Egg Credit Card Back on Track with 0% for 15 months

By Amy Rich
Staff Writer, 7 May 2008

0% Balance Transfer Best Buys » Virgin credit card - 0% balance transfers for months (% fee) » Egg credit card - 0% balance transfers until (% fee) » Barclaycard Platinum credit card - 0% balance transfers for months (% fee) Compare 0% balance transfer credit cards Related Guides & News Virgin Holds Out for No. 1 Balance Transfer Best Buy The Virgin credit card topped the balance transfer best buy tables in 2007 and it's set to do the same in 2008 too. Egg Credit Card: Is it still worth applying? While Egg has clearly lost points in the customer confidence ranks, they are still topping the best buy tables for 0% balance transfers. Are banks closing credit card accounts of the wrong people? (13. 2. 2008) It’s been reported that the recent decision of banks such as Egg are in fact closing the accounts of people with excellent credit histories and repayment records in contrast to their statement that the account closures were due to deterioration of credit ratings. Have you been affected by Egg's decision? (5. 2. 2008) 160,000 Egg cardholders have had their accounts withdrawn as the Internet banking giant has decided it no longer wants to offer credit facilities to them.

AS Egg credit card re-launches this month with a best buy of 0% balance transfers for up to 15 months, could Egg now be back on track after the recent ups and downs of the Citi buy out?

Egg crashed out of the credit card top spot back in February this year when it spited 160,000 of its credit card holders by cancelling their accounts.

Many Egg customers who regularly paid off their credit card balances in full were left high and dry without a credit card account, and Egg's popularity dropped off the radar.

But Egg has pulled its socks up and set to work on wooing hordes of customers once again with its Virgin-rivalling offer of 0% interest on balance transfers for 15 months until 1st August 2009.

Has Egg realised the error of its ways? Is the consumer safe to put their trust in Egg once more, or will it still feel like treading on eggshells?

Having dallied with the rest of the credit card pack for the last few months offering a very standard 0% for 13 months offer, Egg has hauled itself out of the scrum and excelled itself back up to pole position.

The finger of blame for the mass credit card account cancelling kafuffle points to the recent takeover of Egg by Citibank.

It was all down to a policy change of acceptable customers - but with many solvent customers having their accounts snatched from them, it all seemed rather dubious and many people were left seething.

Egg's decision, on the face of it, looked to be inline with the tumultuous economic climate. With debt and overspending being a way of life for many it made sense to curb these tendencies and tighten up the purse strings - especially as the credit crunch began to set in.

But Egg didn't simply sort out the wheat from the chaff; instead it ploughed its way through customers who had never not paid their credit card balance off in full each month.

What was happening against what was being said to be happening just didn’t make sense - and the flimsy 'policy change of acceptable customers' became a sore point.

The offer to set them back on track

But you can't hold a grudge for long, especially when Egg is doing all it can to nudge Virgin credit card off the top spot with its re-launch of the up to 15 month 0% interest on balance transfers from 1st May 2008.

With anniversary offers, cash back deals and discounts aplenty; Virgin had better watch its back.

The Egg credit card now seems to be back on track as it was at the end of last year. With not just a market-leading 0% on balance transfers until 1st August 2009, but on the anniversary of your account opening in 2010 and 2011 you'll get another 0% balance transfer offer for 5 months.

Egg is also offering customers 0% on purchases until 1st August 2008, deals like 5% off at lastminute.com, 25% off at Virgin Wines and 15% off at Figleaves.

Egg has buckled down and seems to of ironed out those 'takeover snags'.

While it may not be quite a full 15-months, and it may have a standard interest rate a point higher than Virgin's; Egg is certainly no longer clawing at Virgin's coat-tails: It's back in business and a real contender.

Credit card guide
Credit card features archive