Just as the banks' best mortgage deals go to those who complain loudest or new customers, so it is with credit cards.
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But why should you be paying interest in the teens or more while others pay nothing for as long as 15 months?
And that's not by cutting the card up either.
True, zero rate balance transfers from one card to another are old hat. Bet you get offers all the time. But did you know there are cards that offer a super cheap rate for new purchases or, better still, both?
In fact there are 21, including those from NAB and Westpac, with no or low interest on purchases and balance transfers, according to www.creditcardfinder.com.au.
"If you have a debt that you can't pay off straight away and need to start buying Christmas gifts, it could be worthwhile to open a card with both balance transfer and introductory purchase rate offers or one of each, as long as you pay off both debts during the intro periods," says creditcardfinder's Michelle Hutchison.
Credit cards can have up to four different interest rates: new purchases, cash advances, any balance transfer and an introductory special.
Hmm, a card with no interest on new purchases for 15 months would be perfect for the Christmas shopping.
One is NAB's Visa which also comes with three other rates: 13.99 per cent after the 15 months, 21.74 per cent for cash advances and 4.99 per cent for six months on balance transfers.
The catch is a $59 annual fee. Wouldn't you know, the cards with the best balance transfer/new purchases zero rate combo have an annual fee.
Still, with nine interest-free months on both purchases and balance transfers, the fee on Citibank's Clear Platinum has been halved to $49 for the first year.
Virgin Money has the longest interest-free balance transfer, 14 months, of cards without an annual fee. Citibank's Rewards Classic would give you an extra four months though the question is whether that's worth the $89 annual fee.
The other no-interest, no annual fee balance transfer cards are American Express Qantas Discovery and HSBC.
If you find yourself a bit skint, Community First Credit Union's McGrath Pink Visa card charges only 4.74 per cent for a cash advance. That's less than most home owners are paying on their mortgage.
After nine months this reverts to 8.99 per cent, still cheap by credit card standards although there's annual fee of $40 (half of which is donated to the McGrath Foundation).
Whatever you do, you must make the minimum monthly repayment. That's just not negotiable and all deals are off if you don't.
Besides, being just five days late with the minimum monthly payment not only incurs penalty interest on your whole balance, but also becomes a black mark on your credit rating for two years.
"The trap with balance transfer deals is that some have a high annual fee which can outweigh the interest you save so make sure it doesn't overtake the savings. And work out how much you have to repay each month to ensure your balance hits zero by the end of the balance transfer term," Hutchison says.
Cards with an annual fee invariably have rewards programs, but are they worth it? As a rule you need to spend over $14,000 before rewards cards come into their own. And if you've been spending the money anyway during the year they can be a source of free Christmas gifts.
Your supermarket shopping should help there. But hang on, Coles and Woolies have their own credit cards, so how do they stack up? Both have a $49 annual fee but after that they're hard to compare. The Woolies card gives you different points for different things. Every four months these are converted to a gift card – you need 4000 points for $20.
Only buy Woolies' home brands and you get three points for every dollar spent, so the $20 gift card would cost $1333. Over at Coles you earn three points spent on anything in the supermarket because the card has a built-in FlyBuys chip. To get $20 off at the checkout also requires 4000 points or $1333. But you'll get $10 for $667, which Woolies doesn't offer. So Coles gives you more flexibility especially about what you buy.
Still you'd have to spend at least $3333 a year at either just to recoup the annual fee. Even if you spend $200 a week you'll only be $58 ahead. A few forays at Aldi would probably give you that.
When using your credit card you could be up for a surcharge. Whether that's worth it to you is a moot point but as a guide for Visa and MasterCard it should be no more than 83 cents for every $100 spent. For the big rewards cards it's a lot higher: American Express is $1.75 and Diners Club is $2.09.
MasterCard Australia's Andrew Cartwright says the average household is paying $100 a year in "excessive surcharges" and the worst offenders are airlines, taxis and restaurants. American Express and Diners Club cardholders should be grateful there's even a surcharge – their cards aren't accepted as widely as Visa or MasterCard.
One other thing. Don't fall for the trap of having a wallet full of cards so as to recycle the debt around. It doesn't work. Not only that, every application for a new card counts as a credit "inquiry" on your credit rating. Too many of those will make you look desperate.
Action plan
- Credit cards have up to four interest rates and an annual fee so select the one that matches your spending habits.
- Some cards, such as NAB's, offer up to 15 months of no interest payable for up to 15 months.
- For balance transfers the longest no interest period is 18 months on Citibank's Rewards Visa card.
- Citibank's ReadyCredit Visa has a three-year 4.9 per cent balance transfer with a one-off $129 establishment fee.
- Always pay at least the minimum due each month on your credit card.
- Rewards cards require annual spending of about $15,000 before they are worthwhile.
Trevor Kirk - 'It's like a big purse'
The banks are more flexible about credit cards than you might think, judging by Trevor Kirk's experience. He chose the date that the balance falls due on his card as well as convincing the bank to lower the interest rate.
But then Kirk, who used to manage millions of dollars every week in the money market as a company secretary and is now a 75-year- old pensioner, author, actor and goodness knows what else, is an expert at playing the banks.
He and wife Theresa Hackett have a NAB Visa card each. The couple set the due date for Theresa's card by aligning it between pension days. "You can pick the closing-off date. They don't tell you that," Trevor says.
Theresa's card, with only a $500 limit also got her a credit reference which she was after. They use her card for any online purchases because the low limit is extra security against fraud.
"It's always in debit but never over the $500 limit. Although we carry over a balance we're never charged interest because we're constantly making payments. It's like a big purse," Trevor says. But his real coup was in getting the bank to reduce the interest rate on his card from 19 to 9.8 per cent, not that he uses it anyway.
"Negotiate with the bank if the interest rate is too high. Never take no for an answer."
Miriam Keen - 'I use the card all the time'
Budgeting for Christmas presents and then being confronted with a huge credit card bill is never a problem for Miriam Keen. The advertising sales manager for Universal Magazines, who also moonlights as a licensed security officer, has already paid for them with her everyday shopping.
She puts everything "except the rent" on her platinum Visa gold card, which was a free upgrade of her gold card by Westpac because she has a mortgage with it for her investment property, and so collects plenty of reward points. Then she uses the points to buy Myer or iTunes vouchers which she gives as Christmas presents.
"The points are coming from spending I'd do anyway. I use the card all the time and rarely use cash," Keen says. A bonus is that by spending at least $15,000 a year "which is easy to do" there's no fee on the platinum card.
Keeping track of her spending is no problem. "I look online and check every couple of days. I make frequent payments during the month. And doing frequent payments rather than paying the minimum one-off kind of confuses them."
Aaron Hodges - 'It's easy to spend more money'
Aaron and Pru Hodges are saving $120 a month in interest on their mortgage by shuffling money between their offset account and credit card.
Offset accounts pay non-taxable interest on extra mortgage payments and can be added to or drawn down any time. The principal is reduced while there's money in the offset account and so the interest charged is correspondingly lower.
"All our salary goes straight into the offset account. I'm paid monthly so it sits there for a month and I don't pay interest on that portion. It saves me $120 a month in interest. Then we use the credit card to pay for everything instead of cash," says Aaron who is a primary school teacher and part-time chaplain.
The couple have a joint Visa card from Teachers Mutual Bank which has a 55-day interest-free period and no annual fee.
The shuffle only works if the card is paid off before it becomes overdue since the interest rate of 11.5 per cent interest rate might be one of the lowest but is still almost double that on the mortgage.
Still, the strategy isn't for everybody. "It's easy to spend more money when you're using a credit card all the time," Aaron says.