Compare Credit Cards, Pet Insurance and Savings Accounts

You can now get 0% on purchases until 1st February 2009 and 0% on balance transfers until 1st February 2010 with the Capital One Balance Transfer and Purchases Credit Card.

Once the 0% offers expire, the typical APR will revert to 15.9% (variable) and the minimum repayment is £5 or 3% of your balance, whichever is greater.

Plus, as a Capital One Platinum customer, you will receive a free identity theft service and will be able to register online for free identity alerts provided by Equifax.

As this is a platinum credit card, you will need to have an excellent credit rating, be at least 21 years of age and have a minimum annual income of £10,000 to be accepted for this card.

If you decide to transfer a balance from another card it will be subject to an admin fee of 3% of the amount transferred.

Click the link for more information about the Capital One Balance Transfer and Purchases Credit Card

This offer is current as of 6th OCTOBER 2008. Terms and Conditions apply. For more offers please refer to the Offers section of compareandsave.com’s ‘Your money matters blog’.

New customers can now get 0% on balance transfers and purchases until 1st November 2009 when they take out a Capital One Platinum Credit Card.

Once the 0% offer has expired, the typical APR will revert to 16.9% (variable) and the minimum repayment will be a minimum of £5 or 3% of the balance, whichever is greater.

What’s more, the Capital One Platinum Credit Card comes with free identity theft services and the opportunity to register for free identity alerts powered by Equifax.

In order to be accepted for this card you will need an excellent credit rating, be at least 21 years of age and have a minimum annual income of £10,000.

Balance transfers will be subject to a 3% admin fee.

Click the link for more information about the Capital One Platinum Credit Card.

This offer is current as of 6th OCTOBER 2008. Terms and Conditions apply. For more offers please refer to the Offers section of compareandsave.com’s ‘Your money matters blog’.

If you take out a 12 month pet insurance policy with Sainsbury’s by 1st December 2008, and choose to renew after the 12 months, you will receive three months free in your renewal year.

What’s more, you will receive a 15% discount if you buy online.

Sainsbury’s Pet Insurance offers up to £7,500 cover for vets’ fees  and do not place a time limit on when you can claim meaning you can claim for vets’ fees after 12 months as long as you keep up to date with your premiums.

Plus, Sainsbury’s do not have a maximum age for vets’ fees and the cover suits older pets and those from rescue centres.

As an additional bonus, you will receive free Petback protect from the Missing Pets Bureau for 12 months when you take out a Sainsbury’s Pet Insurance policy.

Click the link for more information about Sainsburys Pet Insurance

This offer is current as of 26th SEPTEMBER 2008. Terms and Conditions apply. For more offers please refer to the Offers section of compareandsave.com’s ‘Your money matters blog’.

You can now earn up to 5% of your spend back with the Barclaycard OnePulse Balance Transfer Credit Card.

The Barclaycard OnePulse was one of the first ‘contactless’ credit cards on the market and offers the cardholder three services in one – a credit card, an Oyster card and a cashless payment card.

Contactless cards offer the cardholder a payment system where they can pay for goods and services under £10 by touching their card to a secure ‘OneTouch’ payment stand which will be highlighted by a ‘wave symbol’.

The Barclaycard One Pulse Credit Card also offers 14 months 0% on balance transfers and a low typical APR of 14.9% (variable).

What’s more, cardholders will receive 5% cashback on all Transport for London purchases (up to £15 cashback a month) and 0.5% cashback on all other purchases (up to £15 cashback a month) until 31st December 2009.

You will also benefit from the Barclaycard Identity Protection Service and Fraud Protection including Chip and PIN and you will have your account monitored for unusual spending.

Barclaycard also provide holiday deals through their Travel Service, convenient online account management and emergency help should you need it when you are travelling abroad.

Click the link for more information about the Barclaycard OnePulse Balance Transfer Credit Card
 

You can now get a 35% online discount and £50 cashback – to spend on whatever you like – when you take out a Standard or Finest Tesco Home Insurance policy by 12th November 2008.

What’s more, you will receive £1 million building cover with a Value or Standard policy and unlimited building cover with a Finest home insurance policy, benefit from an emergency repair helpline and have access to a dedicated claims team.

The cashback offer is only open to new customers who have a Tesco Clubcard (find more information about Tesco Clubcard here).

Click the link for more information about Tesco Home Insurance

This offer is current as of 19th SEPTEMBER 2008. Terms and Conditions apply. For more offers please refer to the Offers section of compareandsave.com’s ‘Your money matters blog’.

As a new customer, you can now get a 20% online discount when you take out a More Than Pet Insurance policy.

What’s more, if you insure more than one pet you will receive a further 20% discount when buying online.

As part of a More Than Pet Insurance policy you will receive up to £7,000 cover for vets’ fees, £7,000 worth of cover for alternative treatments and £2,000,000 worth of third party liability cover  .

Plus, you will have your own personal customer manager as a point of contact who can be contacted via email or telephone, your pet will be covered for the entire course of its treatment, you will receive a £600 reward to offer up if your pet goes missing and all ages of pets are accepted.

Click the link for more information about More Than Pet Insurance

This offer is current as of 18th SEPTEMBER 2008. Terms and Conditions apply. For more offers please refer to the Offers section of compareandsave.com’s ‘Your money matters blog’.

New customers can now get 12 months 0% on balance transfers and 3 months 0% on purchases from the date you open an account with the Barclaycard Classic Credit Card.

The Barclaycard Classic comes with a typical APR of 19.9% (variable);
INSERT INTO `module_blog_posts` VALUES an Identity Protection Service where you can get advice about protecting yourself from identity theft and online account management.

If you choose to transfer a balance from another card to the Barclaycard Classic, you will pay an admin fee of 2.5% – one of the lowest currently on the market.

You will also benefit from safer shopping with Fraud Protection measures including Chip and PIN and a monitoring system where your account is checked for unusual spending.

To be eligible for a Barclaycard Classic credit card you need to be at least 21 years of age, have a regular annual income of over £10,000 and have a good credit history.

Click the link for more information about the Barclaycard Classic Credit Card

You can currently get a 25% online discount and £50 worth of FREE fuel when you take out More Than Van Insurance.

Additionally, you can pay for your annual premium in monthly instalments at no extra cost and earn up to a 60% no claims discount if you haven’t made a claim in the last 5 years.

Van insurance offered by More Than covers all types of vans up to a maximum of 3.5 tonnes in weight.

More Than will arrange for you to have a replacement vehicle to use for 48 hours should your van be stolen or immobilised after an accident.

What’s more, if you do need to make a claim you can use the More Than Van Insurance emergency helpline which is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

You will be eligible for further discounts if your vehicle has anti-theft protection and an extra 17% off if you limit the number of drivers to four named individuals.

Click the link for more information about More Than Van Insurance

This offer is current as of 10th SEPTEMBER 2008. Terms and Conditions apply. For more offers please refer to the Offers section of compareandsave.com’s ‘Your money matters blog’.

How much would it cost you to replace all of your possessions if you had to go out and buy them all new after a major robbery or fire?

This is the question you will have to start asking yourself now you are living away from home as a student, even though it is probably one of the last things on your mind once the first term kicks off, with possibly the first thing being ‘where’s the cheapest bar?’.

Indeed, recent news has shown that 18-24 year olds are the most careless when it comes to protecting their belongings and that’s something we want to change.

SWAG bag

Worryingly, as a student, you are likely to offer a thief prime pickings what with all those technical gadgets,  including computers, laptops, mobile phones, TVs, DVD players and games consoles and possibly some of the slackest security measures.

However, home insurance seems to be the last thing on students’ minds so we thought we would raise the issue and maybe one day prevent you from kicking yourself and yelling ‘Why didn’t I get home insurance?!’.

Home insurance options

The first thing you should consider is whether or not your parents’ home insurance provides away from home cover for students. Some insurers offer this cover as a standard part of their policies, some ask for the main policyholders (the parents) to pay an additional premium to pay for the away from home cover and some do not provide it at all and insist that the student buys their own policy.

There are obvious advantages to getting some home contents insurance from your parents for free, for example, it’s FREE (as a student you will definitely learn to love free stuff);
INSERT INTO `module_blog_posts` VALUES and it will provide you with at least some cover should the worst happen.

However, there are also some disadvantages to using your parents’ home insurance.

You won’t build up your own no-claims history and the amount of cover provided would be limited to around £5,000, which may not be enough to cover all of your possessions, especially once you have bought textbooks and other essential items.

It is also likely that the cover will only apply while you are with your possessions and may involve you bringing them all back to your parents’ house while visiting on the vacations.

If your parents’ home insurance cover does not offer cover for you while you are away at uni, you will need to think about getting your own policy.

Protect your possessions

The fact of the matter is that a basic home insurance policy shouldn’t cost you a fortune because although you are likely to own a lot of technical gadgets, you are unlikely to own the building you live in nor expensive furniture and kitchen appliances. This means your home insurance policy will only have to cover one or two rooms and not a whole house and will therefore likely be quite cheap.

Some insurers offer specialist student policies to take into account a student’s very specific needs including accidental damage cover to landlord’s possessions and cover for bicycles and laptops taken outside of your property. However, the majority don’t, so probably the best thing you can do is compare home insurance policies and find the best cover to suit your individual needs and circumstances.

If you are unsure about anything, ask the insurance company lots of questions before you buy. They are there to help and it is better if you are clear about what the new home insurance policy does and doesn’t cover before you make your final decision.

Click the link to compare home insurance

We are now running a survey, in association with Barclaycard, which gives respondents a FREE Thomas Cook voucher worth up to £150 and the chance to win 1 of 20 iPod shuffles.

The survey asks what you, as consumers, think about certain types of credit cards and how they fit into your everyday lives.

The survey is very short and only takes a couple of minutes to complete. You will need to enter your address details in at the bottom so that we can send you your Thomas Cook voucher in the post.

If you are thinking about taking a holiday over the next 15 months the voucher will certainly come in handy as it offers a couple travelling for 14 nights £150 off their holiday or a couple travelling for 7 nights £100 off the total cost of their trip.

Click the link to enter the September 2008 Barclaycard Survey

Don’t forget your travel insurance when you use your voucher!