Ratehacker: May’s Best Credit Card, Bank And Home Loan Deals

In our monthly Ratehacker round-up, Jeremy Cabral from finance comparison site Finder.com.au highlights recent credit card offer changes, plus the best savings accounts and home loans.

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Credit Cards

Increased competition between the banks has really brought about some great purchase rate and balance transfer offers. We’ve highlighted three offers worth considering below:

Bankwest Zero Platinum MasterCard: 0 per cent per annum for 9 months balance transfers. This offer is the longest 0 per cent balance transfer in market with the benefit of a $0 annual fee. You will also receive up to 12 months extended manufacturers warranty on purchases, complimentary international travel insurance and no foreign transaction fees for online and overseas purchases. Note: This offer is exclusively available through CreditCardFinder.com.au

GEM Visa Credit Card: 6 months interest free on any purchase over $250. This card is really unique with only one other credit card like it. Every time you make a purchase that is over $250 on this card you will automatically receive 6 months interest free. Be careful though as the revert rate is currently 22.99% p.a. if you don’t pay the purchase off within the 6 month period.

Bankwest Breeze MasterCard: 0 per cent for 4 months on purchases. The Breeze is also Australia’s lowest purchase rate MasterCard so when combined with a 0% intro offer on purchases and balance transfers it really becomes one of the most competitive low interest credit cards.

Savings Accounts

When we chat to our users we often find that there are still loads of people out there putting their savings into a standard transaction account earning just 0.01 per cent per annum interest. If you plan on building up your savings it’s crucial you deposit your funds into a high interest savings account. Here are a few offers to consider:

RAMS Saver: 5.01 per cent per annum (with $200 monthly deposit and no withdrawals). So long as you stick to a monthly deposit amount of at least $200 you will benefit from the maximum variable rate of 5.01 per cent on your savings.

ING Direct Savings Maximiser: 5.00 per cent per annum for 4 months. When the 4 month introductory period expires you will still receive a Loyalty Bonus rate of 0.75 per cent per annum by increasing your balance by $200 a month (up to a balance of $50,000).

Virgin Saver Account: 4.25 per cent per annum. This product lacks an introductory offer however it does feature a high base variable interest rate which is an option to consider for people who have already taken advantage of “new customer” bonuses from the other banks.

Home Loans

Home loan interest rates are moving outside of the standard cash rate cycle as banks are being pressured to lower their interest rates. These three home loans have good comparison rates for those considering switching lenders:

Loans Blackboard Special: 5.01 per cent per annum comparison rate. This is a full featured home loan combined with an offset facility and the ability to borrow up to 90% of the property value and a $0 application fee if you apply before 20th May 2013. Note: this home loan is for purchases only.

UBank UHomeLoan (Variable Rate) Refinance Only: 5.12 per cent per annum comparison rate. UBank have identified a gap in the market by creating a home loan product with a lower interest rate specifically for refinancing and also the benefit of an upfront 0.25 per cent per annum discount.

iMortgage Essential Home Loan: 5.21 per cent per annum comparison rate. iMortgage is owned by Homeloans Ltd one of Australia’s largest non-bank lenders.

In our last Ratehacker Stuu came up with the great idea to see the comparison rates of the Big Four banks. I’ve included the comparison rates for some base variable rate home loans below:

• Commonwealth Bank Economiser / Rate Saver: 6.08 per cent per annum
• ANZ Simplicity Plus: 5.75 per cent per annum
• NAB Base Variable Rate Home Loan: 5.73 per cent per annum
• Westpac Flexi First Option Home Loan: 5.91 per cent per annum

See you in June for our next round-up of the latest personal finance offers.

Jeremy Cabral is the Personal Finance Publisher at Finder.com.au which includes popular comparison sites CreditCardFinder.com.au and SavingsAccountFinder.com.au, helping over 4.8 million Australians compare financial products every year. Connect with Jeremy on Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn.