How To Never Pay Credit Card Interest Or Fees

Find out how you can avoid paying credit card fees. Discover no annual fee credit cards that allow you to carry a cost-free credit card provided you pay your bill in full each month.

They say there are two things in life that are unavoidable: death and taxes. Happily, there is no mention of credit card fees, and this is because you can avoid them if you’re careful and know what you’re doing.

Where credit card fees and charges come from

Annual fees – Unlike in the UK where credit card annual fees are not charged, Australians are generally faced with the prospect of paying for the privilege of carrying plastic. However, a visit to a credit card comparison site will reveal that there are credit cards that waive their annual fees. These cards will normally have higher than average interest rates (and may even occasionally not offer any interest-free days). The thinking here is that your card should be kept for emergencies only, or that your spending must be tightly monitored to ensure you are always able to clear your balance at the end of every month. A failure to do so will mean that the higher interest you are charged will quickly negate any saving you made by avoiding an annual fee.

Interest charges – These are the inevitable result of spending more than you can pay off each month. The obvious way to avoid paying these charges is to know where your personal spending limit is, and to keep within it. This requires that you budget each month, taking into account your income and expenditure and knowing exactly how much you can put on your credit card and still completely pay it off.

Penalty fees – These will be imposed for such actions as exceeding your credit limit, or missing a minimum payment deadline. Again, avoiding credit card fees of this type just takes a little forethought, such as understanding where your spending is taking you, and when your payments must be made.

The 0% balance transfer offer

Once upon a time, and not too long ago, you could get your hands on a 0% balance transfer card with comparative ease. If you were really lucky, you could even find one that waived its annual fee. This meant that you could transfer an existing debt, and if you paid it off within the offer period you would have avoided interest charges. Sadly, this is no longer the case. Deals on balance transfers are now more common for 12 months, like with the range of ANZ credit cards, and charge 2% to 4% interest. Six months deals still exist, but not at 0%. Having said that, you should always do a thorough comparison of the market before applying for a credit card because you never know what new deals may have just popped up.

Overall, the best way to avoid credit card fees and interest charges is to take a no annual fee credit card and always clear your bill in full every month. That way, you can’t go wrong.

Check out today's featured offers:

Westpac Low Rate	Citibank Clear Platinum	Qantas AMEX Discovery	ANZ Platinum
0% p.a. for 6 months on purchases & balance transfers	2.9% p.a. for 12 months on balance transfers	$0 annual fee Up to 10,000 Bonus QFF Points	0% p.a. for 6 months on purchases & balance transfers

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Popular Credit Card Offers

			Interest Rate (p.a.)	Balance Transfer Rate (p.a.)	Annual fee	Cash Advance Rate (p.a.)
	Westpac Low Rate Card - 0% Offer	A credit card with a low rate offer on both balance transfers and purchases, plus a low annual fee.	0% for 6 months (reverts to 13.49% )	0% for 6 months	$45	21.49%
	Citibank Clear Platinum Card	Competitive interest rate on purchases and balance transfers offer.	11.99%	2.9% for 12 months	$99	21.74%
	St George Vertigo	Take advantage of this great offer from St.George with a low rate on purchases and a low balance transfer offer.	13.24%	0.99% for 12 months	$55	21.49%
	ANZ Platinum Credit Card	An introductory interest rate offer on balance transfers and purchases, plus a $0 first year annual fee.	0% for 6 months (reverts to 19.24% )	0% for 6 months	$0 annual fee for the first year( $87 thereafter)	20.99%