UK Bank and credit cards deals

• Alliance & Leicester's Premier Direct Current Account offers 50 times more interest than some high street banks - 8.5% AER (fixed until April 2009) Review
  
  
• First Direct - Repeated voted as top in the customer service stakes, First Direct was one of the UK pioneers in online and telephone banking, and being a customer still carries some serious benefits, including a good-ish interest rate on current account balances, and a high interest e-saver account. Note that in Nov 2006, they ended their free banking for some customers. For more details on First Direct, see our First direct page.
  
  
• Citibank - Top interest rates on their current accounts, and at the time of writing, a free iPod Nano for new account sign-ups. More on our Citibank page
  
  

• MBNA Points Card - The MBNA Points MasterCard comes with a top rewards programme. Earn at least one point for every pound you spend.
  
  
• Nectar Credit Card from American Express. After Barclaycard's decision to end its affiliation with the Nectar bonus points scheme, American Express stepped up to bring us the "Nectar Credit Card". This gives you Nectar Points when you shop, and an introductory 5000 points when you first apply and spend £200. You'll get double Nectar points for the first 3 months and up to 4 nectar points for every £1 spent
  The card is a rather stylish part-transparent card with chip-and-PIN, and has the usual features you'd expect such as a competitive APR, no annual fee, an online fraud guarantee, and also adds purchase protection (against accidental damage and theft for 90 days).
  If you're a Nectar points collector, this is the card for you, even if all you do is take out a card to get the introductory Nectar points. More at www.americanexpress.com/uk/nectar
  
  
• Capital One - The Capital One Classic card has a couple of unique points. Firstly, Capital One quote a "response in one minute". There's also a choice of designs for this card. There are a range of Capital One cards, but this one is targeted at those that haven't had a credit card before, or have had credit defaults in the past. What's in your wallet? If you'd like it to be a Capital One card, go to www.capitalone.co.uk
  
  
• Barclaycard Breathe - If you want to do your bit for the environment, then consider a Breathe card. Spend on your card and Barclaycard will donate 50% of profits to environmental projects that help reduce carbon emissions and tackle climate change. The Breathe card is also more environmentally friendly than current PVC cards, recycled paper is used where necessary (e.g. card carriers, PIN mailers, etc), and you can recycle your cards. An interesting solution, with some handy offers for green users.
  
  
• Egg card - This card has always been highly recommended, mainly because it has some of the better deals around. Sadly, the 0.5% cashback offer was dropped in 2004, although they offer a decent cashback value is available with selected retailers. More details on our Egg page
  
  
• Morgan Stanley - Not recommended. We were advocates of this firm's credit cards, until July 2006 when we heard that Morgan Stanley wanted our glowing review to be removed. We'd love to know why - but they haven't told us. Apparently, our editor's Platinum card has now been cut up in disgust, and returned in favour of the MBNA Points Card. Hey ho.
  
  
• BT Credit Card: Here's an interesting cashback card. Keen to hang on to your business, in 2007, BT launched the BT Credit Card. This Visa card is powered by MBNA and through normal use can earn you up to £75 off your BT home phone bill, or Broadband Internet bill. More on our BT Credit Card Review page or at www.bt.com/creditcard
  
  
• Barclaycard - A review of cards wouldn't be complete without paying homage to the most well-known of all the UK cards, the Barclaycard, although sadly this is no longer one of the better value cards around since they left Nectar, The Barclaycard Platinum card offers a range of benefits including good balance transfer offers, identity and fraud protection, purchase delivery protection, text message alerts, and some extra services for travellers. For more, see our Barclaycard page.
  
  

• Billpayment.co.uk - A way of paying bills online with just a Switch card
• PayPal - Online payments can be made to any email address can be made using your Mastercard, Switch, Solo, American Express or Discover card. Excellent for sending money cheaply around the world, or use Paypal when paying for Ebay.co.uk auctions
  
  

• Free legal advice online
  
  

• The AA - Famous for their unbeatable roadside assistance, the AA's car insurance and car data checking is hard to beat too. If you're looking for cheaper car insurance, let the AA do the hunting for you! For cheaper car insurance and home insurance, try AA Insurance for special discounts when taking out insurance online, and greater discounts for AA breakdown members. The AA compare quotes from hundreds of insurers, and are independent. Go to theaa.com RECOMMENDED
• Motorquote - Enter your details and get the top three most competitive policies from an extensive panel of insurers. You can benefit from instant quotations and instant cover.
• Travel Insurance online is one of the leading providers of online travel and holiday insurance for online UK residents on the Internet.

• Experian , Consumer Help Service, PO Box 8000, Nottingham NG1 5GX
• Equifax , Consumer Response Centre, PLC, PO Box 1140, Bradford BD1 5US

For more, see our new Be Safe page

One in 12 of us have money stashed away that we know nothing about.... from schemes we've cancelled, company pensions from ex-employers,or even saving schemes set up for us by parents or grandparents. Apparently, there's £15 billion in unclaimed pensions, lottery tickets and policies. Take a check to see if you're due any, at the Unclaimed Assets Register