If you are a young person you may find it difficult to obtain credit because you have no credit history from which credit providers such as banks, building societies and credit card issuers can judge your likelihood to repay your debt.

As such, it is may be wise to take out a credit card to establish a record at a credit bureaus such as Experian or Callcredit, businesses which hold a record of your credit agreements which allow lenders them to assess your credit worthiness.

Having said this, often the most attractive promotional rates on balance transfers and 0% purchases are unavailable to young people for this very reason. You should therefore consider cards suited to the ‘thin file’ (low or no credit history) customers such as a student credit card.

Once you have a credit card it is wise to spend a little each month over the course of a year and repay in full every month. This lets the credit bureaus you are a responsible individual capable or repaying your debts.

Once you have done this, you should not only qualify for the most attractive credit cards but also lower rates on, loans, car finance and even mortgages, leading to substantial interest savings later in life.

Credit card issuers are offering ever better deals on balance transfers these days, which can only be good for the customer. However when you use your credit card for both balance transfers and spending this can be surprisingly expensive.

Essentially credit card providers insist that borrowers always repay the least expensive debt first, known as the ‘repayment hierarchy’. What this means is that if you take up a 0% balance transfer deal for 12 months and then spend on the same card in that time, your purchases will be charged at the standard rate (usually around 16%) while any repayments you make will only discharge your 0% debt.

By the time you have repaid your balance transfer you could have potentially incurred some significant interest charges.

So how do you avoid this pitfall? Simply take out a card specifically for the balance transfer deal, and then don’t touch it again! The golden rule is – use one credit card for balance transfers and a separate card for spending.

If you want a credit card to spend with, get a card with a low APR if you don’t always clear your balance, or a card with a cashback or rewards if you do. Problem solved!

Barclaycard have released a new card combining the functionality of a London Oyster card, a contactless payment system and a standard credit card.

Oyster

Sold as ‘OnePulse’, the card is being marketed heavily at Londonders due to the inclusion of a pre-pay Oyster card which can be used on the London Underground and bus network. Barclays have secured the exclusive rights for three years, to put Oyster cards on its Barclaycard credit cards and Barclays Connect debit cards.

Cashless

The other novel feature of the card is the ability to make purchases for less than £10 with out entering a PIN, simply waving it past a reader in a similar fashion to normal Oyster cards. To discourage fraud one in five such transactions will still require entering a PIN number in the normal fashion as will any purchase over £10. Currently participating merchants include off-licence chain Threshers and donut vendors Krispy Kreme. According to Barclaycard you can use ‘OneTouch’ wherever you see the wave symbol or ‘Visa payWave’ sign.

Credit

Finally as one would expect from Barclaycard the OnePulse card is also a credit card with a fairly competitive APR of 14.9% Typical and 6 months 0% interest on purchases from account opening. More information can be found at Barclaycard.