Not so long ago, in the heyday of the credit boom, credit card issuers would be falling over themselves to attract new customers. One of the main ways they did this was to offer ever more attractive features on their cards – longer 0% balance transfer deals, lower interest rates, more lucrative rewards schemes – all with the intention of forcing their way to the top of the best buy tables on the many comparison sites on the web. A place on the top of these tables could guarantee a card company a rush of new applicants, and so keen were they to gain new business their acceptance criteria were often pretty low, and it was relatively easy for the average person to get hold of a decent card with some attractive features.

This history has raised our expectations of what to look for in a card, but of course the wider picture has changed dramatically since then. In the aftermath of the credit crunch and subsequent recession, card issuers have largely been looking to actively reduce the amount of accounts they run, trying to limit their exposure to bad debt as millions of consumers get into financial difficulties. Not only have some notable banks cancelled the accounts of thousands of cardholders, others have raised their APRs to punitive levels to encourage people to switch to a new card and so reduce the issuer’s exposure.

Another result of all this is that banks are no longer quite so keen to push their cards to the top spot in the comparison tables, and so the offers available have become less attractive across the board. Of course, there are still some exceptional deals available, but in order to be approved for these cards you need to have a much better credit rating than was necessary in the past.

So what does all this mean? Basically, if you’re looking for a new credit card – and consumer demand is still strong – it’s wise to lower your sights a little. The top of the range cards are only really available for those with pristine credit ratings, and the rest of us need to settle for something less. Instead of going for a card with brilliant features across the board, choose one feature which is most important to you, and find a card offering a solid if unexceptional deal in that area – and one with acceptance criteria you’re likely to fit.

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