Commuters travelling on Sydney Ferries and the Inner West Light Rail can now leave their Opal card at home and instead tap on with their credit card, mobile wallet, smartwatch or other contactless payment devices.
Major bank CommBank will refund $16 million to its credit card and loan customers after it was revealed that they were sold policies they would not be able to claim on, due to their employment status, making them ineligible for a potential payout.
Aussies can’t quite tame the urge to splurge according to recent data from peer to peer lender RateSetter which revealed that 28% of balance transfer credit card holders are nearing the end of their promotional period but haven’t managed to crush their debt.
Whipping out a debit or credit card to pay for an online shopping spree is a familiar move for many Aussies, but it seems that card fraudsters are just as infatuated with the idea, and it’s costing cardholders hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
From the added convenience of being able to pay for big ticket items on the spot, to points earning potential and even complimentary insurances - it’s no wonder Australians love their credit cards. In fact, according to RBA statistics from December 2017, there are just shy of 17 million (16,695,000) credit and charge card accounts in Australia.
In a show of inclusiveness before this weekend’s 2018 Mardi Gras in Sydney, the design teams at two Australian banks have been busy showing off their flair with the release of two rainbow credit cards from St.George and a host of ‘GAYTMs’ from ANZ.
In a move aimed at improving consumer protection and addressing the nations mounting credit card debt, the federal parliament passed a suite of changes last week, including a ban which will stop banks and other providers from sending unsolicited card limit increase offers to their customers.
Earlier this week, NAB discontinued its Velocity Rewards and Velocity Rewards Premium credit cards, leaving Velocity Frequent Flyers with two less plastic options to choose from and Mozo did some data crunching to see which cards now offer travellers the best Velocity bang for their buck.
Credit cards are typically used to fund items that Aussies can’t wait to have, but according to new Mozo research, 4 in 10 credit card holders are using their plastic to pay for everyday expenses, like groceries and bills.
Big banks Westpac and ANZ will be forced to refund over $21 million to thousands of credit card customers following concerns by The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).