'Cheapest cards in SA' first appeared on iafrica.com on 13 October 2008. It is the most read 'Personal Finance/Banking' article of the past year.

Cash-strapped South Africans could be saving hundreds of Rands a year by shopping around for a cheaper credit card deal, according to the financial comparison website ThinkMoney.co.za.

If consumers took the time to look beyond the big banks' offerings they would find a variety of other offers in the market including Virgin Money, Barclaycard and Woolworths that are much cheaper.

Thinkmoney.co.za's credit card charges calculator reveals that, for an average consumer, Virgin Money is the cheapest. The cost for this product is R905.16 per year in fees and interest charges. The cheapest big bank offering for the same consumer is the FNB Gold card which costs R1280.41 per year. Overall, this card ranks a low 15th on the list.

This analysis was conducted using the spending profile of an average Thinkmoney.co.za user (Identified as being between 25 and 40 years old and earning R15 000 per month). Based on over 2000 current profiles, this average user makes nine purchases (value R3180), one cash withdrawal (value R860) and two petrol purchases (value R530) per month. For this individual, the four cheapest credit cards are not those offered by South Africa's traditional credit providers:

1. Virgin Money — average cost per year: R906.36

2. Go Banking — average cost per year: R1040.26

3. Barclaycard — average cost per year: R1063.02

4. Woolworths Gold — average cost per year: R1066

In comparison, the big bank credit cards for the same individual would cost between R300 and R500 more:

1. FNB Gold — average cost per year: R1280.41

2. Standard Bank Blue — average cost per year: R1352.34

3. ABSA Silver — average cost per year: R1389.95

4. Nedbank Classic — average cost per year: R1570.80

Mike Kann, General Manager of Thinkmoney.co.za, says that regardless of what an individual earns or their spending habits, if they shop around, they are almost guaranteed to find a cheaper credit card than the one they currently use. "The way banks structure their pricing policies makes it difficult for consumers to compare costs."

Kann appeals to all South Africans to make use of financial comparison websites to calculate which card best suits their individual profiles.

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