Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.
Please note this sub-forum does not provide professional finance advice. You should seek advice from a licensed financial advisor.

To post in this sub-forum you must have made 100 posts or have Trust status or have completed our ID Verification.

If investing please consider our affiliate link for new accounts: Sharesies.



tardtasticx

3075 posts

Uber Geek


#180703 18-Sep-2015 14:42
Send private message

So I've just noticed that the interest rate on my ASB Visa Classic has gone up by 1% in July, never heard a thing about it. I've looked on a few banks websites and they're all now selling credit cards with 20.95% instead of the usual 19.95% rate (which it had been since I got my first credit card like 4 years ago. )  


I'm just a bit confused now. I've seen in the news that the official cash rate or interest rate or something like that had dropped, which caused mortgage interest rates to drop quite significantly as well. Since that started happening, my interest rate on savings with RaboDirect has dropped quite a bit too, I get an email nearly every month now telling me the rates have changed. So if interest rates for lending and saving have gone down, why are credit cards going up?


I'm not annoyed by it since I pay it in full each month usually, but I thought I roughly understood how interest rates worked which now I obviously don't lol. Keen to know what I'm missing. 

Cheers!

edit: formatting

Create new topic
Michaelfjs
70 posts

Master Geek


  #1389733 18-Sep-2015 14:50
Send private message

Credit Cards aren't a competitive product for banks, unlike mortgages, which makes banks a lot more money.

Basically there's no incentive for banks to lower the normal credit card rates, they already all offer their low/no interest on transferred balances as a way to steal customers from other banks. 



floydbloke
3523 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

  #1389735 18-Sep-2015 14:52
Send private message

Because they can, would be my guess.

 I suspect it's more to do with demand for credit from consumers than the OCR.
Then again, lower OCR = lower mortgage rates = more money in people's pockets = less demand for credit, so there goes that argument.




Did Eric Clapton really think she looked wonderful...or was it after the 15th outfit she tried on and he just wanted to get to the party and get a drink?


sen8or
1789 posts

Uber Geek


  #1390145 19-Sep-2015 11:11
Send private message

Will also be to cover the cost of risk on credit cards. Given they are unsecured, c/card bad debt costs up to hundreds of thousand of dollars every month (was in the tens of thousands for just 1 bank when I left their c/card centre in 1994).

That cost of risk has to be covered by someone, unfortunately its the end users.

I do think credit card debt is simply too easy to get and to get out of control with, but they fulfil our "must have it now" mentality.

If you aren't disciplined and paying it off each month, definitely look around for the "swap your card to us" deals and take advantage of as many as you can to not pay interest. Only stop using the bloody things while you are paying off the debt. 



afe66
3181 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #1390223 19-Sep-2015 13:44
Send private message

Having a revolving credit component on our mortgage work very well. All possible costs paid on credit card, salaries into the revolving mortagage. Credit cards paid off in full each month, no interest and _alot_ of card points.

A.


nzerin
17 posts

Geek
Inactive user


  #1391755 22-Sep-2015 11:36
Send private message

ASB do a low rate Visa credit card, its 13.5% i think.  You don't get any points for anything but its a lower rate.

Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.