Bank of Scotland Affinity Team Motorsport Mastercard

...across a lovely banner: a Bank of Scotland Team Motorsport Mastercard with a really beautiful layout of F1 racing. Was it for real? Finally I had come across a card with the layout I had been waiting and looking for so long.

Impatiently I double clicked on the banner and here I was, in front of an online application.

(http://www.transnational.co.uk/picturecards/teammotorsport1/default.asp)
I had a quick look ...
...card is issued by the Bank of Scotland. The name of the credit card is Team Motorsport Mastercard. You have to be a UK resident over 18 to be eligible for such a credit card. Those living in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are excluded. There is no annual fee for this credit card. For the first five months, the card offers an APR of just 3.9% on amounts transferred from other cards. This may not be the most competitive offer. For instance, ... more

On a winter evening of 2001 while wasting my time on the net, I came across a lovely banner: a Bank of Scotland Team Motorsport Mastercard with a really beautiful layout of F1 racing. Was it for real? Finally I had come across a card with the layout I had been waiting and looking for so long.

Impatiently I double clicked on the banner and here I was, in front of an online application.

(http://www.transnational.co.uk/picturecards/teammotorsport1/default.asp)
I had a quick look around the site and the credit card offer seemed okay to me (no annual fee as a start). As a matter of fact I was not worried about the interest rates or other issues that one should check carefully before applying for a credit card. I simply loved the layout of the credit card and that was all that mattered to me. I always pay my monthly balance in full (unless there is an interest free period), so … the interest rates are not my issue of concern.

For the sake of the opinion however, I have to mention all the info about this offer otherwise, the “self-employed” Ciao “watchdogs” (do I have to list them?) will give me a very hard time with their “fairly unhelpful” or “very unhelpful" ratings. They are more than right though. No one can form a full opinion on a product or service if all the details are not properly disclosed.

This credit card is issued by the Bank of Scotland. The name of the credit card is Team Motorsport Mastercard. You have to be a UK resident over 18 to be eligible for such a credit card. Those living in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are excluded. There is no annual fee for this credit card. For the first five months, the card offers an APR of just 3.9% on amounts transferred from other cards. This may not be the most competitive offer. For instance, with Sony Visa credit card you get a balance transfer rate of 2.9% APR for the first five months, without mentioning Egg Visa credit card or Capital One Premier mastercard that offer a balance transfer rate of 0% APR for the first six months.

The other rates: the standard APR is 12.9% (variable) on purchases made and 14.6% (variable) for any cash advances. The credit card is welcomed anywhere where the Mastercard logo is displayed (i.e, at over 21 million outlets worldwide - did you know that?).

If you use this card to book a holiday with the Bank of Scotland Travel Service in association with the Thomas Cook Direct, then you would receive travel discounts. More precisely, you would receive a 5% discount on any holidays, while a 10% discount would be available on selected holiday packages.

And finally you get free access to online statements. In other words, you can check your credit card balance using the Internet banking facility provided by the Bank of Scotland. Note that you do not have to be a regular customer of the Bank of Scotland to enjoy this last benefit (i.e. the online statement facility). There is no charge for an additional card, and a cheque-book is also issued. However the cheques should be written for amounts above £200 only.

The credit card comes with the option of Card Care protection plan designed to protect the card from loss or theft. The Card Care option costs £12 per annum and is provided by the Card Protection Plan Limited, arranged for Bank of Scotland cardholders.

The other option that comes with this credit card is Credit Care that is designed to protect your monthly card repayments, and your outstanding balance. So, if you would be unable to work for 14 days in a row because of an accident, or sickness, or unemployment, Credit Care could pay 10% of your credit card balance or £10, whichever would be greater. This would be subject to a maximum monthly benefit of £1,500. Monthly benefit could be payable from the first day of your claim, up to a maximum of 12 months for each claim. In the event of your untimely death, your credit card balance could be repaid, subject to a maximum amount of £15,000. If you are to take it, this option (i.e. the Credit Care) would cost you 73 pence - this figure includes the Insurance Premium Tax at the current rate - per £100 of your outstanding credit card balance per month. In the event of a zero credit card balance you would be charged no premium (remember that the minimum premium payable is only 73 pence per £100 of the outstanding balance - see above). This premium would be added to your credit card balance and it would be shown separately on the monthly credit card statement.

Anyway, the last two options are just options and you may choose to take them or not, depending upon your circumstance. So, have we missed something here? Well, keep reading. I am not there yet.

The online application process was very easy and pretty straightforward. You should get it done for say around ten minutes, providing that your Internet Service Provider does not disconnect you for no reason (and they say, surf anytime, right?). So, all else being well, you should hear from the Bank of Scotland Credit Card Services in about two weeks time. So did I.

I got the card in early January this year. I must admit that I loved the layout of the card. If you are a F1 mad fan (like I am), then you would love the layout. It shows a “clip / photo” from the start of one of F1 races. You have most of F1 cars driving to get ahead of each other while approaching a corner (I think). I absolutely love it.

As I quite enjoy the online banking, I went to the Bank of Scotland website, printed the application for online statements, filled it and sent it. Pretty straightforward. I got an answer very quickly, then had to call the credit card customer service desk to activate my online account, and here I was, online. Very very simple.

So far so good? Well, I think we missed something here. Did I mention any interest free period of up to 45 or 56 (or whatever) days for purchases made? The answer is “no”. Yes, it is correct. This type of card does not offer an interest free period. In other words you will be paying interest from the date you make a purchase. The interest is charged on a daily basis and it accumulates fast. Even if you pay the balance in full every month you will always pay interest because of interest on interest. As you know there is a gap from the date that the credit card statement is issued until you get it, and then until you make the payment required as shown on the statement. But by then your account is not fully cleared as there will always be interest on initial interest and more and more interest as time goes by. Trust me, I know the time value of money.

So, where was I and what was I doing? Well, knowing about these things, I always test a credit card before it becomes fully operational and is allowed to join the hall of fame (read, "my wallet"). In other words, I used this card for a single small transaction of £1.89. I got the paper statement, and then when I checked the online statement I realised that the estimated interest was growing as time was going by. As I was not sure what was really happening (I never thought of a credit card that offered no interest free period), I decided to call the bank and ask what was really going on.

I have to emphasise that the Bank of Scotland credit card customer service is excellent (at least in my case): extremely nice, kind and very efficient. Believe you me. I was very impressed. You do not queue on the phone, and you get to talk to an adviser right away. Even if you cannot get through you can leave a message in their answering machine, and someone will call you back. Wake up. It is true, and it is really good.

I spoke to one the customer service advisors, and explained the issue. The customer advisor spotted right away what I was talking about, and she asked me whether I was aware that there was no interest free period on the card I had. I pointed out that I had not been aware of this / had missed such an important detail, and the customer service advisor said that this card seemed not the right one for me. She said that she also realised this by the fact that in my direct debit slip I had indicated that I wanted to pay the whole monthly balance in full, i.e., I was not someone who would carry the credit card balance forward, i.e., I was not someone who would like to pay interest.

The customer advisor suggested that I would be better off if I would close the credit card account I had and apply for another card with no annual fee and interest free period. The overall balance of £2 (the value of transaction plus the interest accumulated) would be taken from my nominated bank account and that would be it (what if I had used the card during the January sales and had a balance of several thousand pounds to clear - my credit limit was 2k? Could you imagine the amount of interest I would have had to pay? Those small prints ...).

I had to say “bye bye” to my credit card despite the wonderful layout that it had. And just to make sure that I know what I am talking about now, before writing this opinion I did ring the credit card customer service once more to ask / clarify about the “interest free period” (or the lack of it). I was told that this was how this credit card was designed (i.e., with no interest free period). I asked whether it would ever be possible for someone to clear the whole balance (if he or she wanted to do so), but the answer was “no” as there would always be interest on interest on interest on interest on interest …

Now I am waiting for the decision on my application for another Bank of Scotland credit card that does offer interest free period (I will talk about this in another opinion), and does not charge an annual fee.

To sum it up, the moral of the story is: double check carefully what you ask for as you never know what you might end up with. As they say, do not judge a book from its cover …

Thank you for reading ... 

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