In our monthly Ratehacker round-up, Jeremy Cabral from comparison site finder.com.au highlights the latest credit card deals, plus the best savings accounts, home loans and personal loans.
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Credit Cards
Feature: 0 percent balance transfer
St.George Vertigo Platinum Credit Card: 0% per annum rate on balance transfer for 20 months As well as an extended 0% period for transferred balances, this card offers a 0% rate on purchases for the first three months (after which it reverts to 12.74% per annum). The offer expires on 30 March 2016.
Feature: No annual fee credit card
American Express Velocity Escape Card: $0 annual fee for life of card and 15,000 Velocity Points on signup If you’re approved for this card and spend $300 in the first three months, you’ll receive 15,000 Velocity frequent flyer points. You can also transfer your balance from another credit card at 0% interest for 12 months. The deal is only available if you apply via finder.com.au and runs until 29 February 2016.
Feature: Low interest rate
Commonwealth Bank Low Rate Card: 13.49% per annum and $150 cashback This card offers up to 55 interest-free days. If you apply online by 14 April 2016 and spend $500 on eligible purchases before 31 May 2016, you’ll get $150 cashback credited to your account.
Home Loans
There’s still no movement on the interest rate front. This week the Reserve Bank kept the official cash rate unchanged at 2.00% per annum. It hasn’t changed since May 2015 and the expert consensus is that it’s unlikely to change until the middle of the year. That doesn’t mean rates are remaining static, however; many banks have been lifting their rates and tightening their conditions regardless, so shopping around for refinancing makes sense.
Feature: Refinancing home loan
HSBC Home Value Loan: 3.99% per annum variable rate for owner occupiers This loan has a comparison rate (which takes into account fees and charges) of 4.01% per annum. You’ll need a minimum 20% deposit. You can also make extra repayments without incurring fees.
Feature: Fixed rate home loan
Newcastle Permanent Fixed Rate Home Loan: 3.79% per annum fixed rate for two years This rate is available for owner occupiers, and there’s a maximum LVR of 80%. (If you’d prefer an even longer fixed period, there’s a 6.59% offer for a 10-year fixed rate, though that’s considerably higher than most current variable rate offers.)
Savings Accounts
Feature: Incentive saver
ME Bank Online Savings Account: 3.60% per annum interest rate for Tap & Go Customers The base rate of interest for this account is 1.80% per annum, but if you link it with an ME Everyday Transaction Account and make a weekly Tap & Go purchase using a debit MasterCard, the interest rate jumps to 3.60%. There are no transaction or account management fees.
Transaction Accounts
Feature: Cashback on PayWave Purchases
Citibank Plus Everyday Account: 5% cashback on Visa payWave purchases New customers signing up for this account will receive 5% cashback on Visa payWave purchases under $100. The maximum cashback is $150 per month over four months, provided you deposit a minimum of $3,000 a month into your account each month. This deal runs until 31 May 2016.
Personal Loans
Feature: Debt consolidation
CUA Fixed Rate Personal Loan: From 11.99% per annum fixed rate This loan is available for terms of between 1 and 7 years, with a minimum amount of $1,000 and a maximum of $50,000. The comparison rate for an 11.99% loan is 12.83%.
Travel Insurance
Feature: Policy Discount
Columbus Direct: 10% off all policies Save 10% off your policy with this finder.com.au exclusive deal.
Jeremy Cabral is the Publisher at finder.com.au and finder.com which includes tools to compare credit cards, find savings accounts and pick the best mobile phone plans, and a constantly updated database of discounts and coupon codes. Connect with Jeremy on Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.
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