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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Being a savvy Lifehacker reader, I’m sure you have all set some 2015 resolutions and goals (if you haven’t, check out our tool to help you and the new years resolutions articles on Lifehacker) . In terms of your finances, make 2015 the year that you stop paying credit card interest and bank fees, get on top of your home loan and start getting a good return on your savings. We’ve curated a list of some stand out products in the first Ratehacker for 2015.
Credit Cards
Feature: Long term 0 per cent balance transfer Platinum card
Citibank Rewards Credit Card – Platinum Card: 0 per cent per annum for 24 months on purchases. This card’s balance transfer feature only allows you to transfer up to 80 per cent of the credit limit issued to you so it’s important to consider this when determining your balance transfer amount. Besides offering the longest term 0 per cent per annum balance transfer in market this card offers platinum benefits including complimentary insurances and rewards points earning.
Feature: 0 per cent balance transfer and no annual fee
Coles No Annual Fee MasterCard: 0 per cent per annum for 18 months on balance transfers. With this card you will earn 1 flybuys point per $2 you spend everywhere – on top of the usual flybuys points from other partners.
Feature: 0 per cent balance transfer and purchases offer
Westpac Low Rate : 0% per annum for 16 months on balance transfers and 0% for 3 months on purchases. One of the main benefits of this card is the fact that you can spend during the balance transfer period without a high interest rate for the first 3 months. It also has a low revert rate at the end of the balance transfer period and a low annual fee of $59 per annum
Feature: Student credit card
Commonwealth Bank Low Fee Student Credit Card: $0 annual fee whilst studying. Besides having the benefit of no annual fee, this card allows you to open a credit card account with a low minimum credit limit of just $400.
Home Loans
Feature: 100 per cent offset account
CUA Fresh Start Home Loan: 4.66 per cent comparison rate. This low rate home loan has a 100 per cent offset account and no establishment or ongoing fees. It also has a high maximum loan amount of $5 million, and allows you to make extra repayments to pay your loan off sooner. Just note that it has a maximum LVR of 80 per cent.
Feature: Discounted application fees
Bankwest Online Home Loan: 4.89 per cent comparison rate. The Bankwest Online Home Loan is available to those with LVRs of up to 80 per cent, and currently has no application fee, meaning you get a home loan with free redraws, a competitive interest rate, and interest only options without paying the regular $695 fee.
Feature: Fixed rate home loan
Loans.com.au Dream Home Loan Fixed – 3 Year Fixed Rate: 4.52 per cent comparison rate. This offer from Loans.com.au allows you to make up to $10,000 in extra repayments per year, and split your loan up to five times for free. You can also make interest only payments for up to 10 years, and you’ll pay no application, legal or monthly fees.
Savings Accounts
Feature: High maximum variable interest rate
ME Bank Online Savings Account: 4.10 per cent per annum. This account gives you a competitive interest rate for four months and has no fees, so you can reach your savings goal faster. All you have to do is open an ME Bank EveryDay Transaction Account before 28 February and link your savings account to it within 14 days.
Feature: Incentive saver
ING DIRECT Savings Maximiser: 4.00 per cent per annum. As long as you open an ING DIRECT Orange Everyday Account and deposit at least $1000 into it each month (which could be your salary) you can enjoy a high interest rate with no monthly service fees or minimum balance. You’ll also have 24/7 access to your funds.
Feature: High introductory rate
HSBC Serious Saver: 3.80 per cent per annum. Regardless of how much you deposit into this account, for the first four months you’ll receive bonus interest. There are no minimum balance requirements, and also no monthly fees.
Transaction Accounts
Feature: Fee free account
Citibank Plus Transaction Account: No monthly fees, international transaction fees or fees for sending money overseas. This account is a standout amongst transaction accounts with no monthly fee, no foreign transaction fees and free ATM withdrawals at Citibank, Westpac, St.George, BankSA and Bank of Melbourne ATMs in Australia. You can also score yourself a free bottle of wine at Citibank Dining Program restaurants.
Feature: Cashback on purchases
ING DIRECT Orange Everyday Account: 2% cashback on PayWave purchases under $100. You’ll receive free ATM withdrawals at any Australian ATM, as well as a 2 per cent cashback on payWave purchases with this account if you deposit at least $1000 into this account each month from an external account. This account also charges no monthly account keeping fees.
Feature: Rewards Transaction Account
Bankwest Qantas Transaction Account: 5 Qantas Points per eligible purchase. This account will let you earn Qantas Points on your account balance and eligible purchases, so you can get closer to your rewards goals. Bankwest also doesn’t charge a monthly fee as long as $2000 is deposited into the account each month.
Personal Loans
Feature: Debt Consolidation Loan
Aussie Personal Loan: 13.94 per cent comparison rate. This loan has a minimum loan amount of $3000, making it suitable for a range of debt levels, with a competitive rate to help keep your ongoing repayments low. You can pay off your debts over a term of between one and seven years.
Feature: Fixed Rate New Car Loan
loans.com.au Car Loan: 7.02 per cent comparison rate. This competitive fixed rate car loan allows you to borrow up to $100,000 for a car up to 9 years old. You can take advantage of the car buying service and choose to add your on-road costs into the loan amount.
Feature: Low Interest Personal Loan
DirectMoney Unsecured Personal Loan: 11.60 per cent comparison rate. This loan features a low interest rate that is scalable based on your credit-worthiness. You can also get access to same day funding with the 100 per cent online application.
Travel Insurance
Feature: Policy Discount
InsureandGo Travel Insurance: 10 per cent discount on your policy plus free kids cover. Exclusive finder.com.au offer to get a 10 per cent discount on your travel insurance policy with InsureandGo. Features unlimited medical cover on all overseas policies.
Life Insurance
Feature: Discounted Premium
NobleOak Life Limited: 25 per cent discount on your premiums and first month free. Exclusive offer for Life Insurance Finder customers – receive savings on your premium (up to 25 per cent) and you will get one month of cover at no charge.
Jeremy Cabral is the 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.
Comments
4 responses to “Ratehacker: January’s Best Credit Card, Bank And Home Loan Deals”
I’d argue the ANZ Low Interest Platinum card is a better option for balance transfers.
It is only 16 months interest fee on the transfer, BUT the annual fee is only $99 vs $199 for Citibank, and the interest is 13.49% vs 20.99% for Citibank, the Coles card is cheaper annually but much higher interest rate.
ANZ also has all the travel insurance stuff, which the Coles card does not. Just my 0.2!
@ matt, how about coles master with no annual fees ever and 18mths bt?
its good and certainly if other features aren’t important its a good choice, but for me, I chose the ANZ option (we just went through them all last week!) because:
BT Transfer – Coles is 18months / ANZ 16 months (Coles wins just by 2 months)
Interest Rate – Coles is 19.99% / ANZ is 13.49% (ANZ wins by 5.50%)
Annual Fee – Coles is 0$ / ANZ is $99 per year (Coles wins here)
Travel Insurance – Coles – NO / ANZ – YES (Anz wins)
There are other bits and pieces that swing both ways, IE Coles has flyby rewards and things like that, where ANZ has personal concierge for anything related to ANZ Banking for Platinum Card holders, buyer protection (if you purchase something and find it cheaper within 90 days ANZ will refund the difference) and other ‘platinum VIP benefits’ (Lot of fluff IMO).
For me, I went with ANZ for the travel insurance (We are travelling this year with any luck) and the low interest rate, the $99 fee will still make it worthwhile for me. Both are pretty good cards depending on your needs.
*Disclaimer* – I’m no expert, was just based on recent research and my personal needs at the time.
i always have a dedicated credit card just for BT and NOTHING ELSE so i don’t have to pay those ridiculous interests applicable.
In terms of travel insurance, i have HSBC platinum visa with no annual fee for life and complimentary travel insurance as well as their own rewards program.