Choose the best credit cards for your family

Choosing the Best Credit Cards

Banking products — credit cards are now available to almost every Russian citizen. According to official statistics, up to 53% of the Russian population has the best credit cards, and each borrower uses banking products at their own discretion. Our credit card matching service will help you decide which bank is ready to offer the best credit cards that you can apply for online without leaving your home in 30 minutes. Saving time and even money, you get valuable advice and practical steps on how to apply for a profitable offer from the best Russian financial and credit companies.

What to look for when choosing payment instruments

When studying the ranking of the best credit cards in Russia, the credit card matching service recommends paying attention to important points when pre-applying on the website of a financial and credit company:

• Minimum and maximum credit line limits for a specific type of credit card.
• Interest rate, in accordance with the marketing policy for the credit card.
• What grace period is provided for using the funds.
• Annual maintenance cost.
• Availability of cashback.
• Time required to issue the credit card.

During the application process, carefully fill out the application fields and attach the necessary documents to verify the borrower's solvency, if provided for by the policy of the financial and credit institution.

Annual card maintenance

When wondering which credit card is best suited for a borrower, many pay attention to the cost of annual maintenance. The card maintenance cost ranges from 0 RUB to 10,000 RUB per year. However, even with a credit card that has an annual maintenance fee of 10,000 RUB, a borrower can quickly recoup it through other promotional offers, such as increased cashback or other preferential terms when making transactions at partner stores. A credit card with 0 RUB annual maintenance usually features only a credit line and a grace period, but provides a minimal level of bonus accrual in the form of cashback.

Grace period

All top credit cards feature an important option: a grace period. The shortest term is 55 days, and the maximum is up to 180 days. Moreover, borrowers can use a so-called revolving period for certain top credit cards. What does this mean? If you used the credit card during, for example, a 120-day grace period and made your payments on time, a second grace period begins after the first one, and so on. However, there may be restrictions during the grace period. For example, the borrower can use the payment instrument only for non-cash payments. If you need to withdraw cash, the grace period does not apply to this banking product.

The bank may independently increase the credit line during the grace period. However, the entire repayment procedure and scheme for the credit card remain unchanged—meaning if the limit is increased, all repayment deadlines must still be met. When applying for a payment instrument with a grace period, clarify the procedure and deadlines for returning payments to avoid standard interest rate charges. If you fail to repay the funds within the grace period, the standard interest rate scheme applies to the credit card. As a rule, the interest rate ranges from 11% to 32%, depending on the financial limit and the type of payment instrument.

Cashback: loyalty bonus accrual

The second parameter of quality and rating for the best credit cards in Russia is the accrual of cashback through loyalty programs. Most payment instruments have a guaranteed principle of accruing 1% cashback on any amount. Another group of credit cards guarantees accrual from 1% to 3%. The third group of credit cards offers high cashback of up to 30–40% of the purchase made. However, for the second and third groups, bonus accruals apply only to specific product categories and only at certain partner stores.

Determining the ranking of the best credit cards

When developing the ranking of the best credit cards, various parameters are taken into account, based on data provided from open sources regarding banking products of financial and credit organizations. Our credit card trust rating is compiled based on the following parameters used to analyze credit banking products:

• What guaranteed limits are available to borrowers under the offer.
• How fast the credit card is issued after data processing.
• The difficulty of gathering information and issuing credit cards based on the declared documents confirming the borrower's income.
• Availability of preferential financing terms for the credit card.
• Availability of loyalty programs for the banking product.
• Customer reviews regarding the issuance of the payment instrument.

After filling out the application and approving the financial line, the bank will offer one of three methods for receiving the banking product (in accordance with the terms of the financial and credit institution).

1. The client visits the bank, provides the package of documents required to confirm previously submitted information, and receives the banking product.
2. Courier delivery. This service is available only in regions where the bank has an office or branch. As a rule, the delivery radius from the office is 70-120 km.
3. Russian Post postal service. Delivery takes up to 30 calendar days, depending on the region where the borrower lives.

After receiving the banking product in hand, it must be activated at an office, with the assistance of a courier, or by calling the hotline of the bank that issued the funds on the credit card. It is expected that some Russian banks will be able to join our ranking of the best credit cards by the end of 2022, as there is demand for this banking product from borrowers.