Ratehacker: October’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.

Money picture from Shutterstock

Christmas is nearby so it’s important to start budgeting now, planning your purchases and considering how you’re going to deal with an increase in expenses and potentially a reduced income over the Christmas break. There are some new credit card offers out this month which are worth checking out including new balance transfer and purchase rate deals. Also,: if you haven’t sorted out your savings accounts and you’re still paying ATM fees put aside some now to switch and save.

Credit Cards

Feature: 0% balance transfer

ANZ Low Rate MasterCard: 0% per annum for 16 months on balance transfers. ANZ have upped the stakes in the battle of balance transfers changing up their low rate card to have a 16 month balance transfer offer. At the end of the balance transfer period the rate reverts to a low 13.49% per annum

Feature: 0% purchases

Bankwest Breeze MasterCard: 0% per annum for 13 months on purchases. On top of this special purchase rate offer, this card is the lowest rate MasterCard in market with a purchase rate of 12.24% per annum This offer is exclusive to applications via finder.com.au.

Feature: Bonus Qantas Points

ANZ Frequent Flyer Card: 50,000 Bonus Qantas Points. If you spend $1500 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months you will get a bonus of 50,000 Qantas Points. This card is the base frequent flyer card from ANZ and doesn’t include complimentary travel insurance but ANZ’s Platinum & Black cards do.

Home Loans

Feature: Variable rate

Loans.com.au Dream Home Loan – <90% LVR: 4.56% comparison rate. Even though this product has a remarkable low interest rate it’s a fully featured home loan with important features like an offset account, flexible repayment options and loan splits.

Feature: Discounted interest rate

IMB Fixed Rate Home Loan: 3.99% for 12 months. The comparison rate for this home loan is 5.33% per annum. Borrow up to 90% of your property value with mortgage insurance for a loan amount between $250,000 and $5 million.

Feature: Fixed rate home loan

Newcastle Permanent Fixed Rate Home Loan: 5.27%% comparison rate. Fix in your home loan for 3 years at 4.39% per annum. You can borrow up to 90% of the property value with mortgage insurance. If you are refinancing more than $150,000 and apply by 31 October 2014 and settle by 30 January 2014 you will receive $1,000 cashback.

Savings Accounts

Feature: High rate with linked transaction account

UBank USaver Ultra: 4.17% per annum. Receive the bonus rate of 1.06% per annum above the 3.11% per annum base rate when you link any USaver account to the Ultra transaction account.

Feature: High rate without linked transaction account

RAMS Saver: 4.01% per annum. If you deposit a minimum of $200 per month and make no withdrawals you will earn a bonus rate of 1.30% per annum above the base rate of 2.71% per annum

Feature: Notice Saver

RaboDirect 90 Day Notice Saver: 4.00% per annum. Save amounts up to $250,000. This product works by having a notice period of 90 days for you to withdraw your funds.

Transaction Accounts

Feature: Sign-Up Cash Bonus

ING Direct Orange Everyday Account: $75 bonus payment. Open an account before 10 October 2014 and deposit $1,000 or more to have a bonus payment of $75 deposited in to your account. This account has free ATM usage Australia-wide and 2% cash back on Visa PayWave purchases under $100 when you deposit $1000 or more each month.

Feature: Fee free account

Citibank Plus Transaction Account: Fee free bank account, no foreign transaction fees. This account is truly fee free with no monthly account fees, dishonour fees, overseas ATM withdrawal fees, overseas transaction fees and free international money transfers. You can also receive a free bottle of wine at Citibank Dining Program restaurants.

Feature: Rewards Transaction Account

Bankwest Qantas Transaction Account: 10,000 Bonus Qantas Points. Receive 10,000 Bonus Qantas points when you open an account and deposit at least $2,000 per month for the first 3 months. You can also earn 5 Qantas Points per eligible purchase, 12 Qantas Points per $100 balance in your account and 5 Qantas Points each time you withdraw cash at an overseas ATM.

Personal Loans

Feature: Debt Consolidation Loan

Citibank Ready Credit: 4.9% percent for 3 years on balance transfers. Transfer the balance of any credit cards, line of credit accounts, or personal loans. You can also use the ‘cheque to self’ feature and get a cheque for up to 80% of your approved credit limit.

Feature: Fixed Rate New Car Loan

NRMA Car Loan: 7.76% comparison rate. With this car loan you can borrow amounts upwards of $5000 for a loan term of up to 7 years.

Feature: Low interest personal loan

Society One Low Interest Personal Loan: 9.95% comparison rate. Borrow between $5000 and $30,000 over a 1 to 3 year loan term. The interest rate on this loan is fixed meaning your repayments will be the same for the entire loan term.

Life Insurance

Feature: Discounted Premium

NobleOak Life Limited: 25% discount on your premiums and first month free. Exclusive offer for Life Insurance Finder customers – receive premium savings of up to 25% and you will get one month cover for free.

Travel Insurance

Feature: Policy Discount

InsureandGo Travel Insurance: 10% discount on your policy plus free kids cover. Exclusive finder.com.au offer to get a 10% discount on your travel insurance policy with InsureandGo. Features unlimited medical cover on all overseas policies.

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.


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