mpgrewal

Did anyone see $0 annual fee credit card.

http://www.hsbc.com.au/1/2/personal/...-cards/compare
(left most one)

Is there any caveat in buying such credit cards (Credit limit is <1k that's ok for me). I am planning to apply for it as I can build up credit history without paying annual fee.

asprilla

there is no "credit history" for you to build up, as far as I'm aware of. As our American friends like to say, you're "good to go".

The credit card provider will look at your income and expenditure before deciding whether or not to give you a card, and the limit.

ABCDiamond

Bank West do a zero annual fee card, so do St George Bank and Westpac.

Seems they are becoming more common.

The Woolworths credit card has a $49 annual fee, but gives cash back of about $50 for every $7,000 you spend on the card. We are getting back about $200 per year on this one.
Effectively Woolworths pay us $150 per year to have the card.

That, or the ANZ rewards card, with its cash back option, may actually be better than a zero annual fee.

mpgrewal

Sorry for confusion, I meant to say to build credit history after purchasing credit card. That credit history which can be used to take big loans for car and house.

Pity that banks here don't care as much about your bank balance as about your credit history while giving you a loan Taking a credit card has become 'unwanted necessity' for me.

Sherlock Holmes

Re: Credit History. Not quite the same thing as the original post but...I am lucky not to need credit, but one never knows..so I thought I'd take advantage of Harvey Norman Interest free to get on the list...took everything with me that I could think of for i/d etc. The one thing they wanted was a tax return!

Incidentally, it's not interest free as we know it..there is a monthly service charge. So I paid cash for the washing machine. The sales lady gave me free delivery (we are a bit in the sticks) as we had been mucked about by the credit company, G.E.

mark213

Check the small print - i think alot of these its $0 for the first year only

Sherlock Holmes

Almost certainly.

ABCDiamond

They are bringing out lifetime zero fee cards now.

HSBC, Westpac, St George and Bankwest all do them. Not sure about the others yet

mpgrewal

HSBC one is lifetime. Another related question - Suppose I have my savings bank account in ANZ and I need to pay $200 bill of HSBC credit card. Will ANZ charge me anything extra on top of $200 when I make payment from their online banking website.

DownUnderPaddy

You may have misread the product specs there MP. It's a MIN LIMIT of 1k, not <1k as you have written.

asprilla

Not sure where you've learnt the above info.... it appears that you believe that the Aus system is the same/very similar to the UK system.

Am I right in thinking that you are making assumptions here? Or have you actually been told by a lender, that you need to show a credit history? If so, which lender?

ABCDiamond

No they won't.

Well, at least, most banks don't.
I pay ANZ and HSBC credit cards from either St George Bank or Westpac Bank, and have never paid anything extra.
I have also paid ANZ card from HSBC savings, and again no charges.

bcworld

Sign up for an NAB Qantas card. Annual fee is $65 however you currently get free membership of Qantas FF program (normally $82 join fee) and a sign up bonus of 10000 points - enough for a flight from MEL - SYD. $65 well spent.

Swerv-o

Yes, the HSBC card is a lifetime fee free - I have one. Watch them though as they have a very short billing period. Stuff that I pay for and don't expect to see until the following month often manages to show up much earlier than expected.

I also have a Bankwest Zero Mastercard, which is fee free for life, and a Westpac Ignite Mastercard, which is also fee free for life.

You shouldn't have to pay any extra to pay off another bank's CC - Just use BPay from the ANZ bank and follow the instructions. I certainly don't with Citibank anyway, though I know that my GF (who is the with Comm bank) has to pay a fee when she gets cashback via eftpos, which I don't.

If they start to charge you for stuff like that it may be time to consider changing bank.


S

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Hang on a min... you are always telling us how little you shop for at Woolies and Coles and now you're telling us you spent $28,000 in Woolies last year.