What attracts me most to Internet finance products is the convenience and flexibility. I want to be able to administer changes to my account and complete transactions quickly, conveniently and wherever possible, without having to contact the bank concerned. The other key attraction should be that there is an opportunity to save money – it’s cheaper for the bank, so it should be cheaper for me. The first Internet product to which I subscribed was a Cahoot credit card, several years ago. This is a summary of my thoughts and experiences over that time.

I was attracted to Cahoot because the company was set up as an affiliate of the Abbey National group. Whilst the Abbey National is not necessarily the most competitive bank on the high street, I have always received good service from them and as a first stab at Internet banking, I was inclined to go with a name that was familiar to me. When the card was originally conceived, there were also a number of different interest and fee options, according to how you wanted to manage your account. I was within the first 20,000 applicants and as such received the card with 0% APR and no fees for 9 months. These options still exist for cardholders today.

The Cahoot credit card is different from other card service providers, in that you are offered three different account options.

This option is targeted at users who always carry a high balance on their card. There is only a monthly fee to pay – no interest. The fee is based on your credit limit and represents an APR from as low as 5.6%.

In terms of value for money, however, all these options are very competitive and easily match the standard APR offered by the nearest equivalent – Egg – which currently stands at 12.9%.

The Cahoot web site is not the most logically arranged web site. When viewed in Internet Explorer, the screen display is adjusted slightly to the left, with a large blank strip running down the right-hand side. There is a scroll bar on the right, but I can’t help thinking that the page looks clumsy. The page then links to each of the main products offered, with a large picture of the advertised 8% typical APR. There are various account management options in a menu bar at the top, although, rather confusingly, there is also a scroll down menu, which offers nearly the same options all over again.

MANAGING YOUR CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT ONLINE

From the Account Status page, you can view all the sorts of detail that would appear on the front page of a printed statement. The problem is that the page is not formatted in a particularly logical way, and unlike a paper statement, things like your minimum payment and payment due date are not instantly obvious. A useful function is a pre-formatted printable account summary – although only the traditionalists would really want to keep a printed copy.

From the Account Manager, you can carry out a number of functions. This is easily the most important part of the online process, because you need to access this section in order to:

Each of the available functions is listed, with a hyperlink to another screen that will facilitate your request. It’s worth noting that transactions can take some time to process, according to what they are. A change to your direct debit payment, for instance, must be made a certain amount of time before the payment is due to be taken.

The site offers a large number of frequently answered questions, but if you still need help, then Cahoot prefer that you send your query via email. Sadly, the email route is not an option that I am particularly in favour of, purely because you don’t receive an acknowledgement and I have waited for several days for a response, before now. My preferred method of account is still via the telephone and fortunately a help line is advertised, albeit with a national rate number.

WHY CAHOOT GETS IT WRONG