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Date Published : Thursday, March 13, 2008
Consumers undertaking a credit card comparison should look, read and understand the small print before they sign up for a card, according to a new report.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a growing number of credit card providers are now setting one level of interest for purchases and another interest rate level for cash advances - with the details of the latter only being printed at the very end of the contract.
While only a small amount of people with credit cards use the cash advance option, for those who wish to it is important to check all the fine print before settling on a definitive credit card.
In January, Suncorp increased the purchase rate on its Clear Options Standard Visa from 10.25 to 10.5 per cent - a quarter of one per cent. At the same time it increased the cash advance rate on the card from 12.95 to 13.45 per cent - half of one per cent
Suncorp's executive manager of personal lending Barbara O'Conor Nash told the publication: "We launched Clear Options four years ago as the low-rate card in our portfolio.
"The purchase rate is very competitive and we wanted to maintain that. It is one of our most popular cards.
"The decision we made was that raising the cash advance rate would offset some of the cost of having a low purchase rate and would allow us to maintain a very competitive low-rate card offer."
Compare credit card rates.
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