Consumer advocacy group Choice has penned a study claiming that fees charged by airlines for processing credit card payments are too high and not in proportion to the amounts involved, with particular disapproval given to Qantas and Tiger Airways.

Most airlines, it seems, charge a flat fee for each passenger and flight, rather than a percentage of the cost involved. The fee then becomes exorbitant and disproportional in the case of budget domestic flights, which of course cost less than overseas flights or business class fares. read more..

You were just approved for a new credit card. You have a $10,000 credit limit, but does that mean you should actually use that credit card for $10,000 worth of balance transfers, bill payments, and purchases?

In most cases, it isn’t a smart financial decision to use the full credit limit available to you. As you increase your debt to credit ratio, you demonstrate that you don’t know how to moderate your spending very well. Then when you apply for another card down the road, you could appear to be a bigger credit risk (after all, if you already have several credit cards with decent-sized limits, why would you really need more in the eyes of a new creditor?). That’s not even the primary issue though. There are more important considerations. You might even be surprised to hear that it could be okay to max out a credit card in some, very limited, circumstances. Let’s look at some: read more..

A new joint venture between Citibank and Virgin Money will offer credit cards, mortgages, and retail deposit and savings accounts in Australia, in an effort to reduce the market share of the four largest Australian banks.

The profit sharing agreement, concluded late the previous week, has Citibank providing infrastructure, funding, and its large banking network exclusively to Virgin Money for ten years. Citibank is the retail banking division of Citi, a global investment bank, while Virgin Money is the financial services arm of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. read more..

Rewards programmes can be one of the most attractive features of some credit cards. Whether you want to earn frequent flyer points (like with the ANZ Frequent Flyer credit card) or rewards points towards other products or services (like gift cards or cash back), a rewards card make you feel like you’re getting something for nothing. A better way to look at it is that you’re getting something for spending money you would have spent anyway. But rewards cards have their drawbacks (or let’s call them “cautions” instead since they’re not really problems if you know about them before applying).

Here are three things you should watch out for when applying for rewards cards to make sure you choose the credit card with the best rewards programme for your spending habits. read more..

When the ATM machine at the Campbelltown branch of Commonwealth bank began dispensing $50 notes instead of $20 ones last Monday, word spread quickly. Some customers doubled back and made multiple withdrawals, taking advantage of the error which gave them as much as 150% per withdrawal, before the error was noted and corrected on Tuesday. read more..