Australian credit card holders are paying too much
If you are an Australian credit card holder, you’re probably paying more than you should be, and you have unfair interest rates to blame.
Choice campaigns manager, Erin Turner, stated, “The fact is an average credit card holder has paid an extra $281 because of unnecessarily high interest rates. Worryingly, this comes at a time when one-in-five Australians are living off their credit card to get through to payday.”
According to Choice and financial site, Mozo, only 16 per cent of credit card companies altered their interest rates following a drop in the official cash rate from November 2011 to May 2015. If interest rates had moved according to Australia’s cash rate, Australians might have saved over $2 billion in interest payments over the last four years alone.
Kristy Lamont, director of Mozo, shared, “We know the average credit card interest rate in June 2011 was 17.41 per cent but instead of falling in-line with the cash rate it rose by 0.2 per cent over the last four years to 17.61 per cent by the 31st of May this year. We have also seen the average credit card annual fee rise from $94 in late 2011 to $115 in May 2015. Clearly consumers are getting a raw deal.”
All those in favour of cash, say I.
Related links:
5 things you should say to save money
Should you get funeral insurance?
Clever ways to avoid bank fees