Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The Top 3 Visa Credit Cards

It is not easy to select the top three Visa credit cards as comparison is normally done based on certain components, such as APR, cash back rewards, cash advance, paying off balance monthly and or carrying balance on amounts owed. As such the top three cards will change based on what criteria is used. Using the clearing monthly balance criteria the three listed below came out on top, however if cash advance was used another set would be tops.

According to www.bankrate.com, an online company that rates credit cards, the top three Visa credit cards based on paying off balance monthly were:

• Simmons First National Bank

• SunTrust Bank

• Farmers and Mechanics Bank

The Visa credit cards were rated on:

• Purchase APR

• Annual Fees

• Late fees

• Over limit fees

• Grace period

• Cash advance APR

• Fees and conditions

Simmons and SunTrust are personal platinum cards, while Farmers and Mechanics Bank is a personal classic. All three had fixed purchase APR of 8.95%, 8.99% and 9.9% respectively. Cash advance APR was also fixed at 12.95%, 19.99% and 19.99%.

None of these Visa cards had an annual fee. Based on the clean balance monthly comparison, these cards charged a late and over limit fee as follows:

• Simmons First National Bank - $29 each

• SunTrust Bank - $39 each

• Framers and Mechanics Bank - $39 each

Of the three, Simmons and SunTrust had a twenty-five day grace period after billing. Farmers and Mechanics Bank offers a twenty day grace period which seemed to be standard. It was also interesting to note that many other Visa cards in the same category had longer grace periods, with many offering up to thirty days.

These cards were based on a national survey for the USA