ABCDiamond

Some headlines show that Credit card debt is increasing = Bad news

Interest bearing Credit Card debt, per person, has dropped from $865 in 2003 down to $818 in 2011.



Should we change the headlines to: Credit card debt per person is reducing = Good news

esperanza

Not stricly on topic I admit, but I discovered this credit card today that I like the look of: http://28degreescard.com.au/
No fees for international use, no fees for overseas ATMS (unless the ATMS charge you directly) and no annual fee either. Brilliant!

xzibit

You've just reminded me that I have $12 on mine from something I bought off amazon that I must pay off. Hate being in debt!!

Amazulu

Had one of these for nearly 5 years now - it's a great deal. Only use for overseas travel and buying on the internet.

esperanza

Excellent, glad I didn't miss anything horrendous when skimming the small print. Also just signed up for DJ's AmEx, with $200 of points - you can use $100 for the annual fee, then have $100 of freebie money to spend. (Then cut it up).

Am I missing any other goodies...?!

harrip

I'd be interested to see how this compares to other bank cards that charge say 2.5% exchange fee on international transactions.

I note that all international transactions are converted to USD and then to AUD so I assume that's two lots of exchange fee's built in to the exchange rates adopted. May be good, may be sneaky.

DownUnderPaddy

That would appear to be considerably less credit card debt per person than it is in the UK

'Total UK credit card debt in May 2011 was £57.2bn.'
Source : http://www.debtwizard.com/news/consu...tics-july-2011

UK population is 62.3 million as of June 2011
Source : http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...y-2305202.html

Giving a debt per person figure of £918 (or AUD 1,370)

chris955

Unfortunately it isnt just credit card debt that has given Australia the highest household debt level in the world, it is mortgage, loans, credit card and everything else combined.

Amazulu

I've been happy with the exchange rate that I've got using this card. It's very similar to the rates that are on www.xe.com

DownUnderPaddy

True, but this was about credit card debt, not household debt.

lonndongeek

According to the marketing blurb "no currency conversion fees"

This is similar to the way that American Express do their currency conversion - XXX->USD->AUD. Amex only charges a % fee on the final AUD value and the rate usually ends up being competitive.

Cheers

LG

OzSheila

It is a quite a good card IMHO however we have found to make it really work for us we have had to get two cards in our household (different account holders).

One is "loaded up" with cash before we go o/s and then use it at ATMs to withdraw cash at a rate very close to the daily rate quoted on xe.com and no other charges.

The second card we use as a traditional credit card; again purchases are converted at a rate almost equal to those on xe.com.

The reason you need two accounts is that any money you load onto the card is first deducted from any purchases which sort of defeats the purpose of the card. Sometimes you have to be a little bit smarter than these fin institutions

DownUnderPaddy

Looking at it from a household debt level comparision then.....

For the UK, "the average household debt in the UK, including mortgages, stands at around £55,862 (or AUD 83,804)"
Source : http://www.thinkmoney.com/debt/news/...sed-0-4606.htm

For Aus, with the 1.3 trillion figure quoted here, given a population of 22.5 million, that comes out at approx AUD 57,722.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/aus...-1225980088576

So, really not much difference between UK and AUS household debt on that basis, is there ?
In fact, AUS average household debt looks better than the UK !

Additionally, keep this in mind.
75% of all household debt in Australia is held by the top two-fifths of income earners.
Vulnerable households (those that have a LVR ratio of 90% or above and also use more than 50% of their disposable income to service their mortgages) constitute less than 2% of all owner-occupied households with debt in Australia.

Amazulu

I always reckon that you also need to look at debt in relation to the value of the asset that it is held against

bcworld

I've got one of these. I've only used it once for an ATM withdrawal in NZ - I didn't think the rate was as good as my NAB card normally got me.

I used the card yesterday to book a UK domestic flight on Zuji...it was $20 cheaper than using another card as they don't charge any fees for the 28 degree card...normally I don't use it for purchases though, only for overseas ATM withdrawals (pre-loaded with cash first).