Ratehacker: June’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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Note: All interest rates were current as of 03/06/2013. For the latest rates you can click each product name linked below.

Credit Cards

Balance transfers if used correctly can provide some short term relief from credit card interest charges. It’s important to note that even during the balance transfer you do have to pay the minimum repayment (typically 2-3 per cent of your balance) each statement period. These offers below are offers which revert to a low purchase rate at the end of the balance transfer period:

ANZ Low Rate MasterCard: 0 per cent per annum for 9 months balance transfers. 9 months is the longest 0 per cent balance transfer in market currently. At the end of the balance transfer period it reverts to 12.99 per cent per annum.

Bankwest Breeze MasterCard: 0 per cent for 6 months on balance transfers. The Breeze is also Australia’s lowest purchase rate MasterCard and on top of that has a 0 percent for 4 months purchases offer. WIth balance transfers it really becomes one of the most competitive low interest credit cards. At the end of the balance transfer period it reverts to 11.99 per cent per annum.

ANZ Low Rate Mastercard – Long Term Balance Transfer: 2.5 per cent for 15 months on balance transfers. All the features of this card are identical to the standard ANZ Low Rate featured above, however this option providers a longer balance transfer period. This is worth considering if you know you aren’t in a position to repay your balance within a 9 month period as per the standard offer. Note: This offer is only available from CreditCardFinder.com.au and expires on the 30 June 2013.

Savings Accounts

Right now with the cash rate dropping so significantly you really need to do a comparison to make sure you’re getting the highest interest rate possible on your savings as the rates to jump around alot with banks varying their offers significantly every couple of months. Here are a few offers to consider:
RaboDirect High Interest Savings Account: 4.76 per cent per annum for 4 months. This rate applies to new customers who apply on balances up to $250,000. At the end of this period the rate reverts to 3.50 per cent per annum.

RAMS Saver: 4.76 per cent per annum (with $200 monthly deposit and no withdrawals). If you consistently make a monthly deposit amount of at least $200 you will benefit from the maximum variable rate of 4.76 per cent.

ING Direct Savings Maximiser: 4.75 per cent per annum for 4 months. For the first 4 months you will receive the ‘welcome rate’ of 4.75 per cent per annum (up to a balance of $250,000). After that period, the Loyalty Bonus rate of 0.75 per cent per annum applies if you increase your balance by $200 a month (up to a balance of $50,000).

Home Loans

The RBA Cash Rate is at the lowest it has been on record since the 60’s. With rate cuts since November 2011, the market has changed significantly and it’s important to do a comparison. It’s difficult to make the assessment on whether or not to fix your rate in as variable rate home loans provide flexibility to switch without penalty at any point in time. These three variable rate home loans have good comparison rates for those considering switching lenders:

Loans Blackboard Special: 4.77 per cent per annum comparison rate. This is a fully featured home loan that includes an offset facility. You can borrow up to 90 per cent of the property value (a different interest rate will likely apply if above 80 per cent LVR) and a $0 application fee if you apply before 30 June 2013. Note: this home loan is for purchases only.

UBank UHomeLoan (Variable Rate) Refinance Only: 4.87 per cent per annum comparison rate. If you are looking to refinance, UBank typically try to stick out from the rest with this product. It’s got an upfront 0.25 per cent per annum discount and a $0 application fee.

State Custodians Breathe Easy Offset Home Loan: 4.90 per cent per annum comparison rate. This rate applies for an LVR of 80 per cent or less. This loan also includes an offset account, free redraws and the ability to make unlimited extra repayments.

If you are wanting to do some calculations on these loans you can check out our home loan calculators — the Loan Comparison Calculator is helpful for this. I’ve included the comparison rates for some base variable rate home loans below:

• Commonwealth Bank Economiser: 5.69 per cent per annum
• ANZ Simplicity Plus: 5.43 per cent per annum
• NAB Base Variable Rate Home Loan: 5.48 per cent per annum
• Westpac Flexi First Option Home Loan: 5.40 per cent per annum

See you in July 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.