A deck of different credit cards

How many different brands of plastic do you have in your purse or wallet? It's important to check, as switching between credit cards can be tricky...

Please open your purse or wallet and remove all of the plastic cards inside it. Then put your debit cards, loyalty cards, donor cards and non-credit cards to one side, leaving a pile of credit cards. How many credit cards do you have? In the UK, we 48 million adults have roughly 72 million credit cards between us, which works out at 1.5 cards per person.

Of course, many of us have several credit cards for different uses. On checking my wallet, I found three credit cards lurking in its folds. The first -- and only credit card currently in use -- is a 0% on purchases card which gives me interest-free credit on all my spending for ten months. Just before this 0% period expires in June, I will repay my entire balance in full. In effect, this card has allowed me to defer payment for my household spending for an extended period.

My two other credit cards are cashback cards, which pay a cashback reward of between 0.5% and 1% of my spending. I'm not using these cards at present, so they will remain dormant for a while. Then again, my plastic collection doesn't end there, as I have a whole deck of dormant credit cards. Indeed, I estimate that I have at least a dozen more credit cards, most of which have lain untouched for at least two years. Oops!

A band of banking brands

The global credit crunch which began in 2007 and collapsed the economy last year has changed the UK's financial landscape forever. Several banks have had to be rescued by taxpayer bailouts (HBOS, Lloyds TSB and RBS), while others have been fully nationalised, such as Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock. In addition, some have been taken over, notably Abbey and Alliance & Leicester by Spanish bank Santander and HBOS by Lloyds TSB.

This consolidation in financial services has created some huge banking groups which operate under a wide range of brands. Thus, even more than ever before, you need to know with whom you're dealing. This is particularly important when working out how much of your savings are protected by the FSCS savings safety-net. For more information, read Can you bank on the FSCS?

A whole deck of credit cards

Likewise, it's important to know which firm issues your credit card. This is particularly important when switching balances between 0% balance transfer deals. The reason is that card issuers will only accept balance transfers from cards outside of their own stable. So, for example, you can't transfer your MBNA card balance to a Virgin Money card, because MBNA issues both pieces of plastic.

Hence, when it comes to credit cards, it pays to know which brands you have in your hand. This isn't easy, as there are more than 1,300 different credit-card brands in circulation! Although it's not possible to record every card brand in this article, I will list the most popular brands from six leading card issuers, plus a few other players. Here we go (in alphabetical order):

1.    Banco Santander Central Hispano (alias BSCH, or Santander)

Santander, Spain's largest bank and one of the very biggest in the world, has these four key financial brands in the UK:

However, even though Alliance & Leicester is owned by Santander, its credit cards are operated by MBNA - see point 4.

2.    Co-operative Bank

Being a mutual society (one which is owned by its members), the Co-op issues cards on behalf of a number of building societies, charities and voluntary organisations, as follows:

* YBS no longer offers new cards

3. Lloyds Banking Group (LBG)

Lloyds Banking Group was formed by the recent rescue takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB. LBG is now the dominant force in UK financial services, with major market share in every sector. Its leading high-street brands include:

* come on the Hammers!

4.    MBNA Europe Bank (now part of Bank of America)

One of the 'American Eagles' which invaded our shores in the Nineties, MBNA has been particularly successful at forging links with sports clubs, charities and other affinity groups, as seen below:

5.    Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)

Despite being bailed out by £20 billion of taxpayers' money, RBS still has some strong brands:

* now 100% owned by Tesco

6.    HSBC

The UK's largest bank isn't quite in the same league as Lloyds or RBS when it comes to credit cards, but it does have several well-known and respected brands:

To round things off, here's a quick summary of a few other popular credit-card brands:

* Barclaycard, launched in 1966, was the UK's first credit card, and remains the market leader.

Please note that some major banking groups still operate entirely separate divisions at arm's length, so you may still be able to make 'internal' 0% balance transfers even following recent mergers and takeovers. To be sure, find out which firm issues your current card before you apply for a new credit card.

Finally, if you want the best possible chance of freezing your credit-card interest, then be sure to choose a card which isn't issued by your existing card firm. Otherwise, your 0% transfer could well fail and you'll have to start all over again.

PS: Although my lists are by no means comprehensive, they do include all 223 credit cards listed in lovemoney.com's search engine. If you spot any errors or serious omissions, then please add a comment below and I will update this article. Thank you!

More: Find your perfect credit card | Baffled by the brand! | Do you know who you're dealing with?