News Archive for August 2014

Malaysia Airlines has released a series of new online offers for flights from Australia and New Zealand, according to eGlobal Travel Media.

A Galaxy Research survey commissioned by MasterCard as part of its submission to the Financial Systems Inquiry showed Australians are paying $1.6 billion annually in credit card surcharges.

With a growing demand for cruises in the Australian and New Zealand market, travel booking website Webjet has decided to come to the party by launching 4,000 cruises - including Princess Cruises, P&O, Royal Caribbean and Carnival - on its Australian and New Zealand websites.

Buying a home is an expensive undertaking before the removalist truck has even arrived, especially when you take all the extra bills, home loan application fees and stamp duty into consideration.

Retailers rejoiced when June retail spending showed the largest rise since January and the good news keeps on coming, with spending lifting across the nation over July by 0.4% in trend terms, according to the Commonwealth Bank Business Sales Indicator (BSI).

IBISWorld has tipped Visa payWave and MasterCard PayPass “tap and go” payments will replace traditional physical credit and debit card payments by 2020 for transactions under $100.

Good news for avid collectors of frequent flyer points as Qantas has introduced an 'online mall' at qantaspoints.com, where members can earn up to five points for every dollar spent from retailers that include David Jones, Apple, The Iconic, Pottery Barn, eBay, Macy’s and Booktopia.

After the weakening of consumer sentiment post-Budget, retailers have welcomed the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to keep rates on hold for another month after its August meeting yesterday.

At the August Board meeting, the Reserve Bank of Australia has left the official cash rate at a historic low 2.50% for the 12th consecutive month.