According to Tourism Research Australia**, we’re some of the world’s biggest overseas holiday makers taking 7.1 million overseas trips in 2010 and splashing out around $5000 per trip. Depending on the travel money option you choose when holidaying, Mozo estimates you can pay as much as $315 in fees, commissions and other charges when spending $5000 abroad.***

* Calculation based on 7.1 million trips and $195 in foreign currency fees, commissions and other charges

** Tourism Research Australia, “State of the Industry 2011″, October 2011. Average Australian spends $5,183 per overseas trip

*** Calculation based on the difference between the most cost effective and the most expensive method of spending money overseas. Analysis completed using exchange rates and fees as at 18 November 2011 and a $5000 per trip spend. Assumed spend of $3,000 on a typical credit card and 10 ATM withdrawals totalling $2,000 using a typical debit card. ATM operator fees have been excluded from this analysis.

Bank Accounts

Students are a frugal bunch at the best of times, and if you’re looking to save enough change for some $7 Pad Thai for lunch, the humble bank account is one place where you can save a few pennies by avoiding unnecessary charges on everyday transactions.

First of all, you want a student bank account with as few fees as possible. That means no monthly service fee, no own-bank ATM fees, and no eftpos fees. You also want to make sure that there aren’t any minimum requirements or conditions for the account fees to be waived, as chances are you won’t be able to meet them with just a casual wage and centrelink. The other key component is the availability of a debit card so you can shop online using your own money. All of the Big 4 (ANZ, Commbank, NAB and Westpac) have accounts that match this criteria, and seeing as they have the largest ATM networks you’re best off sticking with them as it’ll mean you’ll pay less foreign ATM fees.

Credit Cards

Some of the big banks offer specific student credit cards, whilst there are other ‘normal’ credit cards that are an ideal fit for students. What is an ideal fit? By and large students are looking for a no frills, low cost solution that can act as a type of overdraft. So the things to look out for are interest free days, annual fee and interest rate. My recommendation? Take a look at the self-titled ‘HSBC credit card’ or BankWest’s Zero Mastercard. Both have low fees, 55 days interest free days, a reasonable purchase rate and relatively low income thresholds for applications.

As far as income goes, the combination of youth allowance and some part-time work will get you over the line for most no-frills cards. When you apply, make sure you take documentation for all your income in the form of payslips and centrelink documents if need be.

Personal Loans

For those looking to avoid the potential pitfalls of credit card ownership, some banks offer specific student loans to help cover the costs of textbooks, living costs, fees etc. These loans tend to feature reduced fees and/or interest for students and some even allow you to defer interest payments till after you’ve completed your studies! Victoria Teachers Credit Union’s Student Loan currently leads the market, offering an unsecured loan with no monthly fee, a low application fee of $20 and an extremely low variable rate of 11.55%.

Still hungry for information on student accounts? Stop playing ultimate frisbee and head over to Mozo Answers or check out the Mozo Student Room!

CHOICE singled out the Commonwealth Bank for its shonkiness in how the points are calculated for cards linked to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program. Unlike other rewards credit cards where one rewards point equals one Qantas Frequent Flyer Point, with the Commonwealth Bank card you only earn points at half the rate. It means you have to spend double the amount of money to earn the rewards.

The Shonkys, reminded us here at Mozo HQ of just how important the Rewards Revealer is, and so we decided to take this opportunity to take a look (and highlight) some other shoddy practices and unrewarding rewards programs.

Based on a $12,000 annual spend the three worst performing rewards cards are:

(excluding platinum cards)

Rewarding? Maybe for the banks but certainly not us consumers.

With the NAB Gold Card to earn you a flight from Sydney to London you’d need to spend a mind blowing $937,500 and that’s not the biggest catch. Points expire after 36 months, so unless you are planning on buying a house on your credit card, it’s virtually impossible to accrue enough points to redeem the flight before they expire.

But even more telling is that it’s not just a handful of rewards credit cards that will put you in the red. Of the 71 standard rewards cards in the market, 35 will cost you more than they return in rewards value each year (at $12,000 annual spend after the annual fee).

So, what can you do to ensure you get value from your rewards card? Here are our top tips:

1.    Make sure you are earning more in rewards than you are paying in annual fees
2.    Always pay off your card in full each month to avoid high interest rates
3.    If you have a credit card debt, switch to a low rate card instead

Compare rewards credit cards at mozo.com.au

We’ve all fallen for the promise of free, see-through kitchen scales paid for by credit card rewards points, magical points. Because, let’s face it, we all know the allure of something for nothing, whereas the exchange rates for credit spend, points earned and rewards purchased are anything but transparent. So are you getting value for rewards points?

On behalf of everyone whose free return flight to Dubai is looking more like Dubbo, Mozo has cracked the rewards credit card code, to reveal the true value of all those points, cashback deals and discount programs.

The results are kinda scary, so deep breath.

We thought the main difference between the 100-plus different rewards credit cards would be how many toasters / flights / gift cards you get for your annual credit spend. But in many cases, the points expire before you can cash them in, or the rewards offered takes years to attain; worse still, the value of rewards earned is often less than the annual fee.

So how do you beat the rewards card market? Well, it all depends on your credit card spend — but our new Rewards Revealer lets you plug in your numbers for a personal solution. And you’ll find the results are wildly different for flights, giftcards and cashback offers.

If you spend $15,000 a year, the best rewards cards (determined by the value of rewards minus annual fees) are:

for gift cards: Myer Visa Card — $111
for cashback: American Express Blue Sky Credit Card — $103
for domestic flights: Jetstar Mastercard — $101
for international flights: Westpac Earth — $100

Whereas for $50,000 a year, it’s a completely different story:

for international flights: Citi Emirates Platinum — $1,021
for domestic flights: Jetstar Platinum Mastercard — $851
for gift cards: ANZ Rewards Gold — $621
for cashback: Westpac Altitude Platinum — $603

Remember, the interest rates on rewards credit cards nudge up to an outrageous 20%, so unless you pay off the whole balance every month, you’re unlikely to benefit from a rewards card.

Why not check out where your credit card ranks, or who gives you the most covetable appliances a year?

Get to the points at http://mozo.com.au/credit-cards/rewards.

Virgin Saver
The Virgin Saver is Virgin’s online savings account, a no fees account with a variable introductory rate of 6.75% for 4 months that falls back to 5.35%. These numbers put it right up there with the top 5 standard and promotional savings account rates in the market and it’s a great product, particularly as it lacks the deposit and withdrawal conditions held by some products.

Virgin No Annual Fee Credit Card
The Virgin No Annual Fee Credit Card is Virgin’s ‘no frills’ card. No annual fee and no rewards of any note. It comes with an introductory offer of 2.9% on balance transfers for six months and an ongoing purchase rate of 16.95%. Whilst promoted as “simple and fairly priced”, there are only 44 interest-free days and the card features the sneaky trick we’ve previously highlighted of reverting the balance transfer to the much higher cash advance rate of 20.99% as well.

If you plan on carrying a debt, using our credit card comparison table one can see that there are other low rate and low fee cards that could save you over $500 over 3 years on an average balance of $3000, taking into account the interest and fee costs. However, if you plan on paying off your balance in full each month, this card will cost you nothing, and is well worth picking up for those who enjoy things like the choice of card colour and Virgin’s customer service.

Virgin Flyer Credit Card
The real headline grabber here is the last product on the list, the Virgin Flyer Card, its Platinum frequent flyer card. And it’s a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde proposition.

What Virgin is hoping will sell this product is the flight rewards. The biggest selling point is that four times a year, you’ll get 2 for 1 flights on Virgin Blue. It’s a great feature that’s sure to appeal to many. Factor in the best earn rate for velocity points without getting an Amex, for the first $1,500 monthly spend anyway, and it’s a very good rewards card. Using our credit card Rewards Revealer, at the Australian average spend of $14000, it’s the clear leader once you factor in the free flights. For the high rollers looking for a Platinum Card, those spending $50,000 a year would only derive more value from the Citibank Emirates Platinum card, taking annual fees and free flights into account.

It must be noted however, that as a day-to-day credit card, it’s a pricey option. The rates’ conspicuous absence from Virgin’s release is a signpost to the card’s steep nature. With a rate of 20.99% for both purchases and cash advances and a balance transfer rate of 6.9% for 6 months that reverts to 20.99%, it’s one of the most expensive cards on the market. Throw in the interest free period of only 44 days and you can definitely say it’s not a card to accumulate debt on.

The Verdict
The Virgin Saver looks a winner, particularly given its simplicity. The No Annual Fee card is a good basic card for those who pay off their balance in full each month, but there are better options for those who like to rack up a debt. Again, the Virgin Flyer card also isn’t one for the debt accumulators, however it makes up for it with an excellent flight rewards program. With home loans yesterday stated to be in their sights, it’ll be interesting to see where Virgin goes next.

Compare all savings accounts and rewards credit cards at mozo.com.au

Exception fees are fees charged by banks for ‘exceptional’ circumstances. These circumstances include late payment fees on both credit cards and loans, over-limit fees on credit cards, honour fees when overdrawing a bank account, and dishonour fees charged for cheques that bounce. Reserve Bank data shows that banks charged consumers $961 million in exception fees in 2008.

The impact of these fees on your credit card cost can be significant. Say you’re on a ‘low rate’ credit card with an interest rate of 11.99% and running a $3000 balance. A $30 charge for being a couple of days late on a payment effectively makes your interest rate 12.99% in terms of your cost. If you’re late or overdraw a few more times over the course of the year, the additional costs effectively transforms your low rate card into a middle of the range card without any of the perks.

The principal legal argument for the class action is that when a customer breaks a contract with a bank (by making a late payment for example), the bank may only be able to recover a reasonable estimate of the cost. IMF Australia’s contention is that the banks charge fees much higher than what can be termed a ‘reasonable estimation’, given that it actually costs banks “only a few dollars at most” when you make a late payment or overdraw on your account.

There is a foreign precedent, with close to a million Britons unsuccessfully seeking compensation for overdraft charges in 2009, though a new case set to be heard in Glasgow in June could lead to more litigation. The issue also reared its head in America, with the US Federal Reserve recently ruling that creditors must obtain a consumer’s consent before charging fees for transactions that exceed the credit limit.

Here in Australia, the worst offenders for credit card over limit and late payment fees are Citibank and Suncorp, both charging a whopping $40 for each occurrence. Even NAB, who made a great deal of noise when slashing bank account fees this year, still charge $25 for going over your card limit and $30 for a late payment. Westpac and St. George lead the way, charging only $9. However, the case goes back six years, which could still spell trouble for those who have only recently cut fees.

Even though there will most likely not be a resolution for years, if ever, it will be intriguing to see how the banks behave in the light of all this publicity, particularly in a time of record profits. Even if this case is successful, it almost goes without saying that the banks will find other means to maintain their margins, whether through higher regular account fees or interest rates. As a consumer, the best way to deal with this is to shop around. Only when customers start voting with their feet (and their wallets) will banks really address these issues.

Banking comparsions at mozo.com.au

Well, it seems Westpac was right. Across the ‘Big 4′, interest is charged on interest and fees. And they’re not the only ones either, with the likes of American Express, Citibank and St George all guilty of the same tactics.

But this isn’t all — while digging into the fine print about interest and fees, I discovered a myriad of sneaky tricks banks use in charging customers. Forget the trivial feats of magicians and illusionists like Blaine, Copperfield or Criss Angel; for real trickery you need look no further than your monthly credit card statement.

For example, a widespread ace you’ll find up providers’ sleeves involves the specific debts your repayments actually pay off. Most cards’ conditions require your repayments to go towards those purchases that attract the lowest rate. This makes any purchases made at a higher rate more likely to attract interest charges, as they are the last to be paid off.

Another little rabbit in the hat is the date from which interest is charged. Instead of charging interest from the date a transaction is posted to your statement, some providers charge from the date of transaction. While there’s only a few days’ difference, it can add up, especially for larger purchases.

And then there’s the cleverest banking sleight of hand — the ‘prestige’ in magician’s parlance. The typical 44-55 days interest-free period on purchases is often viewed by customers as a breather between spending and interest charges. But quite often this buffer pulls a disappearing act. If your balance is not paid in full by the due date, you’ll lose your interest free days with Commonwealth, ANZ and Westpac. NAB is more lenient, but you still have to maintain your monthly minimum repayment.

So what does this mean for your bottom line? If you lose your interest free days, your bank will levy interest comprising a total of daily interest charges on your purchases going all the way back to the date of purchase. While NAB and ANZ only charge this interest on the overdue amount, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank will charge the 55 days of interest retrospectively on the entire balance, even if minimum repayments are met. What’s more, you won’t get those interest-free days back until those old balances are paid in full. In some cases, such as BankWest, you’re required to pay two consecutive statements in full before they give you this ‘luxury’ back.

In The Prestige, the magician Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) warns us: “If anybody really believed the things I did on stage, they wouldn’t clap, they’d scream.” I’d be surprised if your next credit card statement was greeted with applause…

Compare credit cards at mozo.com.au

On the one hand, as Westpac itself points out, the changes will have a “tiny effect on balances”, apparently 67 cents a month for those affected. Moreover, Westpac is simply coming into line with the other Big 4s – so why single it out for being a late adopter of minimal charges?

The problem is that, at the end of the day, it is another tricksy initiative: fiddling with the fine print to raise revenue without altering the headline rate. And if the net result is in fact tiny, is it really worth the media storm that’s now engulfed the bank?

You have to think Westpac’s PR department has either had a really big St Patrick’s Day or been taken hostage by the bean counters. Consumer sentiment towards Australia’s largest home loan lender is at an all-time low, following its 45 basis point rate rise in December and the subsequent smoothie-fueled furore. Gail Kelly’s leaked comments about rising funding costs – and possible interest rate hikes of a further 30 to 40 basis points – have hardly helped. And profits are already up a third on the previous year, while Westpac was awarded the double-edged title of “World’s most profitable bank” by the famed Boston Consulting Group.

Justifying new charges in a general banking climate of fee cuts is a difficult proposition. At the same time, slamming a bank for catching up to its peers on a minor new charge is more media stunt than serious consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned for our wrap up of sneaky credit card fees — who’s leading the charge, and who simply has bad PR.

Compare credit cards at mozo.com.au

On the upside, random interest rate changes have been abolished, as the centrepiece of the reform. How and when banks can raise interest rates is now tightly regulated, and they must give at least 45 days’ notice before increasing their interest rates. Furthermore, a review of penalty rates and fees is scheduled for later this year.

The major lenders have responded, however, by hiking up fees, and inventing new ones. So your balance transfer with JPMorgan Chase will now attract a 5% fee. Let’s hope that one doesn’t emigrate down under.

And credit card rewards have also been hit with various creative penalties, such as no points accrued on purchases if the customer is late with a payment (courtesy of American Express co-branded cards).

One of the big wins (for consumers) is restrictions on credit limits, and more stringent credit cards application processes, with lenders tightening up access to credit. Which may seem rough to those struggling to find a provider, but will hopefully lead to fewer borrowing more than they can afford.

Australia is usually a couple of years behind American credit card trends (for example, the 0% balance transfer), so it’ll be interesting to see which, if any, changes trickle through to the domestic market.

compare credit cards at mozo.com.au

Take for instance the ING Direct Orange Everyday account: it costs nothing to get it and you can and will earn $60 for free by simply depositing money into the account, making a purchase with your Visa Debit card, and debiting money from your account ($20 each). On top of this, every time you withdraw $200 or more from an ATM, ING Direct will pay you $0.50.

Perhaps you’re the kind of person that likes credit cards rather than debit cards? Not a problem! Sign up for the HSBC Credit Card and you’ll be credited with $50 when you make your first purchase. Or the Woolworths Everyday Money Card, which gives you a $50 shopping card after you make 3 purchases. If you’re smart about these types of deals then you could be making yourself a tidy little sum for about half an hour’s work of filling in application forms. The banks are obviously hoping you will stay with them, but if you wanted you could simply then pocket the money, pay off the purchases and then cancel the card. However be careful doing this, because if you make lots of applications for credit this will show up on your credit history – and that may make it harder to get credit in the future!

Perhaps a better way of getting something for nothing from a credit card is via rewards points on a card that has no annual fee. If you always pay off your card in full, of course! There’s not many cards out there like this, but they include the American Express Gold Ascent Rewards Card, American Express Blue Sky Credit Card, the Bank of Queensland Blue Visa and the Coles Group Source Mastercard. There are also a few rewards cards that waive the annual fee if you spend more than a certain amount each year, including the Amex cards offered by AMP, HSBC and Suncorp.

If you’re the kind of person that can walk past a $50 note lying in the street then this blog isn’t for you. If not then enjoy your free lunch. I know I did.

(Note: the offers mentioned in the article were valid at the time of writing, but they may not be by the time you read it. And of course, there may be terms and conditions on each offer that we’ve not reproduced here.)

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