Everyone has an eye on ideas that claim to save money on their outgoing’s and the latest offer from Barclaycard certainly promises to be an eye catching offer that is impossible to refuse.

New customers transferring an outstanding credit card debt to Barclaycard Platinum will be doing more than just giving themselves breathing space, they will also be getting what is the longest 0% on balance transfers offer in the market today.

As if that is not good enough news, customers signing up between March 15th and May 3rd 2011 can also take advantage of a 25% reduction on the handling charge when transferring multiple balances from other lenders – the highest balance transfer will incur a handling fee of 3.2%, with any additional transfers seeing effective handling fees of 2.74%.

Furthermore, new customers to Barclaycard Platinum will be charged 0% on new purchases for three months.

Like anyone else I am always happy to witness banks offering great deals to their customers, but you have to ask if this latest incentive isn’t a move back towards the days of pre financial crisis when as a nation we were continually being encouraged to heap ourselves in debt.

It surprises me somewhat that institutions the size of Barclaycard feel the need to encourage bad debtors to their company, when a simple cut in interest charged to existing customers might provide a better stimulus to get customers who pay their bills to spend more.

But then again I don’t run Barclaycard and looking at the deal from a financial situation, would recommend anyone with existing credit card debt to take advantage of the Barclaycard Platinum deal.

However if this sounds like a temporary route out of financial trouble for you, be sure to check out the Barclaycard Terms & Commissions that apply to this product.

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Quite often borrowing can throw up any number of these little pieces of jargon and it can be helpful to know well in advance of making any applications for a small business loan, credit card, overdraft or any other facility what these all mean and how they may impact you.

One of the terms most frequently applied to such business banking options is APR – and while many may have seen those three letters appear neatly next to any number of advertisements and at the bottom of many a financial form they may not have a full understanding of what they relate to.

The phrase APR stands for Annual Percentage Rate and is a tool that is used to calculate interest levels for all sorts of lending. It is also useful to small business account holders as it allows them to compare the cost of different loans. If the APR is high, then in most cases this means your repayments will be high. However, there may be other charges and fees that apply to the loan or credit card that are not included in the APR – but that does not mean it should be treated any less importantly.

So, entrepreneurs may think to themselves ‘well, that’s easy, all I have to do is grab the package with the lowest APR and I’ll be sorted’. But unfortunately, administration costs, legal fees and early repayment penalties are all things that should be taken into consideration. In addition, particularly low figures for the rate may not be available to you and may depend on how your credit history shapes up in the check the bank makes.

Those looking to take advantage of the various options available to them through Lloyds TSB business banking may at this point be wondering ’so what are the options available?’ and the answer is – plenty. The bank has base-rate linked loans that fluctuate in line with the figures set by the Bank of England, but fixed-rate options are available for amounts ranging up to £100,000 – meaning the applicant is well aware of what they will have to pay back and by when. In terms of plastic, the Lloyds TSB business credit card offers a typical APR of 18.2% variable and has an interest-free period of up to 45 days on new purchases if the user pays the balance in full and on time each month.

Holiday makers and business people alike were stranded around the world waiting for the ash to clear the sky-ways of Northern Europe before they could embark on their journey home.

The television news programmes appeared to be revelling in the grief of stranded passengers as they turned up at various air and sea ports to report on the latest situation.

Many travellers were willing to pay extortionate amounts to get themselves closer to home, while others simply had no choice but to sit and wait for the skies to clear.

While insurance companies and the UK Government argued about who was to blame and where compensation should be paid, it was reassuring that the UK’s largest credit card provider responded by announcing that it would re-imburse card holders with any charges they had incurred when withdrawing emergency cash abroad during the disruption.

While these charges may be minimal in the scheme of things it is none the less commendable given how sceptical of the financial institutions we have become during the credit crisis.

The financial institutions really need to show that they are helping out their customers in these difficult times and while others are withdrawing their zero percent transfer offers on credit cards, MBNA still offer this service along with other low APR credit card offers.

Re-imbursing charges incurred while drawing cash to cope with the volcanic disruption may appear a token gesture, but it is also a good business move, helping restore a little faith in an industry that has dragged us all through the mire during the financial crisis. It may well be worth remembering next time you apply for the best credit card deals that MBNA at least did something for their customers while others chose to blame everyone else.