Re: ING Direct
 

No that was another joint venture that was taken over by ANZ. It was called one path.

Re: ING Direct
 

INGDirect is a pretty decent bank. The deal I have offers:

- 100% rebate of any ATM fee (so my statements list an ATM withdrawal of say $202 and on the next line "ATM fee rebate -$2)
- 5% rebate of any paywave transaction! Which is great with increasing numbers of vendors accepting paywave. I get 5% off all my groceries and petrol


(N.B. In the past I've posted about favouring using Credit Cards for all expenditure to accrue QFF points - I've now decided that QFF points are too hard and 'expensive' and switching to a 'savings account' model might actually be beneficial)

Re: ING Direct
 

My CC strategy is to use them for as much as possible and use the repayment period to offset the mortgage. No lazy cash. As long as you repay in full the savings on the mortgage are large and tax free. You can use an Ing mortgage for bpay as well as standard transfers.

Re: ING Direct
 

Yes, this is exactly what I do - Salary goes straight into the Offset Account, and I live on the bank's money (CC) through the month, paying the full amount back at the end of the period. I've already made tangible savings on my mortgage, as my quarterly statements testify. Pretty much anything over $5 goes straight onto the credit card. Plus I keep building cashback points with Citibank, which is additional tax free income. I've had $1750 in cashback so far - more useful that Frequent Flyer points I think.


S

Re: ING Direct
 

How exactly does this mortgage thing work and how do these savings pan out? Is this about paying your mortgage early to lower interest rates (by crediting your salary as a mortgage payment)? And then using a CC for all purchases to give yourself a month or so of free credit before that needs to be paid off interest-free?

About air miles what is the best card for that in Oz? I'm currently in Singapore and the miles we get are pretty impressive in terms of value. You're looking at

A recent ticket I was looking at would have cost 4212 AUD, which is 5472 SGD. I can get the same for 93,5k miles (+ some charges). Let's say they come out to almost 750 SGD so I burn the miles to save 4750 SGD on the ticket cost.

To earn 93,5k miles I would need to spend roughly 70k SGD via my Cc. So in essence I am getting a 6,8% "cashback" on my purchases, which makes most CC offers of giving you 1-2% cashback (in the literal sense) pale in comparison...

Re: ING Direct
 

i earn 3 points for every $1 on my grocery purchases using Amex Plat Edge.

Re: ING Direct
 

Does that translate to 3 miles per $1?