Hello everybody *waves*

I need a credit card, I've never had one before, the reason I need one is to go travelling so i can buy some flights if needed etc. What are the things to look for and where would you recommend I get one from?

Help much appreciated

Will you be using it abroad? If so Nationwide have lower fees than most for doing that.

Cheers, yes I will, in fact I plan to only use it abroad.

Aye, as lev says, I'm sure the Nationwide one was at least good for using abroad. I'm not sure if they've recently changed their policy though so it would be worth looking in to.

If you'll be paying it off every month you'll probably find the cards with the higher APR and higher balance transfer rates will offer better additional benefits such as free travel insurance and the like than those that try to attract customers with low APRs and so on.

But a high APR card should only be used if you plan to pay off your balance in full every month.

Of course

Go with a Visa one rather than a mastercard one if possible.

Play.com have a 0% for 9 months on purchases via mbna, you get 1 or 2% 'cashback' for vouchers on play.com with purchases too which is a good deal for a Visa card, takes a while to be accepted though so it may be worth calling them about it

What don't you like about MasterCard?

They've always been good to me. *shrug*

Mastercards are generally cheaper, but VISA is accepted in more places. I personally have a Mastercard and a Visa Debit card, both from my bank, so I have the best of both worlds.

Really?

I have never found a place that wouldn't take Mastercard, includign when I was in the USA

Never hurts to have both though

Same here. I've only got the credit card for a 'just-in-case-my-debit-doesnt-work-and-i-cant-get-that-desperately-needed-cyder' moment. I thought it was probably best to get MasterCard seeing as it was essentially a backup card, just incase Visa had a problem and none of their cards could be processed.

+1

It's rare, but I have been to some places where Mastercard isn't as widely accepted as Visa.

I'll be going to South America so I think I will go for Visa, thanks for the heads up.

Visa sponser the Argentinean rugby team, so I'd guess that it's widely accepted over that way!!

If you've never had a credit card before then you may need to check a few things out before you apply:

Have you got any other borrowing (like a mortgage, overdraft or loan (but not a student loan))?
Are you on the electoral register where you live?

If you answer no to either of those then you will likely have some difficulty getting a credit card in the current climate.
Irritatingly you need a credit history to get credit at a sensible rate and the card issuer needs to be able to confirm where you live.

If you want to check what you credit record is like then Experian do a free online one through their Credit Expert website.
The Motley Fool has a good credit card comparison tool on it. I can't remember the web addresses of the top of my head but I'm sure the search engine of your choice will be able to find them.