NOW CLOSED Win a £500 Amazon voucher by trying out comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service

[TheOtherHelenMumsnet]

comparethemarket.com, one of the UK's biggest price comparison sites, has just launched a new credit card comparison service and they want to find out what you think of it. Here's what comparethemarket.com says about it: "Using our experience in the insurance comparison market, we aim to give customers a quicker, easier and more intuitive way of finding the right credit card for them - we'd like you to put our new service to the test and look forward to hearing what you think."

They want as many of you as possible to put the new service to the test and add your feedback to this thread. This is open to all UK MNers aged 18 and over. Please note that you don't have to sign up to any of the credit cards offered on the website to take part in this - it's purely for research purposes.

Some of you may have already taken part in testing this service if you are on the Mumsnet Research Panel but please feel free to add your comments about the service to this thread too.

If you'd like to take part then here's what you need to do:

1. Visit www.comparethemarket.com/credit-cards, have a look around and compare some of the credit cards on offer, then
2. Come back to this thread and add your feedback on what you think of the service - there are some feedback questions below to start you off but please feel free to add any other comments too.

This thread will be open until Weds 8th Feb - everyone who takes part and adds their comments below by the closing date will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will get £500 of Amazon vouchers. Please note that your comments may be used (anonymously) by comparethemarket.com for marketing purposes.

Questions:
Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!
MNHQ

Q1. fairly easy to operate site and see differences between credit cards.
Q2. this was useful to me as i've not shopped about and found my credit card was actually very good compared to others.
Q3.the sliders helped me understand which card had a better overall fit for me
Q4. i already have a credit card and it was on the site so enabled me to see that mine is really good and a better fit for me than others at the moment.
Q5.if i was thinking of changing cards i would. but more for the lure of a meerkat toy than any other reason. simples.

Q1. It was almost too straight forward! I thought I was missing something at first but it just hadn't been made over complicated. Easy to understand but nothing on comparison screen about cost of transferring a balance so wasn't clear if this was included in the saving. The extra info on each card that you can bring up was useful and easy to understand.

Q2. Yes, it was good seeing them all together. When I recently took out a new card to do a 0% transfer it took ages to figure out which was best.

Q3. The display was fine but I didn't like the sliders. They were hard to get to an exact amount and took a while to catch up once moved.

Q4.I wasn't looking specifically to get a new one but it certainly looked like there was enough there for me to make a decision if I wanted to.

Q5 Yes probably, it seems like the easiest way to compare cards as long as it is kept up to date with offers the banks/companies have.

Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?

Easy to use and understand

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?

Yes, it was useful to be able to compare similar types of cards. Unfortunately my own bank's card wasn't listed which is the one I am most likely to apply for.

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?

Didn't use the slider tools as not relevant to me at the moment.

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?

Yes there were a couple of possibilities but I would like to see others to compare such as Co-operative Bank.

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?

When I am in a position to apply for a card I will certainly have another look.

Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?

I think I must have been missing something as it was just a list of the cards but no sliders or comparatives. I did not like that you had to choose a 'type' to compare across -would have liked to look at all of them

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?

I could not actually find anything being compared - it was just a list of cards and information

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?

I I found nothing with any savings or sliders but maybe that was because I was only looking at cashback or similar cards as I pay off my balance each month

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?

It was difficult to directly compare the cashback deals particularly as my card was not on there

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?

No - did not give me any information other than a list of cards which I suppose is a good start but I would have had to trawl thro all the information to work out which gave the best cash back deals

1. Reasonably easy
2. It would be useful if I were actually looking to change cards or get a new one.
3. I found it quite easy to understand/use although I realised that I have no idea what the APR is for my current card (not an issue as I pay it in full every month)
4. I wasn't really looking for one.
5. Yes, - I would se it in the future if i were looking for a new card.

Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?

I found it quite easy to use - liked the fact that it was clear to click through to what you wanted to do i.e. compare 0% on balance transfers or purchases. The issue for me is that we're currently on an 0% deal which I'd be looking to transfer when that deal comes to an end, so the 'saving' mentioned by transferring the balance didn't really seem relevant to me? I liked the fact that when you clicked through there were clear +tives and -tives displayed.

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?

Yes I think I would find it useful when looking for options when my current deal comes to an end. It's a good 'one stop shop' in that sense.

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?

As above. Easy to use but perhaps not so relevant for me at the moment.

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?

I think this would be a good place to start and find a card to suit my needs - not looking until later this year though.

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?

I think I would yes when I'm looking for a new deal. I generally always start with MoneySavingExpert.com though, so would look there too.

Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?

Excellent service! Easy to use and understand.

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?

Yes, very useful. I could quickly see which card met my needs without having to move backwards and forwards and note details down.

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?

Yes, excellent idea.

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?

Yes, was looking at cashback cards in particular. Did wonder how much of the market they actually represented....

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?

Definitely, very easy to use and understand.

Questions:
Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?
Pretty easy, and the information was accessible.

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?
Within the categories very easy to compare but would have been nice to compare between categories

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?
Yep, useful.

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?
I"d have liked to have seen more cards in the rewards section. I don't need a new card have just got one but rewards is what attracts me to a card.

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?
Probably, but not needing a new card at the moment.

Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?

The site was easy to use. The text was very clear and not cluttered with other information and well written making it easy to understand.

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?

The comparison was useful as it gave clear information about how much I could save, however, it would have been even more useful if, on the balance transfer section a total in money was given for the fee for transferring a balance. It would have made it easier to compare teh fee rather than a percentage.

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?

Comments as above. I did not use the slider tool, I just inputed an amount and an APR.

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?

I am not looking for a new card at present.

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?

If I were looking for a card in the future I would use the site as it gives clear information on a large range of products.

I'm sure I've already done this but I've done it again anyway!

Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?

very easy, and good clear layout too

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?

I'm not really looking for a new credit card at the moment. Would be useful if I was looking to transfer my debt to a lower interest card.

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?

The overall savings display was nice and clear, I briefly tried the slider tool. I would however be a bit wary of just choosing from this as it seems a bit too simple and I'm sure there would be some hidden 'conditions'

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?

I wasn't seriously looking, only testing the site
However I would like to see a compare feature where you could select cards and view them together. Even across different areas.

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?

Yes I would as it is quick and easy to compare the cards.

Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?

Initial page with categories is straightforward and the categories are self-explanatory. When looking at the pages and clicking on more details for the various cards, the information is laid out well and easy to understand. Overall, the comparison service feels a little 'light' and unfinished.

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?

The comparison was useful to see the savings for various cards on the market compared to my current provider.

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?

I found the slider a touch sensitive so it was hard to get it to show the amount I actually wanted. I visited the site twice and only realised on my second visit that I could type in the box the amount I wanted to use for comparison purposes. The site is also quite slow at recalulating when the amount is changed.

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?

I found a couple of cards that look quite good for my circumstances that I am going to research a little further.

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?

I think I would use it in conjunction to some of the other financial advice sites that I have used in the past. I would use it due to the straightforward layout and the fact that it seems to include most cards available on the market.

Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?

Overall I found it very clear and easy to use. The first page made it easy to navigate the different credit cards, and to compare the different cards.

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?

It would be if I was looking for a new credit card because it puts all the cards and information together. It can be difficult to know what cards are available otherwise.

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?

Using an iPad, the slider tools are not that easy to use, and I found it easier to put the amount in manually. I liked the page showing the different cards with the savings and it was easy to compare the cards. The information was clearly displayed.

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?

Well, I'm not looking for one at the moment, but have it in mind for when I need one in the future.

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?

Yes, as above. It is on my radar now!

Questions:
Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?
I wasn't sure what to do at first but got the hang of it after a minute or two.

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?
Useful to see how much we'd save by transferring - quite shocking actually!

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?
See above - yes I used sliders

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?
Yes I think so

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?
Yes definitely. Easy to see all the options together on one page

Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?

A1. While it was an easy navigation tool, it seemed a bit sparse overall - I would have liked different categories (banks that did not take bailout money, co-op versus big banks, etc)

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?

A2. I did, it was very well laid out in my opinion, and seemed to be user-intuitive.

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?

A3. While I like the slider tool, it seems a little too much like Wonga.com's, and may have a subconscious connotation with money lending versus pure research.

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?

A4. I would have liked to see companies that did not need bailing out, as I had to independently research bank names (which took me away from the page, never a good thing!)

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?

A5. I think I would, it's a clean, well laid out page!

Questions:
Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?
Yep, fine.

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?
Yes, I've been thinking about switching cards for a while, so it's useful.

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?
Good, but the slider would automatically start search as soon as I started sliding, so it took ages to get the slider to the right points, iyswim.

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?
I would have liked to have seen ethical options highlighted - I want my money to support organisations that behave appropriately. and don't fund cluster bombs or dictatorships any more.

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not? Perhaps, but I would like to see a 'green' and 'ethical' rating if possible.

Q1 I found it easy to use. I feel it could be made even easier if minimum income restrictions on cards were on the front page not having to go into each card separately to find.

Q2 It is useful and I think a helpful tool as trying to keep up to date with APR figures / best deals can be difficult.

Q3 The slider tool is easy to use and understand. I think it could be helpful to a lot of people.

Q4 I am not looking to change cards at this time but will bear this in mind for future reference.

Q% Yes. I think I answered that in 4!

Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?
Very easy to use, easy to understand. Nicely laid out website

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?
I didn't find it useful now as I'm not looking for a card right now, but will definitely revisit the site when I am after a new card

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?
Used the slider tool and found it very easy to use

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?
No, but only because I'm not looking for a card at the moment

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?
Yes, certainly

Q1. Yes, very easy to use. No problems with understanding the information provided.
Q2. Yes, especially as i thinking about switching our current credit cards at the moment.
Q3. Yes, quite detailed. The slider was easy to use.
Q4. Found several that looked promising.
Q5. Most definitely.

Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?
Much easier than I was expecting. Although when looking at some it would have been useful to know what some of the terms were (Avios for example) but other than that quite straightforward

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?
Yes I did, however what would have been nice would be a tool to compare them by Lowest APR first or by Length of term as well as how much money saved. If this was available to do I couldn't do it and it would be nice to show that rather than just how much money you could save on a balance transfer for example just in case you were looking for a credit card that you weren't sure if you were going to spend on or not. If that makes any sense?

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?
I am not keen on sliders, however that is just me and it didn't put me off the site in anyway I just prefer to put in the exact number if I can, however my dh loves it so it is probably just me! :)

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?
It would have been nice possibly to have other store credit cards on there that offer rewards as this is what I look for in a credit card, for example an M and S one or storecard that can be used elsewhere that gives vouchers as well as Avios and discounts in some stores.

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?
Possibly, if I was looking for a new credit card I would certainly pop over and have a look - particularly for balance transfers and 0% purchases etc. I am not entirely convinced if I was getting a credit card that I was going to pay off regularly that I would use it HOWEVER if that was the case I probably wouldn't really care about the comparison of APR etc as it wouldn't be relevant however if I was changing I would possibly look at it for the rewards and cashback.

Questions:
Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?

I didn't find it very difficult at all

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?

Yes, handy to know what you are getting, and what you are looking for

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?

A bit confusing but useful as a tool

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?

If I was lloking for one, I think there would have been several i could have gone for

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?

Not until I have paid off what I owe on other cards!!

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!
MNHQ

Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?

Yes it's a very intuitive website. I like the way you can easily select whether you are choosing 0% for a short time or longterm low rates for example.

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?

Yes it's very clear - obviously without having applied for the cards it's hard to know if the "typical" rate really is typical. Perhaps it could show how many people that apply do get that rate or something?

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?

I tried them but being quite numerate I tend to have already worked out in my head what I would be saving anyway.

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?

It did draw my attention to some products I wasn't aware of previously, yes

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?

Yes, probably - however I find that the best rates I can get are usually from my existing providers.

Questions:
Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?
very easy to understand

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?
I found that difficult to use - I couldn't see how to get the info about the cards once I'd used the slider.

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?
I found it to confusing and didn't see that information at all.

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?

I would have liked to have seen the minimum wage necessary to apply before going onto the provider website. I didn't find a credit card although I do need to do a transfer.

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?
Possibly - I would quite like a meercat toy!

1. Easy to nativigate and user friendly
2. For me not looking for credit but useful site if you need to compare cards.
3. I also found it confusing!! Really slow to reload too.

4 and 5. I'm debt free and Wont be getting a credit card for a long time but if I was looking for one would use site.

Q1. How easy or difficult did you find the credit card comparison service to use? Did you find it easy to understand all of the information provided or not?
Very Easy.

Q2. Did you find the credit card comparison service useful? If so why? If not, why not?
Yes, have never really understood what "benefits" i get with my current card before.

Q3. What did you think of the display showing your overall savings for each credit card? Did you use the slider tools at the top of the comparison pages for balance transfers, purchase or combination cards? If so, how did you find them to use?
Like the display a lot, didnt use slider but its a nice idea.

Q4. Did you find a credit card that suited your needs? If not, what would you have liked to see offered that wasn't?
Yes.

Q5 Do you think you'd use comparethemarket.com's credit card comparison service again in the future? If so, why? If not, why not?
Definitely, very jargon free and very user friendly layout.