Balance Transfers in the Australian Credit Card Market

Balance transfers are perhaps the newest addition to the list of features for a typical credit card. In addition to interest rates, fees and a number of the other aspects that have been with credit cards since the start, balance transfers represent a formalized way to define the procedures governing the transfer of a balance from one credit card to another. In most cases, the balance that is being transferred is taken from the old credit card that a person was using and then transferred to the new credit card they have just signed up for.

-

Balance transfers can be used by a person to take the balance that they have on a high interest credit card and transfer it to a low interest credit card. Similarly, balance transfer credit cards have introductory offers on them that allow the transferred balance to spend a certain amount of time without any interest being applied to it at all. While these offers tend to be promotional in nature rather than anything that is intrinsic to the nature of the balance transfer credit card, they are at the same time great opportunities for people with large balances on high interest credit cards to give themselves a chance to put a significant dent in that balance without having to worry about interest wiping out any gains that they might make.

-

Australian Balance Transfer Introductory Offers

There are many different things about balance transfers that are unique to the Australian credit card market. For starters, the balance can only be transferred once the credit card has been processed and accepted. In many cases in other companies, the credit card company will actually pay the balance transfer off before they accept the credit card application in order to give their customer the chance to escape with a month’s worth of interest, but this is not something that happens in the Australian credit card market.

As far as rates are concerned, the typical rate that you will see in balance transfer introductory offers is 0%. This can be thought of as being the primary introductory rate for balance transfer credit cards and it is the one that all of the best balance transfer credit cards in the market have. Some of the other credit cards will have a primary introductory rate during the first part of the balance transfer period and then will increase that rate to somewhere between 1% and 5% during a second introductory period that is just as long, before finally increasing the interest on the transferred balance up to whatever the normal interest rate for the card happens to be. There are also balance transfer introductory rates that are not zero at any point during the introductory period, but these are credit cards that are not primarily intended as balance transfer credit cards.

-

More so than the actual balance transfer introductory rate it is the period of time that the rate applies that tends to vary. In most of the best credit cards in the market the rate is six months long, although there are rates that are shorter on many of the sub-par balance transfer deals or the deals that are not intended to be the primary reason to get the credit card. The six month 0% introductory rate for balance transfers in the Australian credit card market is something that is below average when compared to the rest of the world where most of the best balance transfer cards have introductory rates of 0% that extend between 12 months and 18 months in length.

-

There is one catch about the introductory offer on a balance transfer however and it is a catch that applies to balance transfer credit cards all over the world. The catch is that you must make all of the minimum payments for your balance on time. If you fail to make a payment on time or if the payment is not at least a minimum required amount, the credit card company will rescind your introductory offer in most cases and force you to pay normal credit card interest on the full amount of your balance. This deal has severely hurt people in the past, so make sure that you are aware of this stipulation before you agree to anything.

Related posts:

1. Credit Card Balance Transfer: 9 Important Facts on Balance Transfers
2. Balance Transfers with joint Primary Cardholder’s Guide
3. Credit Card Finder Email Feature: Balance Transfers Answered
4. New Virgin Credit Card Set To Save The Australian Credit Card Market Millions
5. 0% Balance Transfers Vs. Life of Balance Transfers
6. St.George Vertigo MasterCard Special Offer – 2.99% On Balance Transfers & Purchases
7. Virgin Credit Card Taking On The Australian Credit Card Market

Editor's Choice: Our Top Credit Cards

Credit Card	Card Details	Interest Rate (p.a.)	Cash Advance Rate (p.a.)	Balance Transfer Rate (p.a.)	Annual fee	Interest free days (up to)
St George Vertigo	Editor's Choice: Low Interest Low 2.99% for 6 months (reverts to 11.99%) p.a. interest rate and balance transfer rate, from one of Australia's most respected banks.	2.99% for 6 months (reverts to 11.99%)	20.74%	2.99% for 6 months	$55	55
Coles Group Source MasterCard	The Coles Group Source MasterCard has no annual fee, a 0% p.a. balance transfer offer for 6 months, with a rewards program including savings on fuel and FlyBuys Points	19.74%	21.99%	0% for 6 months	$0	62
Bankwest Zero Platinum MasterCard	Editor's Choice: No Annual Fee Excellent introductory offer with a $0 annual fee for the life of the credit card and a 1.99% p.a. for 9 months on balance transfers	16.99%	16.99%	1.99% for 9 months	$0	55