Football clubs
- homebase
- ICICI
- MBNA
- Norwich & Peterborough
- PADI
- Play.com
- Rugby League clubs
- Ryanair
- Ski Club GB
- Star trek
- Sonycard
- Toys R US
- Unicef
- Virgin Atlantic
- World superbikes
- National Australia Group
- Yorkshire Bank
- Clydesdale Bank
Nationwide
- Nationwide
- RBS Group
- Mint
- Lombard Direct
- First Direct
- Tesco
- Sainsbury's card
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