2.2 Your credit card account

When you sign a credit agreement with a credit card provider, you will be given a credit card as part of your credit card account.

Whenever you use your card, the retailer will claim the money from the credit card provider and the credit card provider will then claim that money from you by means of your credit card account.

Each month you will receive a bill detailing each transaction and payment you have made.

Details of your behaviour relating to your credit card account will be sent to credit reference agencies such as Experian and Equifax to be used by other creditors when deciding whether or not to grant you a credit facility with them.

If you miss payments, go over your credit limit or don’t pay your bills on time, this will be marked on your credit report.

Credit card providers offer a number of portals through which you can manage your credit card account, including online access, in branch, over the telephone and by post.
Your credit card account details will be encoded in some way on your credit card so that payments made using your card will be charged back to your account.

If you have a credit card account with the same bank that you use for your everyday banking, you will probably be able to access your credit card details alongside your other accounts. For example, if you have a current account and savings account with HSBC, and then take out a credit card with them, when you log onto your online banking you will see details of your credit card on the page detailing your other accounts.

However, some companies keep their banking services separate from their credit card products. If you go into a Barclays branch to talk about your Barclaycard you will usually be pointed in the direction of their customer telephone. You can use this for free to speak to Barclaycard about issues regarding your account. The most that the Barclays branch counter staff will be able to do for you is take your credit card payments; they will not be able to help you with questions to do with your account.

Back to Guide to Credit Cards Contents

Product Offers
Please ensure that you fully read the terms & conditions of any product or policy before you decide to proceed and are fully aware of the total costs and the benefits and any exclusions or limitations applicable to the product or plan.

Please note that the product links will take you direct to the Issuer or Insurer's site direct and we cannot be held responsible for the information which they provide within their own sites. On some comparison tables we use a star rating which rates products by visitor popularity.