Hey guys,

My Commonwealth Bank Visa is about to expire and I am looking around at other credit cards (American Express, Citibank etc). I am thinking of stepping up to the Commonwealth Bank Gold Card. It has a a good rewards program and free international travel insurance.

Any advice/suggestions?

Cheers

dont forget, most gold cards have income thresholds which you must make more than to qualify. I think commbank gold is $50k

I am aware.

Anyone?

For me it would depend on how much you use your credit card. If you pay everything on your credit card and then pay it off before the interest date, then this might determine one type of credit card as opposed to another.

The Commonwealth Gold threshhold is $40K, I looked into it yesterday.

Virgin have a pretty good CC out at the moment; no annual fees, 11% interest and 5.99% transfer rate for 6 months IIRC. It loses the frills such as reward points etc in place of low interest. Downside is that criteria is tough; I got rejected and I have a moderate income but am well back in terms of assets.

There are some low interest cards floating round if you are prepared to look for them, some as low as 9% interest. Members Equity do this, and were awarded the Best of the Best - Cheapest Credit Card award in 2003. I looked into it but their marketing for the benefits and card generally sucked.

You say that you are thinking of going to CommGold because of it's good rewards and travel insurance. Are these features that you are going to use regularly? From my experience it takes a fair amount of transactions just to get some crappy little garden knome or something like that. I chose a CommBank Mastercard without the rewards because I know that I would never have earned enough points to qualify for a so-called reward. The travel insurance might be handy if you go overseas regularly however.

It's all a balancing game.

Cheers...Mitch

encompass credit union has CC's at 7%... and that INST a honeymoon rate.

cards like amex and diners are not as well accepted at places due to their insane merchant fees. but i must admit, the new amex cards look pretty cool hahaha.

if you use your card for everything, and can pay it off before the due date, get the ones with the best rewards programs, the highest interest rates and hopefully a lower annual fee.

if you have a home loan or other accounts with a particular bank/institution, it may be wise to step into that place and ask if they can bundle a credit card and give you reduced fees.

yep.. not many places like the Amex, and i have the new AMEX blue.. :mrgreen:
i have the rewards program activated on this card and ear rewards points for holidays and so forth when i shop..

I also have a bank of Melbourne Mastercard.. $30 a year, 55 days interest free and no frills.. i dont need rewards with this one as the amex covers that..

shop around..

I've got a St George Mastercard, interest is 10.99%, their may also be a lower introductory rate.
St George have great internet banking features too.