Gem Visa. Good value or too good to be true?

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › Gem Visa. Good value or too good to be true?

billgates

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#112848 23-Dec-2012 17:03

Hi folks. Looking at getting a Gem Visa card for couple of reasons.

1. 1.25% international transaction fees. I buy lot of things from overseas via credit card so this looks good. Currently palying 2.1% to ASB.

2. Price and Merchandise protection. I realise that there is 1% premium of your monthly credit card bill but , they refund the difference if the item that you purchased from a retailer is on sale within six months, you get the difference back.

On top you have interest free purchases for 6 months over $250 etc which is not a deal breaker or maker for me as I pay my card off before 55 days of billing period are over without incurring any interest.

Account fees is also very low at $48 and the high interest rate of 25% does not bothers me as I pay it off in time.

So any thing to watch out for from Gem Visa or the company behind it?

Thanks

Do whatever you want to do man.

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#736604 23-Dec-2012 17:05

Is it related to GE Money?

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billgates

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#736606 23-Dec-2012 17:06

Bing says Yes it is. Is GE Money bad as a company? Heard about them but don't know if they are good or bad.

Gem Visa is provided by GE Finance and Insurance trading as GE Money.

Do whatever you want to do man.

sbiddle

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#736608 23-Dec-2012 17:08

It is GE Money.

They canned their old GE Money / Finance card and pushed everybody to a Visa.

nakedmolerat

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#736610 23-Dec-2012 17:15

Gem Visa is provided by GE Finance and Insurance trading as GE Money

khull

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#736619 23-Dec-2012 17:51

I was thinking about this myself - I have purchases that make a big dent on the budget on certain months (like an overseas trip) and that gets paid off completely - I have discipline to do this but sometimes have to dig into savings to clear the credit card. With the Gem Visa I could possibly avoid having to transfer money from the savings account as it is interest free for 6 months (and keep the interest in savings)

Benjip

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#736621 23-Dec-2012 17:59

I've had one for 12 months or so, I love the six months interest free.

My only complaint is their online 'banking' system, it's fairly basic and it didn't even work in Safari until a couple of months ago. And transfers to the card take two business days (something to keep in mind when paying off stuff).

billgates

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#736623 23-Dec-2012 18:05

^ Good to read. Do you also have the purchase protection insurance on your account? If so, have you had the chance to use it and was the difference in refund honoured by Gem Visa without any major issues?

Do whatever you want to do man.

Delorean

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#736634 23-Dec-2012 18:30

I also have one, they would be one of the better cards on the market when compared to the major Banks. However if you don't pay if off before the due date, they are very expensive.

You get 6 mths on all purchases over $250
You get the GE Credit line offers (Harveys, Noels etc)

Also the up to 55 days interest free on everything under $250

The $48 card fee p/a is not bad value with the extended IF terms

Benjip

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#736637 23-Dec-2012 18:49

billgates: ^ Good to read. Do you also have the purchase protection insurance on your account? If so, have you had the chance to use it and was the difference in refund honoured by Gem Visa without any major issues?

Nope I don't have that. I imagine there'd be a few hoops to jump through to actually claim on it.

mjb

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#736638 23-Dec-2012 18:51

Delorean: However if you don't pay if off before the due date, they are very expensive.

This is the key - GE make all their money from their cards (GEM Visa, GE Creditline, etc) from people who do not pay off the purchases before the Interest Free period expires.

It may make no sense, but the truth is that something like 70-80% of purchases are not paid off in time. It's like they have a license to print money basically... so yeah, if you have the discipline to pay such cards off in time, they're a good deal for being able to purchase/replace important items (I use our Creditline card for whiteware and such like). If you don't, they're a really really bad idea.

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billgates

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#736640 23-Dec-2012 18:52

Thanks for the replies people. Have applied for it just now with the Purchase protection insurance. Will only use the card when purchasing something considerably expensive or purchasing products from overseas with significant value. This way the insurance premium amount will either be $0 or at best very low every month depending on the usage. Still going to keep my ASB Visa.

Do whatever you want to do man.

logo

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#736661 23-Dec-2012 19:46

Sound like an ok card - the overseas commission is attractive

However the lack of a rewards scheme is noticeable - for example I received $500 cashback on my card last year.

Goosey

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#736665 23-Dec-2012 20:18

Theres a big push / marketing campaign on at the moment for GEM Visa.
Just like any other credit card provider, they want YOU.

richms

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#736731 23-Dec-2012 23:05

If you get something on interest free, and then buy things that are not, you are paying the interest free thing first, not the more recent ones that will go out of interest free in 30-40 days, so if you do get a big TV on no interest for 12 months, you have to not use the card for anything else to actually achieve that.

very slow to process payments onto the card, allow 2-3 days, not the next day or same day that a real bank offers.

Wont email you statements, just an email to tell you that you have one, you have to log onto a horridly badly written website that will if you are lucky give you a PDF, but IME more often than not just runs you around in a circle of login and password requests and then will ask for you easily guessed "secret" questions to verify a new computer, which is not really a new computer.

Richard rich.ms

networkn

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#736734 23-Dec-2012 23:17

I like the idea of the low commission but one thing to keep in mind, is the the exchange rate they actually use.

If it's 1-2c more expensive then ultimately you are just as badly if not much more badly off.

Also lack of a reward programme is a deal breaker for me. I spend so much on my card each year that I can pretty much fly whereever I want for little :)

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