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Cardeo review September 2023
If you want a little help managing your credit card payments, find out how the Cardeo app could help you.
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Missing a card payment can land you with a late payment fee and even harm your credit rating. Cardeo is a free app that aims to help you keep on track with payments. But is it worth using, and how does it make money? Here’s what you need to know.
What is Cardeo?
Established in 2020, Cardeo is a fintech company that says it aims to make credit cards fairer for UK consumers. According to Cardeo, 14.5 million people are trapped paying an average of almost £1,000 in credit card interest every year.
Cardeo combines Open Banking data with artificial intelligence (AI) to help consumers who aren’t on track to save on interest and fees while keeping their existing credit cards.
You can manage your accounts, set repayment goals and use automated repayments in the app so you never forget a credit card payment again.
Eligible customers will also be offered Cardeo Credit, which is a flexible line of credit to help cardholders refinance their credit card borrowing to a lower rate, on a rolling basis.
How does Cardeo work?
Cardeo brings together data from all your credit cards into a single view using Open Banking. You can see your total borrowing and spending habits, as well as set personal targets to repay your credit card debt.
Cardeo’s AI calculates the most efficient way to help you meet these targets, by working out the payback time from your current borrowing, interest rates and spending. Its payment plan offers you the ability to set a repayment budget each month and choose how to allocate your budget against each of your credit cards.
You can choose from 3 repayment options:
- Manually. Here, you choose the amount you want to pay towards each credit card.
- Avalanche method. This will show you your credit cards in order of interest rate, and will focus on paying off the highest interest rate debt first.
- Snowball method. This will show you your credit cards in balance order, enabling you to pay off your smallest balances first.
Cardeo takes just one monthly payment from you and sends it to your card providers on your behalf, so you don’t have to manage multiple payments. You can also choose the payment date that suits you best each month.
You can pause or edit your payment plan whenever you need to, and you can also make extra repayments to your cards in months you have a little extra cash.
Cardeo features
The key features of Cardeo are:
- All accounts in one place. Cardeo uses open banking to unlock your credit card data and enable you to manage all your cards in one place. It also gives you insight on your borrowing and spending.
- Target setting. You can use the Cardeo calculator to set a monthly amount or end date to clear your credit cards.
- Choice of payment plans. Once you’ve set a target, choose how to split your repayments to make them easier and less expensive. Payment plans can be edited at any time.
- Single monthly payment. Cardeo collects a single monthly payment from you and sends it to your card providers.
- Flexible repayments. Choose to make additional repayments to your cards whenever you want to.
- Additional products. Cardeo offers deals on a range of products such as mobile phones and car insurance.
How much does Cardeo cost?
The Cardeo app is free to download and use. There are no in-app purchases or charges associated with the service. Instead, Cardeo makes its money through affiliate marketing within the app and may receive a payment from third parties when you take up a product or deal (such as insurance) in the app.
Who is eligible for Cardeo?
Cardeo is designed to help all UK credit cardholders. You will need to be a UK resident and at least 18 years old.
To create a payment plan, you’ll need to undergo identity verification checks to set up an e-money account. This is the account that receives your funds before they are paid to your credit card providers.
What providers work with Cardeo?
Cardeo connects with most UK credit card providers, but more are being added all the time. Some of the current providers include:
- Adam & Company
- AIB UK
- American Express
- Aqua (NewDay)
- Bank of Scotland
- Barclaycard
- Bip
- Capital One
- Coutts
- Creation
- Danske Bank
- First Direct
- Fluid
- Halifax
- Hoares
Comparison table of providers supported by Cardeo
Table: sorted by representative APR, promoted deals first
Pros and cons of using Cardeo
Pros
- Can help you to pay off your credit card debt faster and more cheaply
- Flexible repayments
- Choice of payment plans that can be changed at any point
- Only one repayment to make each month
- Free to use for all UK credit cardholders
Cons
- Not all UK credit card providers work with Cardeo
- You’ll need to be happy managing your cards via an app
Alternatives to Cardeo
If you want to ensure you pay off your card balance each month, you can usually just set up a direct debit for each card to pay off the full balance.
At the moment, it’s difficult to find any direct competitors of Cardeo in the UK. That means your main alternative to Cardeo is to use a balance transfer credit card and combine all your credit card debt onto the one card. This can make it much easier to manage as you’ll only have one monthly repayment to make. Plus, if you take advantage of a 0% introductory deal, you’ll benefit from interest-free payments for a number of months.
However, there will usually be a balance transfer fee to pay – typically around 2% to 3% of the amount transferred – and if you don’t clear your balance before the end of the 0% period, you’ll start paying interest. To avoid this, you’ll need to transfer your remaining debt to another 0% balance transfer card and pay another transfer fee.
Our verdict
If you have multiple credit cards and struggle to monitor and keep up with your different repayments, Cardeo offers a free and easy way to help you manage them all in one place. Plus, you’ll get to choose your own repayment plan to help you pay off your debts faster.
However, Cardeo is less likely to be of use if you only have one or 2 credit cards to juggle. That’s because it’s easy to set up a monthly direct debit yourself which will make your repayments on time and ensure you never miss one.
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