Saga cardholders not all loving their credit cards

Posted in 'Personal Finance' by Barry Stamp

19 March 2009

Some of the 230,000 Saga credit cardholders may be asked soon to close their account, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

The Saga credit card was until recently provided by London Victoria (widely advertised as LV=) which is to withdraw from the credit card market. Saga is switching supplier to Allied Irish Bank, which applies a minimum income limit of £12,000. This means that thousands of retired Saga credit card holders may find themselves without the benefit of the card.

Although cards won’t be withdrawn immediately, anyone who doesn’t meet the minimum income criteria won’t have their current card renewed when it expires.

The LV= backed Saga credit card was never much of a good deal. With a typical APR of 21.9% it is at the expensive end of the scale for credit cards.

In contrast, the new Saga Platinum Credit Card, supplied by Allied Irish Bank, has a typical APR of 15.9% and makes no charge for foreign currency transactions made in Europe – a feature that very few card issuers offer.

For anyone affected, if the new Saga Platinum Credit Card is offered, this is a better deal and should be snapped up. For those who aren’t offered the new card, it’s time to change to a new supplier. Use our free Find a Lender service to find an even better replacement credit card.