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Card rate competition is entering another round in the UK as Capital One introduced, last week, a fixed, long-term interest of 11.9% to new customers. Like the USA, the UK market has recently been flooded with short-term promotional interest rates. However, in the USA, Capital One and First USA have led the successful charge to offer fixed, long-term interest rates of 9.90% and 9.99% respectively. In the UK, USA-based People's Bank (CT), Advanta and Capital One have been aggressively pitching six-month teaser rates of 6.9%. According to this weekend's London's Financial Times, the marketing strategies of the USA banks has forced market leaders Barclaycard, NatWest, Lloyds TSB and Midland to cut rates and drop fees.
