Any thoughts on buyer protection, I had a GO MasterCard i got when Harvey Norman offered 60 months interest free, I have now paid it off (ridiculous interest these people charge - don't get sucked in if you cant pay it off in one lump sum at end of the term) when I asked them to cancel the card, they offered to waive account fees, so now Im thinking about keeping it. Plus this buyer protection, I like the price reduction for 6 months protection. and even if I use the it will be paid off every month, so I wont even pay a premium. what do you think? I dont think any of my other cards offer it.
A credit card for me is simply an instrument of convenience, not access to credit per se. As you said, fees and charges are ridiculous, and it's too easy to just keep spending. That said, I have a gold CBA visa card that costs me $125 or so per year, but it actually saves me money because we like to travel and (a) it provides cheap travel insurance for people with pre-existing health problems and (b) saves me money on car hire insurance. These, along with the Frequent Flyer points I earn and the fact that I never carry over a balance at the end of the month makes it effectively free.
100% never get a GE Money card, if you cant afford to pay it off before its due. I am reading the PDS to see what catches they have. It clearly states no precious metals purchase lol. So they must have got burned. and it is limited to maximum refund of $2000 per 12 months period.
GE Money offloaded part of their entire Australian credit cards portfolio to private equity types from Vrde Partners, Deutsche Bank and KKR,. They rebranded the former consumer credit arm of GE Finance to 'Latitude Finance'. Not looking good for those cardholders. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...k=73fd8f87366615a66204c4f1b7a58d8d-1473230010
Ge Money and GO Money card etc, are blood sucking providers. the fees these people charge are horrendous on anything late. They offered me a platinum card after 59 months of the interest free loan. Bet they were looking forward 28.77 % lol. The way I look at it is, I should suck some money out them for the people they are ripping off.
Yep, I've never paid a cent in interest in the decades I've had a credit card. Except when I forget to pay the bill on time! If you have to use a credit card for actual credit, then you are probably doing something wrong with your financial situation.
I 100% agree with this. I mainly use a card for buying on the internet, over the phone, or when overseas and don't have local currency. Always pay the account before interest starts accumulating.
For all the bluster and theoretics that are reported about Putin when I read some the things he has stated and answered to the press about the world events, more than enough ring true to rejuvenate him. Granted I've only read a tiny portion of he has said but it's an eye opener.
The consumer is the blood sucker here. Nobody is making them use the credit card to overspend, paying the minimum each month thinking it's their money and not bothering to read the T&C's. Why should they not charge whatever they like for late payments? It's their "money" and it should be repaid on time as in every other business. If not, fair enough to apply a penalty.
How can the consumer be the blood sucker here. They didn't have it offer it in the first place. I reckon they should have big warning and have the interest in bold, and what happens when the interest period is over. Most people who use these kind of kinds prob not in a position to pay it off, so I thing they are preying on the customer.
My credit card actually makes me money. We put absolutely everything on it and over the course of year that might add up to $50k. That's a lot of bonus points, I think about $500 a year worth or something.
Except when the banks very deliberately and very sneakily highlight and word the minimum value to confuse people into thinking the minimum is all they have to pay and making it difficult and confusing to find the actual full value to avoid interest. The banks got busted for this and were forced the make it clearer some time back.
The consumer has no interest in educating themselves until after something goes wrong. A lot of people I know who use credit cards don't know their interest rate, T&C's etc. Credit cards have been around for 40+ years, ignorance is not an excuse. Whether the interest is in emboldened 48pt Comic Sans or 8pt Calibri, it's there if they want to know it. Wouldn't say it's sneaky, they were highlighting that that's the minimum required to not get in trouble. They now have to put 'you will pay 'x' amount in interest if you continue paying the minimum' on statements because people are clueless/don't really care.
It's not just about the minimum figure, it's that they hide/obfuscate the total amount to be paid if you want to avoid interest. It was worse before they were forced to change it, but it's still non-obvious at least on my bill and I know what I'm looking for. There is nothing that says "Pay this amount and you will avoid paying interest".
$10/month. or $0/month if I don't want to reward points. But if I'm spending $50k a year on the card then the points easy pay for the annual fee, so it's money for jam.
I too pay almost everything with the CC, provided there is no merchant fee added. This earns me Frequent Flyer points and I pay the full balance off every month. Along with the savings on travel and hire car insurance, this more than cancels out the card fee, by about $500p.a. the last time I checked. In my case however, the big saving comes about because I have heart disease, which would make travel insurance prohibitive. My card provides 'pre-existing conditions' cover for about $80/1 month overseas trip. Most other companies want hundreds, if they will cover me at all.
