Not very long ago, in the heyday of the credit boom, mastercard or visa providers would be falling over eachother to attract new clients. One of many ways they did this was to provide ever more appealing functions on their cards – extended 0% balance exchange offers, smaller rates of interest, further beneficial rewards programmes; all with the goal of driving their way to the very top of the best purchase tables on the numerous comparison web pages on the internet. A place on the top of these tables could make sure a card company a rush of all new applicants, and so enthusiastic were they to gain new business their validation criteria were typically reasonably low, and so it was simple for the average joe to acquire a good credit card with some exciting characteristics.
This history has lifted our expectations of what to look for in a credit card, realistically however, the the broader picture has changed hugely since that time. As a direct consequence of the market meltdown and subsequent recession, credit card companies have essentially been hoping to actively scale back the number of accounts they operate, endeavoring to limit their experience of bad debt as innumerable individuals enter financial hardships. But not only have several famous banks terminated the accounts of a large number of cardholders, some others have elevated their Rates of interest to punitive extremes to encourage people to switch to a replacement card and so lower the company’s exposure.
Another result of all of this is that money institutions are no longer quite so inclined to push their credit cards to the top position in the comparison tables, so the packages available have become less appealing across the board. Obviously, you may still find some exceptional packages available in the market, but in order to be approved for these credit cards you must have a better credit standing than was needed in earlier times.
Just what does this signify? In a nut-shell, if you are seeking a fresh visa or mastercard – and customer demand is still solid – it makes sense to lower your expectations a tad. The best credit cards are only truly obtainable for those with perfect credit scores, and ordinary people will have to accept something less. As opposed to looking for a credit card with fantastic attributes across the board, make a choice of one feature which happens to be most important for you, and look for a card delivering a good if unexceptional offer in that area – and one with approval conditions you likely will fit.
