The marbles card from HFC Bank has changed its product offering, raising its introductory 0% balance transfer period from 9 months to 12 months, an increasingly common offer among credit cards including MBNA Platinum, Virgin, and HSBC.

The card still features a transfer fee of 2% of the balance transferred, minimum £5, and the standard rate has been raised a percentage point to 15.9%.

Marbles was one of the first purely-online credit cards, and has been left looking increasingly basic as newer cards introduce more attractive deals, and HFC believe that the changes will make the card more attractive in a market that is getting constantly more competitive.

The Post Office have finally joined most other balance transfer card providers by charging a 2.5% fee for all balances transferred. The Post Office Card presented one of the few remaining opportunities for credit card ’surfers’ to avoid a fee for a 0% introductory deal.

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