RBS Advanta Platinum Reserve - sounds good doesn't it? and to be fair they have been good.
Run jointly by Royal Bank of Scotland & I know not who, I have held this little gem for a a good few years now, dusting it off for the occasional little purchase, it has sat and survived in my wallet ... Read review
Advantages: Good customer service, Excellent Introductory int rate Disadvantages: No reward to customer loyalty
RBS Advanta Platinum Reserve - sounds good doesn't it? and to be fair they have been good.
Run jointly by Royal Bank of Scotland & I know not who, I have held this little gem for a a good few years now, dusting it off for the occasional little purchase, it has sat and survived in my wallet whilst all its little friends have arrived, been chewed up, spat out and dispensed to that big credit card heaven in the Sky. Why you might ask. ...suggests, they have always been a quiet unassuming credit card company, they seldom bombard me with letters (although speculative loan application forms have been arriving recently), and NEVER EVER a marketing phone call.
Application until recently was made by the now nearly out of date pen and paper/snail mail combination, although I do believe they are now offering internet application and the company provides a range of three levels, ... more
RBS Advanta Platinum Reserve - sounds good doesn't it? and to be fair they have been good.
Run jointly by Royal Bank of Scotland & I know not who, I have held this little gem for a a good few years now, dusting it off for the occasional little purchase, it has sat and survived in my wallet whilst all its little friends have arrived, been chewed up, spat out and dispensed to that big credit card heaven in the Sky. Why you might ask.
Well as the title of the op suggests, they have always been a quiet unassuming credit card company, they seldom bombard me with letters (although speculative loan application forms have been arriving recently), and NEVER EVER a marketing phone call.
Application until recently was made by the now nearly out of date pen and paper/snail mail combination, although I do believe they are now offering internet application and the company provides a range of three levels, Classic, Gold and Platinum based on your income and other data they hold on you.
Classic and Gold come in Visa form only, whilst for some unknown reason, Platinum is only offered in Mastercard.
THEIR RATES All three cards offer a magical introductory rate of 1.9% until June 2002, and from advertising I have seen this remains competitive and is regularly updated. After this date, rates change to 16.9% APR for Classic and Gold, 15.9% for Platinum - well at least thats what I thought until I rang them this morning and they told me my rate was 16.9%, confused you will be.
SO WHAT DO THEY OFFER THAT MAKES THEM DIFFERENT? Well in these competitive times, not a lot really - you can get interest free credit of UP TO 56 days if you pay off your bill every month, althought to actually get this, strategic spending is needed. To be fair, this is still better than most of the competition who are dramatically reducing interest free credit periods in order to compensate for the competitive rates they offer.
The company offers an internet gurantee, free accident travel insurance, emergency overseas legal and medical protection, car rental discounts with AVIS (not the cheapest in the world), free room upgrades at SUMMIT hotels (who?), special free competition entries reserved for Platinum account holders, a travel service and a wine service, none of which I have ever tried to take advantage of.
CUSTOMER SERVICE In fact I have never tried to take advantage (no pun intended) of this company until today, when I rang them to ask if they would give me a special rate for a balance transfer like many of the competitors offer.
I was advised that my rate was currently 16.9%APR fixed (should be 15.9% according to the literature), and was told that the only time the competition offers special rates was to new customers - wrong again RBS, MBNA offer special rates for balance transfers regularly to existing customers as do MARBLES.
Their local rate phone number is always manned, and does not encounter encumbant pre-recorded security checks like many of the competition, the longest I have ever had to wait on the line is about 3 minutes before speaking to a human being although to be fair, contact is generally instantaneous.
CREDIT LIMITS Not the most generous on the market, although this is not necessarily a bad thing, their maximum possible credit limit for platinum holders is £15,000, (£5,000 for Classic Cards, £10,000 for Gold).
Minimum income requirement for Platinum Reserve is £20,000, although they do upgrade from lower cards without request for good customers.
PAYMENT They do not currently provide an internet account base, and payment can be made by all the traditional methods including post, over the counter cheque/cash payment, direct debit and Delta/switch payments over the phone (credited to your account within 2 working days) - although indications are that this method may be soon to cease in line with new Government legislation. Minimum payment is 3% of the outstanding balance. Their Late payment charges are not publicised and luckily I have never had to encounter them, so know little about them.
SUMMARY All in all, as I said above, a quiet unassuming company that up until now I have been suitably impressed with, they have won awards for being the best credit card provider, but they evidently have no customer loyalty and no overwhelming desire to hang on to long term customers.
Advantages: Discounts for new customers. Disadvantages: Average APR after discounts finish
...The main benefit of the RBS card is that when new customers transfer balances from your old credit cards you get a low introductory rate of only 3.9 percent compared to the normal rates of about 18 to 20 percent for six months. I transferred just over £2000 from the above cards and I am currently saving £30 per month which is worth while as I transfer when they were doing a special offer of 1.9 percent.
They do a calculator so you can add up the ... ...can save in one year. You can then apply for the card online which took me 2 weeks to get the card.
The web address is
http://www.royalbankofscotland.co.uk/personal/credit_cards/looking/classic.htm
If for example you owe £1000 on your Burton Credit card over one year you would save £147.00 because of the discount rate. The more you transfer the more you will save. My advice is if you transfer that you should destroy the card with the nil balance, ...
bazza1603 18.08.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of RBS Advanta
Advantages: good telephone servicing Disadvantages: slow application service, no online service
The only thing that differentiates RBS Advanta from other cards is that it is slow and disorganised for the most part, and the perks of having the card aren’t that great. Post application telephone customer service staff are quite good, but it’s not something that I really need.
I saw the ads for it and it sounded great-0% interest on both balance transfers and new purchases, free travel insurance if you purchase a holiday on your card ... ...Then the week after my RBS Advanta card appeared out of nowhere! Two weeks, later a letter from Virgin arrived saying I just needed to sign and I’d get a card. I now have two new credit cards when I only needed one-I may just let a balance sit on the RBS one until the 0% interest runs out, shift the whole lot again and never use the RBS one-they’ll probably just make a loss on me.
Anyway, I’d already transferred money on to the ...
o.gerbilpants 26.08.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of RBS Advanta
Advantages: None, others are better Disadvantages: Not competitive
...interest.
I had an RBS Advanta card because I had an RBS current account. I have now got rid of my RBS account for reasons that can be seen in my review of that Banks performance. I decided at the time to get rid of all RBS products and so the credit card has now gone. Next in line are the insurances we have with Direct Line. When I fall out with someone I do it big time. Of course the replacements will have to be cost effective but in what is still ... ...The RBS Advanta card is not attractive if you are beyond the introductory period with interest at 13.9%. Of course credit card suppliers tailor their interest rates to suit your personal circumstances so perversely the less credit worthy you are the more interest you will pay. I do not like the way they calculate interest either which is done on the statemented balance if not paid in full the previous month.
There is a website like all the others ...
polydeuces 24.11.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of RBS Advanta
Advantages: Money for free !! Disadvantages: If you don't want to earn free money !!
...a bit of discipline the RBS Advanta card offers an excellent money making opportunity.
While other cards offer moneyback schemes or points schemes to encourage you to spend on their card the RBS Advanta card doesn't go for this.
However .... there is a VERY nice little angle available on this card, and you don't have to spend to benefit.
Many cards have an interest free period on spending, but don't have an interest free period on balance transfers ... ...offers interest free periods on both !!
So what do you have to do ?
Well, it comes with balance transfer cheques, so open a high interset account, pay in up to your limit and wait for the bill to come in.
When the bill comes in, simply pay it off in time and start all over again !! Simple.
You invest their money and earn interest on it - for free !!
So what's to gain ?
Well assume interest rate of 6% (before tax - 4.8 % after) and you can have ...
IainCMartin 19.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of RBS Advanta
Advantages: None when it matters most Disadvantages: They will NOT be defending your purchase
Held this RBS card for over a decade. In that time I have have just this one dispute where the on-line merchant did not send all of the goods purchased. I disputed the transaction with RBS. I send every document asked for as soon as it was asked for. They said I was clearly in my right as the merchandise was not delivered to me as the merchant had advertised and I paid for. Then RBS sends me a letter saying I did not comply within 60 days of the ... ...account as soon as that letter was delivered. I did everything they asked of me, when it was asked of me and they closed my dispute because they said I did not comply within the 60 days?!?!?! Do NOT get sucked into this POS bank people. And FAIR WARNING>>>> They do the Kroger Grocery cards as well. You will just coast along as I have for a decade until you need service and it will NOT be there. Do NOT get sucked into this POS company. Period. ...
vol-dolfan 22.10.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of RBS Advanta
Competitiveness of APR
Product package
Quality of Customer Ser...
Reward Scheme
Additional Charges
Security and Privacy
Ease of Application
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Advantages: Competitive accounts Disadvantages: High charges, unhelpful staff
I had been with the Royal Bank of Scotland for 11 years until recently. They provided my current account and also my credit card through RBSAdvanta. I have though now changed to an internet bank but it is early days to judge them yet but when I do you will be the first to know dear reader.
So why did I change after so long. To have stayed with one bank for so long implies, and quite rightly, that I was happy with them for some time. I was. So what changed?
It all happened last Christmas when due to a sudden incident I had to write a large cheque. I was not able to fully cover the cheque until I transferred funds from another source so I rang the bank and explained everything. No problem they said, we’ll cover it, we know you are a long standing customer and there will be no charges. Well those who are thinking ahead will ...
Advantages: Online fraud guarantee, credit card cheques, no fee Disadvantages: Crazy loyalty scheme, high interest rates
scheme soon as the way it stands I will never see anything I want to redeem my points against.
The card design is a quite dull and doesnt stand out from the crowd.
You might think from the negative points so far there are no redeeming features but there are. ( there must be, I have had one for 15 years now ) You can pay by direct debit so you never forget to make a payment. Credit card cheques are a very useful feature and there is no fee for using them. There is no annual fee either. There is now an online fraud guarantee for reassurance.
If you clear the balance every month in full and dont mind the stupid loyalty scheme this could be the card for you.
But if you only clear part of it off go to RBSAdvanta or someone like that with far lower interest rates, if you want some loyalty reward go to one that gives Air Miles ...
Advantages: Interest free credit period on balance transfers Disadvantages: None
of the transaction. However if you were to take out a Nationwide card as well, you can make the transaction on your original card, then, when payment is due (if your purchase falls right you may have had c7 weeks pluss interest free credit) transfer the balance to the Nationwide. You will then have another period in which you can the bill off interest free. So, instead of paying high rates of perhaps upwards of 18%, you could, with a little luck, get up to around 3 months interest free credit.
So what's the deal for savers ?
Well if you read my opinion on the RBSAdvanta card you will see a little 'opportunity' that I have highlighted.
Once you take advantage of the Advanta, instead of paying it off by withdrawing the amount from your 'borrowed' savings, you could transfer from the Nationwide. (Don't bother with the comments of - they won ...
