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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There might be a situation where the $0 or 0 per cent product is not the right one for you or you may not meet the eligibility requirements for application. In this month’s edition of Ratehacker I’ve highlighted a few products which may not be completely zero interest or zero fee, but they’ve got some great market leading features which really make them worth considering as part of your comparison.
Credit Cards
Bankwest Zero Mastercard Exclusive: 0 per cent per annum for 9 months on balance transfers. Besides having a cracking balance transfer rate, if you meet the eligibility requirement and get the Platinum level card (in the past you needed a minimum income of $65,000 per annum but now it’s assessed on a per application basis) you can have a complimentary concierge service, no foreign transaction fees and still benefit from a $0 annual fee.
ANZ Low Rate Exclusive Offer: 0 per cent per annum for 9 months on balance transfers. A great offer to consider over the Bankwest Zero Platinum from a revert rate perspective as it reverts to a lower rate of 12.99 per cent– you do however have a $58 annual fee and miss out on the other perks. This card has a minimum income requirement of $15,000, and it’s worth noting that a lower income will likely reduce the credit limit you’re assigned.
American Express Qantas Discovery Card: $0 annual fee with rewards earning. Who said you had to pay a whomping annual fee in order to earn rewards points? Sure, you do miss out on a lot of the other frequent flyer perks which come with higher annual fees (including better earn rates, travel insurance) but with this card you can spend $1 and earn 1 Qantas Point. If you pay your card on time and don’t carry a balance (which you shouldn’t be doing if you have a rewards card) this card will deliver a return.
Home Loans
Loans.com.au – Dream Loan Express Home Loan: 4.89 per cent comparison rate. Designed for refinancing only, this online lender home loan offers a great rate as well as no application fee, legal fee, or annual service fee. You can also make additional payments without any penalty.
NAB Choice Package – 2 Year Fixed Rate Home Loan: 6 per cent comparison rate. If you’re wanting to take advantage of low interest rates while they’re here, this is a competitive offer from one of the big four. You can also benefit from no application fee, legal fee, valuation fee or settlement fee.
State Custodians Peak Performance Offset Home Loan: 5.11 per cent comparison rate. If you’re considering setting up your home loan with an offset facility this home loan is worth considering. Also benefit from no application fee, settlement fee and unlimited additional home loan repayments.
Savings Accounts
RaboDirect High Interest Savings Account: 4.76 per cent per annum for 4 months. This interest rate is available to new customers only for 4 months for balances up to $250,000. Also benefit from no minimum balance. Also available for DIY Super and Online SMSF.
ING DIRECT Savings Maximiser: 4.75 per cent per annum for 4 months. Benefit from the high interest rate for 4 months on balances up to $250,000 then reverting to the standard variable rate of 3.00 per cent per annum. On-going if you deposit a minimum of $200 per month you can get a ‘Loyalty Bonus’ of 0.50 per cent per annum on balances up to $50,000.
Bankwest Telenet Saver: 4.55 per cent per annum for 6 months. The core benefit of this product is the longer intro rate period of six months, versus the standard four months seen across most high interest savings accounts.
Transaction Accounts
NAB Classic Banking: No monthly account keeping fee. This account is a solid transaction account option from NAB. No monthly account keeping fees, overdrawn fees or any direct ATM charges at NAB ATMs or rediATMs. They don’t charge for using other ATMs but independent operators may. There is no minimum deposit amount to receive these benefits.
ING DIRECT Orange Everyday Account: 5 per cent cash back on contactless purchases.For the first six months you will receive 5 per cent cash back on every contactless purchase you make under $100. You can also benefit from no monthly account keeping fees and no atm withdrawal fees if you withdraw over $200 at any ATM.
Bankwest Zero Transaction Account: No ATM withdrawal fees at any major bank ATM.If you hate ATM fees (who wouldn’t?) this product could be your saviour with no ATM charges at Bankwest, CBA, Westpac, NAB or ANZ-branded ATMs. You can also benefit from no monthly account keeping fees when you deposit $2000 per month. Another really cool thing with this product is now an option to get a Platinum Debit MasterCard. This option will give you a 24/7 Platinum Concierge Service, purchase protection, extended warranty and price guarantee cover. For all these perks you have to deposit a minimum of $4000 per month.
Free merchandise I almost forgot! We had 25 awesome Ratehacker T-Shirts printed up. If you’re keen on one send me an email (Jeremy) with your size and we’ll send one out to you. First in, best dressed!
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.
Comments
7 responses to “Ratehacker: August’s Best Credit Card, Bank And Home Loan Deals”
The NAB fixed rate is a rip off, I can get the same loan from ING for example for nearly 1.2% cheaper. The big 4 are bloody over priced. Shop around and you’ll find much better deals.
Definitely a good idea to shop around. For those wanting to consider a loan from the Big 4, it’s important to highlight some of those products. You are totally right – it’s so important to do research and not be afraid to switch to a better deal
Credit Unions and Mutual Banks have better deals. They on a whole have cheaper transaction accounts, better Home Loan, Credit Card and Car Loan rates. As a bonus they’re Member owned, and not Shareholder owned, governed by ASIC, and have the same Government guarantees on deposits. Wondering why they’re not included in this list?
Hi ga – you make a really good point, I think we should break out the column to feature a product from mutuals/credit unions, and also a big 4 product. There are pros/cons for each but you’re right – there are some cracker products available and I need to do a better job of highlighting credit unions/mutuals and a big bank product in the column.
For transaction accounts, I think it is also important to mention the Citibank Plus account which, according to our research is currently the best transaction account in Australia and the only one which is truly fee-free.
For credit cards, it is important to mention the McGrath Pink Visa Card and Greater Visa Card. Both have an annual fee of $40 and standard ongoing rate on purchases of 9.25%, making them the credit cards with the lowest ongoing rate currently available in Australia
The Citibank Plus Transaction Account is definitely a ‘rare bird’. It’s a big call to say it’s ‘best’ overall as that depends what features are important for someone, but being fee-free it’s an account that just about everyone should consider.
Those cards are amazing from a purchase rate perspective. I think I could start breaking out the column to focus on: purchase rate, balance transfer, frequent flyer. Thanks for all your feedback
Anyone got any comments on the BankWest internet banking experience? Interested in their transaction accounts but want to know what its like behind the scenes.
Would move it all over to NAB for less fees but their online banking is limiting compared to BoM/St George.