Smile - Why has it been named one of the worst credit cards?

If you are on the lookout for a new credit card then one which you may want to avoid is the Smile Gold Visa card. This is especially the case if you are looking for a card which offers you balance transfer deals and which has a low purchase fee. The card has a staggering 16.9 percent interest rate on any money which is put onto the card.

There are much better offers available from cards such as Virgin and Halifax. The Halifax Purchase MasterCard is excellent for making purchases, whilst the Virgin MasterCard is excellent for balance transfers with interest free on the first 15 months.

There are also credit cards which offer standard fees which do not change once you have joined. Barclays offer a good deal with a card that offers just over 6 percent for life.

Generally the Smile Gold Visa card is definitely one of the less competitive credit cards available out there. The minimum monthly repayment is either 2% or £5 (whichever is greater) which is basically the same as most other credit cards, though the fees are gradually being increased. The maximum credit limit on the card is £3,000 which is not the best for a Gold card, but it is definitely good for most people.

In order to qualify for the card you need to be earning at least £21,000. One of the other disadvantages to the card is that it does not have an online fraud guarantee. This means that if your card details are stolen online then you will not be covered by your credit card company. You will need to take out extra insurance and that means that you will obviously have to pay more. This isn’t great for a Gold card and ideally you do want protection included with the card for online fraud.

So, overall the Smile Gold Visa Card is not the best card that you can get on the market today. If you are on the lookout for a new card and you do earn over £21,000 then you may want to look into different Visa cards.