The card comes at a time when households are assessing every single spend, no matter how small, to make sure only the essentials are taken care of. Unusually, credit cards are one area of personal finances that often get overlooked when savings are trying to be made yet a lot of people have been saving money this way and it may work for you.

Take a look at what MBNA Platinum Visa Credit Card holders receive and see if it’s a better deal than you are currently on:

• - 0% on money transfers for 18 months
• - 0% on balance transfers for a whopping 18 months
• - 0% on purchases for 3 months
• - Secure online account management
• - Contactless payments of up to £15
• - Fraud Protection; and
• - Paperless statements

Every single one of these features is built in to a MBNA Platinum Visa Credit Card and each one represents the commitment made by MBNA to give their UK customers value as part of a monthly cost cutting credit card. These cost cutting measures couldn’t have come at a better time as people all over the country feel the pinch of rising costs. Budgets have been stretched by the prices of petrol, gas, electric, food and clothing and although a credit can never help solve all those problems, the MBNA Platinum Visa Credit Card can at least give you some breathing space with 0% periods on balance transfers, money transfers and purchases.

To apply for the MBNA Platinum Visa Credit Card, just head to http://www.MBNA.co.uk where you can also find more information about the product. To get 0% on either a balance or money transfer, you’ll need to transfer your balance or money within the first 60 days of your account opening. There’s a 2.88% handling fee on balance transfers and for the money transfer there’s a 4% fee. Applying for a credit card couldn’t be easier.

What does an actuary do?

Actuaries evaluate the likeliness of events and quantify the possible outcomes in order to minimise financial losses.
Actuaries analyse past and present data, applying financial and statistical theories to solve real business problems. These problems usually involve forecasting future financial events, especially when the amount of a future payment, or the timing of that payment, is uncertain, with pensions, for example.
An actuary will help to predict the impact of risks or unpredictable events on your business â?? helping you to minimise any negative financial â?? or even emotional â?? effects.

While actuaries have a great deal of mathematical and financial skill, they also use their business knowledge, understanding of human behavior and information systems to design programs that control risk.

As well as understanding and predicting risks, and finding answers to business problems, actuaries must also be able to explain often complex technical issues and ideas to all kinds of people.

Benefits of using an actuary for your business

Many events, such as death, cannot be avoided, so it will benefit your business if you take measures to reduce their financial impact.

While these incidents can often be predicted to some extent, you also have to take unpredictable events into consideration. Everything from banking crises and natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes, to terrorist attacks and war can affect worldwide markets and have an impact on your business.

An actuary can help you prepare for events that will affect your business, helping you to minimise financial losses at difficult times.

If you are thinking about making a career move and becoming an actuary then you need to consider your accountancy options as there are quite a few different qualifications that can lead you down the actuary path.