Virgin
Virgin Credit Cards are marketed by Virgin Money, the UK financial services arm of the Virgin Group. The company was conceived and born with the usual Virgin formula. Find a sector where competition is weak and existing products are looking dull and dated and muscle right in, shaking up the market with a fanfare and the promise of a far better deal for the consumer.
It sounds like a tall order, but each Virgin credit card has a position near or at the top of one of our comparison tables. Every Virgin credit card has a dynamic package of benefits, and a competitive charging structure within their categories. All Virgin credit cards benefit from discounts across the Virgin Group. The company offers credit cards with a wide variety of profiles for every kind of consumer from prepaid cards where you don’t need credit check or even a job to apply, right through to high profile black rewards cards with great travel benefits for high rollers.
If you want to know more, read our Virgin Credit Card Guide below our comparison table.
Compare Virgin Credit Cards
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Virgin Money Credit Card | 0% on balance & money transfers for 20 months & purchases for 3 months | 2.99% | 16.8% APR |
£ transfers as well as balance transfers Great all round package Discounts with many Virgin Companies Competitive APR
No transfers from MBNA or Virgin cards |
Virgin Atlantic American Express Black Credit Card | 0% on balance transfer for 6 months, and 6,000 Virgin bonus Flying Club miles on 1st purchase | 2% | 47.2% APR |
Now with dual Amex & Visa cards 6,000 free Flying Club miles on 1st purchase Double miles - Virgin Hols & Virgin Atlantic 0% on balance transfers for 6 months Annual fee No transfers from MBNA or Virgin cards |
Virgin Money Monthly Prepaid Visa Card | No bank account needed, no credit check! | Prepaid |
Discounts with Virgin Companies Free top ups No transaction fees in UK Monthly fee ATM fees No purchase protection Expensive to use abroad |
Virgin Atlantic American Express White Credit Card | 0% on balance transfer for 6 months, 3,000 Flying Club miles on 1st purchase | 2% | 17.9% APR |
Now with dual Amex & Visa cards £ transfers as well as balance transfers Competitive overall charging structure Discounts with many Virgin Companies No transfers from MBNA or Virgin cards |
Virgin Money Prepaid Travel Card | Great opportunity to save on card charges on your holiday spending this summer | Prepaid | Prepaid |
Free to own and run No overseas purchase surcharges Free emergency card Discounts with Virgin Companies No purchase protection ATM fees Electronic use only |
Virgin Money PAYG Prepaid Visa Card | Great for London 2012 Olympic Tickets. The smart way to carry cash | Prepaid |
Ideal for London Olympics tickets Free top ups Available to under 18's Discounts with Virgin Companies No purchase protection ATM fees 2.95% charge on each purchase Expensive to use abroadVirgin Credit Card Guide
Virgin credit cards are popular because they offer a good all round package, with meaningful benefits and low charges. All the Virgin cards offer a loyalty scheme with great deals if you’re a regular customer of the other companies in the Virgin Group.
Each Virgin credit card is packaged with the recognisable key Virgin elements:-
Quality – When Virgin enter a market they do a lot of research into what the customer wants and the credit card products are no exception. Expect straightforward, high quality deals. Each credit card has been packaged with clarity in mind. The products, paperwork and the websites that support the cards are easy to understand. The ‘Terms and Conditions’ and the card benefits are clear and free from jargon.
Value for money – Virgin cards usually have some of the lowest charges within each card type. Interest rates (where applicable) are competitive and often the promotional rates are in the top three of each of our comparison categories.
Fun! – A hard concept to inject into financial products, but Virgin’s marketing and product packaging tries to engender a fun element with entertaining adverts and promotional material.
Innovation – Virgin credit cards always feature the latest technology like Contactless Payment and Chip and Pin. Every Virgin credit card also includes secure online account access, allowing card holders to view balance and transaction information, and to update personal details.
Virgin Money and Virgin Credit Cards – Corporate Information
What is now Virgin Money was originally founded as Virgin Direct in March 1995, a joint venture between Virgin and Norwich Union. Virgin Direct opened for business with the first index tracking Personal Equity Plan. Since then it’s been responsible for some of its most familiar and respected products in the financial arena, including one of its greatest triumphs, the Virgin Credit Card.
Virgin One came along in 1997, a partnership with Royal Bank of Scotland. In year 2000 Virgin Money emerged, and during the following few years the business consolidated but also expanded into new territories abroad. The Virgin Credit Card was launched in Australia in 2003, and a Virgin branded card was also launched in South Africa in partnership with ABSA).
In 2004 Virgin Group took back complete control of the business, buying out the other shareholders, and Mr Branson started to look out for a bank or building society to buy to give Virgin a proper foothold on the High Street and the crucially important UK banking licence.
The banking sector in the UK has developed to the point where there’s a limited oligopoly of incumbent banks that have very little differentiation, and clearly it would be good for the consumer if things were shaken up a bit.
Virgin’s 1st high profile bid for the defunct Northern Rock didn’t succeed (although it succeeded in acquiring the company in November 2011), but not many people know that in January 2010 Virgin Group did buy a bank (just not a very well-known one, Church House Trust plc) which gave it the banking licence it desperately needs to go to the next level. Virgin is also in negotiation with Lloyds and RBS over taking over some of its less profitable branches.
Many people scoff at Virgin’s seemingly random bumbling around in and out of businesses, potentially devaluing an excellent brand. However, Virgin is a multi-billion pound business and it has a very clear strategy of entering and leaving markets as opportunities present themselves, grow and sometimes mature.
Crucially, it knows what its good at, and many of the senior management are long term Virgin players with an excellent track record of injecting new life into dull markets. The team at Virgin Money seems likely to be joined by Jonathan Agnew in the role of Chairman. Virgin’s bank has been without a Chairman since the death of Sir Brian Pitman in March 2010.
Mr Agnew knows one or two things about keeping customers happy having been Chairman of Nationwide Building Society until 2007. If his appointment is cleared by City regulators which seems likely, this will be another key step in Branson’s quest to build a truly national and competitive High Street Bank. Virgin is also in talks to raise some £2 billion to fund the purchase of redundant Lloyds branches and assets. Mr Branson also hasn’t given up on the chance to own Northern Rock which (it’s rumoured) the Treasury is shortly to put up for sale.
The widespread consumer dissatisfaction with UK High Street Banks after the 2007/2008 banking crisis has played nicely into Virgin’s hands. As you may expect, Virgin Money promises a fair return for the consumer from all its products, without excessive profits for the bank. People trust Richard Branson to look after their money, and consequently Virgin Money and the Virgin Credit Card are doing well in the market.
On 17th November 2011, Virgin Money bought Northern Rock plc. More detail here.
