NIB, Halifax and Ptsb had the cheapest credit card deals in the latest survey by the Financial Regulator.

The 9.4% charged by NIB on its gold card just pips Halifax's 9.5% and the 9.9% deal from Pstb for its ICE offering.

However, all that glisters is not gold. There is a significant downside to NIB's deal.

NIB's gold card comes as part of the Easy Plus customer package that requires opening a bank account on which a quarterly charge of 18.75 is levied.

That ain't so cheap when you consider the range of freebanking deals now available . . .

(see last item below).

You can avoid this charge by opening a different account . . .which NIB calls the Freedom package . . . although this involves paying a slightly higher interest rate of 10.2% (ranked fourth in the survey).

Or you can get a Visa card at 10.7% APR that doesn't have any bank-account-opening requirements at all.

NIB does score highly on some other niggly fees that are routinely applied on plastic money.

It charges the same interest on cash withdrawals as it does for purchases whereas most banks add on a couple of percentage points.

Banks already charge extra for cash taken out from ATMs on your credit card by lashing on hefty interest charges as soon as you withdraw the money.

With most ordinary purchases you get a few weeks interest-free grace before the interest is lashed on.

NIB is also one of few banks that now doesn't charge extra fees for going over your limit or even for unpaid items, although it does hit customers 8.50 for being late with their payments.

Bank of Ireland and Ptsb also deserve some kudos as the only banks to charge zip for both late payments and going over your limit.

These charges are particularly penal with MBNA, (which issues cards for One Direct and EBS as well as in its own right). Customers get hit by a hefty 15.24 for late payments, 12.70 for going over your credit limit and a whopping 19.05 for unpaid items.

If you are prone to let your credit card payments slip, avoid MBNA or you will get hammered every time you do!

Also worth noting are the banks that don't impose punitive cash withdrawal fees on positive balances . . . i. e. when you lodge money into your card's account and are in credit.

It makes sense to charge customers who take out cash when they are in the red because the bank is out of pocket straight away.

However, penalising people for cash withdrawals if they have topped up their cards and are in the black with a positive balance is a bit harsh.

Nowadays, most banks levy penal charge cash advance fees on withdrawals even if you are in the black.

The ones that don't, however, offer a handy way to withdraw cash while on holidays.

You simply lodge money into your credit card account to put it well into positive territory and then withdraw this surplus abroad, relatively cheaply.

Those that do allow customers this handy facility for splashing out on their hols are: AIB, BoI, Ptsb, Halifax and American Express.

The survey also shows that the days when a credit card was a status symbol are long gone.

Most cards have no minimum income requirements at all. And most of those that do have set the bar so low that someone on the dole could qualify: e. g. Tesco's 6,369.

Even the once-prestigious gold and platinum cards have little or no income requirements.

The highest income requirement is Ulster Bank's Zinc mastercard at 30,000 a year . . . still well below the average industrial wage.

Finally, the Financial Regulator said it will make it harder for banks to lure you into debt over your head.

It promises that later this year it will be illegal for banks to rack up your credit card limit without your permission.

A LICENCE TO PRINT MONEY. .

Have you ever felt that you end up paying more for replacement cartridges than Which? revealed that it can cost up to 4.41 per page with the Lexmark Z640.

This printer was the cheapest on the market to buy at just 45 (in the UK) . . . but Which? you do for an actual printer?

You may be right. Which? Magazine has revealed that some printers cost more in ink per year than they do to buy!

found that it would cost 866 to run over three years (assuming average usage).

The HP Deskjet D2360 wasn't far behind at 4.37 per page.

The five cheapest printers to run were all in the Canon Pixma iP5200R-iP6700D range.

These cost a bit more to buy initially than the Lexmark . . . but the savings on running costs were enormous, proving that you should look at more than price when buying a printer.

The cost of printing a fullcolour A4 page on these machines came in at 1.09 1.34 . . . that's four times cheaper than the dearest models.

OMENS THAT THE BOOM IS OVER: NUMBER 458

The latest Irish Property Review from Bank of Ireland maintained that the housing market is experiencing the much predicted "soft-landing".

Prices rose by 0.3% in the three months to January.

That sounds like a rather bumpy landing to me! Especially if you have a half-million-plus tied up in the property market through the value of your home.

With inflation running at 1.1% per quarter at the end of 2007 . . . this means that house prices actually fell by 0.8% in real terms.

That might not sound like a big deal, but it means wiping six grand off the real value of a house worth 750,000.

But it's even worse news for investors who could be losing more in real terms than they are getting in rent.

Ulster Bank maintains that its 150 incentive to switch over to its freebanking current has proven popular with customers.

It claims that the number of new bank accounts opened has increased by 30%.

Falling for a once-off "carrot" isn't something we encourage at Money Talks. It is usually accompanied by a stick and is used to lure consumers into a deal that recoups all or more of the money in other ways.

However, Ulster Bank's free banking deal isn't bad at all, with fewer strings attached than most such accounts . . .and that should be the real incentive for switching.

Ulster urges customers of other banks who think they have a free-banking deal to ask:

Why do I need to keep a minimum balance to avoid bank charges?

Why do I need to use my online banking to avoid bank charges?

Why do I need to change my banking habits to avoid bank charges?

BEST BUYS BEST HOMES FOR CASH

AIB offer an AER for regular savers of 7.1 % for amounts between 10 and 300 a month.

For large deposits RaboDirect is offering 4.75% on amounts up to 10,000, then 3.7% on amounts to 1m and 2.7% on any amount over 1m.

BEST CREDIT CARDS

Tesco offers 0% on balance transfers for six months and 14.9% on purchases thereafter.

Halifax is offering 0% on balance transfers for first six months and 0% on purchases for same period. Afterwards, 9.5% on purchases.

BEST BANK FOR YOUR MONEY

Permanent TSB, National Irish Bank and Ulster Bank all offer no fees on current accounts, even when overdrawn.

Keep 500 in your account to avoid charges.

BEST STOCKBROKING CHARGES

Sharewatch for buying and selling Irish and British shares. 30 for trades up to 3,000.

Minimum charge of 30 and commision 0.4%

BEST MORTGAGE SWITCHER

Halifax will pay 1,000 towards the cost of legal fees associated with moving your mortgage to them and pay up to 150 to cover valuation fees.

Legal fees contribution must be repaid if you move mortgage from Halifax within "ve years.

AIB will pay 1200 towards legal fees subject to usual terms and conditions.