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I have just been having a detailed look at quite a good website which specialises in credit card information; what cards are available/the best rates/ which cards are recommended by the experts. The thing that appealed to me first off is it’s impartiality; there’s no particular provider or card being pushed at you and I’m comfortable with that. So, if you are looking around for a new or replacement credit card at the moment you could say this site is as close to a brokerage service as you can get - and it’s free of course.

Credit Card Best  are what I would call credit cards specialists in that they offer listings and reviews of all the best deals available at the moment. Despite the current economic woes people still need access to credit - it is a standard requirement of life today - and when you consider that many people are not happy with the current interest rates on the cards they already possess they will be looking to transfer balances and change providers. Everyone seems to be doing this at the moment. You will find the information is categorized into which particular deal you are after:

* O% interest on balance transfers

* low APR/low intro APR offers

* cards with rewards schemes

* deals for those customers outside the USA  ( Canada and the United Kingdom )

* company cards

* cards for students; those with excellent credit; those with poor/no credit…

What you need to do is set aside a decent amount of time to adequately assess all the information provided here; they provide a run down of the top rated cards at the moment - they rate both good credit and bad credit cards - plus detail how to go about applying for the one you prefer. Take their advice though and apply online - it’s the easiest and quickest way to go about things - and the providers are all from the leading financial institutions.

 If you tried to do all this through reading the financial section of your newspaper it would take about a week; here you having everything you need to know all on one site. Like I said though, set aside plenty of time to look through the site and they suggest, quite rightly, make sure you read all the small print as well as any terms and conditions before you go ahead with an application.

Popularity: 16% [?]

I have read two stories this past week concerning ordinary British people who have won a fortune through the lottery only to blow it all and finish up broke and in debt within a few short years. How does this happen - besides the obvious that is…? I always thought that these folk were given financial advice after their big win, counselling even, to ensure they make the most of their windfall and that it dosen’t ruin them. Of course it is up to those individuals as to whether or not they take any advice given to them, but it seems that after the sensible advisors leave the bad one’s come through the back door and this is where these people get into trouble. They listen to the wrong people, and it is surprising how many experts you have in your family once you win a fortune…

Take case one…

* Man wins £5 million in 2005; splashes out on four luxury cars, mansion in Devon and gives away large amounts of cash to family and friends. Said friends also suggested ways of investing his money - result - three years later he is bankrupt, living in a seedy room in a guesthouse and is in debt.

case two…

* middle aged couple on disability benefits and living in council flat buy an instant scratch lottery ticket and win £100,000. Within 12 months they buy a boat, a caravan, give away cash to friends and family (one thing you always have plenty of at times like these are friends and family…), they take eight holidays in ten months. One year later they are broke. They cannot pay their council rent and are in arrears; they have lost their benefits due to the money they won and have had to sell their car, boat and caravan.

While these people are ultimately responsible for losing their good fortune I think maybe there should be some restructuring of the lottery payout system. Granted not everyone blows all their money and ends up broke, but folk such as these, who would normally never have seen so much money in the normal course of their lives, are victims of their own ignorance and not necessarily greed. They simply were incapable of handling more money than they had ever seen before. Maybe larger than average lottery payouts could be paid in instalments…

It is lovely to see a battler come out on top, but tragic when they ultimately end up as the loser.

Popularity: 13% [?]