We have just added two types of FairFX prepaid card to compareandsave.com. Both cards offer better exchange rates than those you would get on the high street and both can be applied for online in a very hassle-free process.

The FairFX Dollar Prepaid Card is free to compareandsave.com customers when it is loaded with at least $20 (the card usually costs £9.95).

The FairFX Euro Prepaid Card is also absolutely free to compareandsave.com customers when it is loaded with at least €10.

By using a FairFX prepaid card you are set to save up to 5% of the costs you would incur by using a debit or credit card abroad and both are free to use in purchase transactions in the UK and overseas.

The only charge you will incur from either one of the cards is when you use them to withdraw cash from ATMs. The charge will be £1/€1.50/$2 in the UK and overseas. It’s even free to top up the card.

In addition, both prepaid cards have the added benefit of chip and pin protection, are valid for 36 months and there are no other hidden charges.

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You can now apply for two types of Eclipse Prepaid Card, which can be used in over 28 million outlets accepting MasterCard worldwide, through compareandsave.com.

The Eclipse card comes with Chip and PIN technology, making it a lot less vulnerable to fraud, and works in much the same way as a pay-as-you-go mobile phone card because you ‘load’ the credit onto the card and then it’s ready to be used.

Plus, you can never get into debt with a prepaid card because you aren’t offered a credit facility so once the money runs out on the card you can’t spend more until you top it up again.

However, the Eclipse prepaid cards can also help you to build or repair your credit rating.

You will be able to top up your card at over 34,000 high street top up locations, have access to online account management and benefit from comprehensive customer service.

What’s more, you can choose from two types of Eclipse prepaid card, a Pay As You Go scheme, where you pay the UK transaction fees that come with your card as you use it, or a Pay Monthly scheme, where you pay a fixed fee for the month to cover the cost of the UK transaction fees.

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AA Pet Insurance has now been added to the compareandsave.com pet cover comparison table and, if you apply online, comes with a 10% discount.

You can choose from either Bronze, Silver or Gold cover depending on your individual needs and circumstances.

The Bronze option comes with £1,000 of vet fees cover, but this increases to £3,000 with the Silver option and £5,000 with the Gold. The Silver and Gold options also come with cover towards advertising and a reward should your pet go missing.

The cover you will receive does not come with a time limit and will continue to be available until the pet insurance policy limit has been reached.

Plus, you will not be charged interest if you choose to pay monthly but instead will only incur a 50p per month admin fee for choosing to pay in instalments.

Click the link for more information about AA Pet Insurance.

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You can now apply for Green Flag Euro Plus Breakdown Cover, which comes with 90 days cover when you are travelling in Europe for cars less than 16 years of age, on compareandsave.com.

This vehicle-based breakdown cover from Green Flag will provide you with many great features including:

• ‘Local vehicle recovery’ so that if your car cannot be fixed at the side of the road, Green Flag will arrange for your car to be taken to the nearest garage
• ‘Cover at home’ in case your car breaks down while it is still at your home
• ‘Long distance recovery’ which will enable Green Flag to take both you and your car to your home or to another destination of your choice
• ‘Car hire/alternative transport/overnight accommodation’ if your car cannot be fixed locally that day

Green Flag operates a 24 hour a day service throughout the full 365 days of the year.

Click the link for more information about Green Flag Euro Plus Breakdown Cover.

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Prepaid cards are often mistakenly called ‘Prepaid Credit Cards’, however this isn’t actually the case – they are not credit cards in the strictest sense.

This is because they do not come with a credit facility from a lender and you therefore don’t go accumulate debt when you spend on a prepaid card.

Credit only becomes available on a prepaid card once you have loaded the money on to it.

With this confusion has come the question of whether or not you receive the same cover that comes with credit cards, specifically protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, on prepaid cards. The answer to this is no, you do not get this protection as standard.

Section 75 holds your credit card provider ‘jointly and severally’ liable for purchases between the values of £100 and £30,000 made using your credit card. This means that if there is a problem with the product or service you buy on your card, you can seek a refund from your credit card provider if the original supplier does not meet the contract of purchase and won’t give you your money back, i.e. by failing to deliver the item you ordered or if the company goes bust.

The reasoning behind it is quite simple – you get protection under Section 75 because there is a credit agreement between you and the credit card company. With prepaid cards, there is no such credit agreement.

However, with most rules there are exceptions. The CashPlus Prepaid Card offers consumers the chance to build their credit rating by lending them the sum of the 12 monthly payments required on the card when it is first taken out. The consumer then pays the monthly charge as normal but gets a tick on their credit report each month for using credit sensibly. Because there is a credit agreement in place here, Section 75 applies to purchases made on the card.

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If you are not already a customer of HSBC, you can now apply for the HSBC Credit Card, which comes with 0% on balance transfers for 15 months (subject to a 2.9% admin fee);
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What’s more, it also comes with 0% on purchases for three months from the date the account is opened and a competitive typical APR of 16.9%.

There’s no annual fee to pay and you will be able to manage your credit card account online, via the phone or by popping into a branch of HSBC.

You need to be at least 18 years of age to apply for this card and need to pass HSBC’s credit checks.

Click the link for more information about the HSBC Credit Card.

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01/07/2009 UPDATE: It has today been announced that the ATM fees on both the Caxton FX Dollar and Euro Prepaid Cards have been removed in line with the Global Traveller card. 

There are now three Caxton FX prepaid cards on compareandsave.com:

1. Caxton FX Dollar Prepaid
    
2. Caxton FX Global Traveller
    
3. Caxton FX Euro Prepaid

These particular prepaid cards are designed for overseas spending, are run by the currency exchange providers Caxton FX, and are accepted in millions of outlets worldwide.

They offer a safer and more convenient way to spend your money abroad because they comes with Chip and PIN technology, so you are less likely to be a victim of fraud. Another advantage is that carrying one of the cards means you don’t have to exchange currencies or keep cash on you.

You will also benefit from better exchange rates than you would usually get on the high street or at the airport and Caxton FX don’t charge any commission when you put money on the cards (or ‘load’ them) or when you use them abroad.

Plus, they are easy to load and use because they work just like debit cards.

What’s more, the Caxton FX prepaid cards are absolutely free to use in shops and restaurants and other kinds of retail outlets outside of the UK, you don’t have to pay anything for the actual card itself and there are no monthly fees to pay. The only thing that does incur a small charge is when the Dollar Prepaid and the Euro Prepaid are used in ATMs.

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We have just launched three new credit card calculators on compareandsave.com to make it easier for you to work out your credit card finances.

They have all been designed to tackle some of the biggest issues when it comes to managing your credit card balances including which type of low interest card is right for you and the extra costs you can incur by paying the minimum repayments on your card.

You can find our new credit card calculators in our Tools section along with a number of other useful gadgets, all of which are completely FREE to use.

While you are looking into your credit card finances, why not take a quick look at our Guide to Credit Cards for further information on making the best use of your plastic.

Click the link to see our new Credit Card Calculators.

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We are interested in hearing your thoughts about credit card and banking fraud in our short new survey launched today.

We would like to know if you have ever been a victim of fraud and the concerns that arose as a result. If you haven’t been a victim of fraud, we would also love to hear from you on the subject, and are keen to know how likely you think your chances of becoming a victim of fraud are.

According to Cifas, the UK’s fraud prevention service, “the economic slowdown and rises in fraud go hand in hand”, so this has been covered a lot recently in the news and it is a topic we would like to look into with the view of giving you, our readers, tips on how to lessen the risk of becoming a victim of this nasty and distressing crime.

You won’t be asked to give your address or financial details, but simply provide us with the age bracket you fall into and your location so that we can group our results.

Click here to take survey

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Your credit report is possibly the most important document when it comes to your personal finances. It is your gateway to credit and many other key services.

However, some people still don’t realise the importance of annually checking their credit report, nor the serious problems that can arise if something goes badly wrong with it, for example, if someone uses your name to fraudulently apply for credit or if your report contains incorrect information which could affect your chances of being accepted for credit.

By checking your credit file, you can check that creditors are seeing correct information about the way you handle your finances, identify if a fraudster is trying to apply for credit in your name, and highlight areas of your report that could be improved.

Having an excellent credit rating will allow you to access credit more easily and at a lower APR.

If you drive a car, you will get it checked every 12 months to check it is working properly because, ultimately, you rely on it to get you where you need to go, and in one piece. It is considered so important that it is against the law not to get you car checked every year.

Obviously, you won’t get into trouble with the police if you don’t check your credit report regularly, but it is almost a crime to your finances.

What possibly makes the ‘crime’ even worse is the fact that you can actually get your credit report FOR FREE from Experian’s Credit Expert service.

Plus, if you need help with understanding your credit rating, why not look at our guide ‘How to improve your credit rating’ and make use of our template letters to fix any problems with your credit report.

Click the link to get your free credit report from Experian’s Credit Expert.

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