ExpressionEngine: Single entry template

This is actually a pretty easy to shore up issue. What you have going on is that line 5 of your code has no way to tell if it should limit the entry information. With dynamic='no', you've said "EE, you don't need to use the URL here to figure out what entries to limit this by"

My suggestion would be the following code:

{if segment_2 == ""}    {exp:channel:categories category_group="1" style="linear" dynamic="no"}        <div class="card-list tab" id="{category_url_title}">            <h2 class="category-title">{category_name} Credit Cards</h2>            <div class="cards">                {exp:channel:entries channel="credit_cards" category="{category_id}" dynamic="no" disable="category_fields|member_data|pagination|trackbacks"}                    <article>                        <h4><a href="{url_title_path='credit-cards'}">{title}</a><span class="web-exclusive">MBNA Website Exclusive</span></h4>                        <ul>                            <li class="col-img">                                <a href="{url_title_path='credit-cards'}"><img width="116" height="84" alt="MBNA Platinum Credit Card" src="../lib-ui/img/cards/core/core_116x84/mbna_platinum_card_116x84.png"></a>                            </li>                            <li class="col-bt">{balance_transfer_rate}</li>                            <li class="col-purchases">{purchases_rate}</li>                            <li class="col-features">{key_features}</li>                            <li class="col-apply">                                <a rel="blank" class="btn btn-success" href="{apply_url}">                                    Apply Now<span class="hide"> for the {title}</span>                                </a>                                <a class="cta" href="{url_title_path='credit-cards'}">                                    Learn more<span class="hide"> about the {title}</span>                                </a>                                <label class="mbna-credit-card checkbox" for="compare_1">                                    <span tabindex="0">                                        <input type="checkbox" value="mbna-credit-card" id="compare_1">                                    </span>                                    <span class="hide"> Add the {title} to </span>Compare                                </label>                            </li>                        </ul>                        <p class="rep-ex">{representative_example}</p>                    </article>                  {/exp:channel:entries}             </div>        </div>    {/exp:channel:categories}{/if}{if segment_2}    {exp:channel:entries channel="credit_cards" limit="1" disable="category_fields|member_data|pagination|trackbacks"}        <article>            <h4><a href="{url_title_path='credit-cards'}">{title}</a><span class="web-exclusive">MBNA Website Exclusive</span></h4>            <ul>                <li class="col-img">                    <a href="{url_title_path='credit-cards'}"><img width="116" height="84" alt="MBNA Platinum Credit Card" src="../lib-ui/img/cards/core/core_116x84/mbna_platinum_card_116x84.png"></a>                </li>                <li class="col-bt">{balance_transfer_rate}</li>                <li class="col-purchases">{purchases_rate}</li>                <li class="col-features">{key_features}</li>                <li class="col-apply">                    <a rel="blank" class="btn btn-success" href="{apply_url}">                        Apply Now<span class="hide"> for the {title}</span>                    </a>                    <a class="cta" href="{url_title_path='credit-cards'}">                        Learn more<span class="hide"> about the {title}</span>                    </a>                    <label class="mbna-credit-card checkbox" for="compare_1">                        <span tabindex="0">                            <input type="checkbox" value="mbna-credit-card" id="compare_1">                        </span>                        <span class="hide"> Add the {title} to </span>Compare                    </label>                </li>            </ul>            <p class="rep-ex">{representative_example}</p>        </article>      {/exp:channel:entries} {/if}

Mind you, this isn't 100% accurate, as I stripped out your exp:channel:categories tag, but this should get you a result that limits based on a shortened URL like you've specified.

So how do I get it to use this template file instead for a single entry?

Instead of:

{url_title_path='credit-cards'}

Use

{title_permalink="credit-cards/single"}

There are two primary ways you can use the template 'credit-cards/single' for the VISA credit card category entry.

First Option

'credit-cards/index' template would have:

{if segment_2 != ""}    {embed="credit-cards/single" entry_id="{entry_id}"}{/if}

'credit-cards/single' template would have:

<h1>Credit Card Page</h1>{exp:channel:entries channel="credit_cards" limit="1" entry_id="{embed:entry_id}"}{if no_results}  {redirect="404"}{/if}... your code ...{/exp:channel:entries}

Second Option

Rename 'credit-cards/single' to 'credit-cards/company' (or something more SEO relevant) and use it the default EE way.

'credit-cards/index' template would stay the same.

'credit-cards/company' template would have:

<h1>Credit Card Page</h1>{exp:channel:entries channel="credit_cards" limit="1" entry_id="{entry_id}"}{if no_results}  {redirect="404"}{/if}... your code ...{/exp:channel:entries}

In this second option the url would be site.com/credit-cards/company/visa-credit-card

I hope that helps. Let me know if I've misunderstood anything.