Lowest Rate Credit Cards Deals & Best Reward offers in NZ
Updated 11th July 2010
Check on the left menu for other deals or other pages of interest:
Looking for the Lowest Interest Rates for a Credit Card?
Best Introductory rates on Balance Transfers These are the lowest rates when you transfer the balance of your present credit card to these companies credit cards (Must be different credit card companies).
CURRENT BEST DEAL:Westpac Credit Cards
5.95% balance transfer rate for life when you transfer your credit card balance/debt from another company's credit card to a Westpac Credit Card.
If you are paying off your credit card and are paying off the debt & you pay more than 5.95% you could save yourself alot of money over the life time of that debt if you transfer to deals like this.
Warehouse Mastercard2.99% for first 6 months on Balance Transfers plus get 1 reward point for each dollar transferred! (Annual fee $34)
Kiwibank 4.99% on balance transfers for first 6 months (
ZERO ANNUAL FEE if Kiwibank Zero)
BNZ 4.99% on balance transfers for 6 months but now only on their BNZ platinum & GlobalPlus Platinum and only for 6 months. For their non platinum cards their best deal is on the BNZ Visa lite at 5.95% for 6 months
Lowest Standard Rates for Credit CardsThese are the lowest rates for standard purchases on your credit card. ie you don't need to transfer your credit card balances to get these rates. (annual fee in Brackets)
Bank Direct Low interest Visa ($60/yr) 11.95%
ASB Low interest Mastercard without True Rewards ($60/yr) 12.50%
Kiwibank Low Rate Mastercard ($50/yr) 12.90% plus 4.99% on balance transfers for first 6 months.
BNZ Lite Visa ($60) 13.25% on purchases plus 4.99% special balance transfer for life BNZ's Honey I shrunk the Debt!
Lowest Annual FeeKiwiBank Mastercard Zero
No Annual Fee if you pay for something on the card every 3 months!
Compare Credit Card RewardsFlightsA recent consumer report compared flight rewards with credit cards and showed how many flights to Sydney you would get if spent $25000/yr on your credit card:
Best Amex Blue with turbo rewards 0.73 (card fee $163/yr)
Qantas ANZ Platinum card best cards 0.69 ($105/yr)
0.73 means 73% of the value of the flight. So you’d need to spend $25000 to get just 73% of points needed to fly to Sydney!
(Note the taxes & fuel surcharges are often not included on these frequent flyer flights and can be very expensive in these days of high fuel prices (around $100 to sydney!))
It can therefore take a lot of spending to get your rewards. Also, with any reward scheme, always consider any annual fees; you may find that you’ve been charged more in fees than you’ve saved with rewards!
Cashback rewardsLow spenders:
Amex Blue (fee $35 waived for 1st year)
Spend over 12 months
| NZ$1 - $2,000 | 0.50% of eligible spend up to $2,000 |
| NZ$2,001 - $4,500 | 0.75% of eligible spend between $2,001 and $4,500 |
| NZ$4,501 + | 1% of eligible spend above $4,500 |
Max cashback: $1100 per 12 months
Middle to high spenders:
National Bank Thoroughbred cardsThoroughbred Card (fee $45/yr)
Spend: $2000-$7999/yr: 0.5% cashback of your spend (spend $5000 get $25 back)
$8000-30,000/yr: 1% cashback (spend $12000 get $120)
Gold Thoroughbred Card (fee $95 but includes gold travel insurance)
Spend: $2000-7999/yr: 0.5% cashback of your spend (spend $5000 get $25 back)
$8000-50,000/yr: 1% cashback (spend $12000 get $120)
Lowest annual fee
KiwiBank Mastercard Zero $0 annual fee if use card every 3 months.
The cost of the annual fee of a credit card can outweigh cost of the rewards if you spend very little on the card.
Some banks may offer you a fee free credit card for 6 months if you have been a good or new customer. Always ask if this is possible. It has worked for me in the past !
Travel insurance with Gold/Platinum Credit Cards
Gold credit cards offer some of the best deals if you travel at least
once a year as you usually get free travel insurance. The savings from
having free travel insurance alone can cover the cost of the annual
fee, let alone getting free rewards on some cards.
Most Gold, Platinum or Titanium credit cards offer free travel insurance when paying for your flights & holiday costs with your credit card.
As you can see below its a minefield of information and the companies don't make it easy to compare! Each has slightly different terms & conditions.
To activate the travel insurance cover each has slightly different terms.
Some say you need to pay for the whole trip with credit card, some allow you to pay with account funds from linked bank account (ASB credit card with their ban account).
Please note: Always check the terms haven't changed since this table was published. Always check your with the card issuers before relying on this below as it is only a guide and can change at any time.
The policies & their wordings can change at any time so always check your policy before departure.
Make sure you always have proof of purchase for anything in your baggage you may want to claim as the insurance company will always ask for this.
This is the most recent information we have if looking for new card or looking to see what you get.
| | type | No. of days insurance if holiday bought with card
| Can I use Frequent flyer points?
| Card Fee /yr
|
AMEX
| Platinum | 180 | Only if bought flight with Amex destination miles
| $325
|
ANZ
| Gold
Platinum
| 90
90
| Yes but must pay
50% holiday costs on card
| $80
$150
|
| ASB | Gold Platinum | 90 120 | Yes Yes | $80 $170 |
BNZ
| Gold | 35 | Only Air New Zealand or Flybuys & must pay any taxes etc with card
| $80
|
KiwiBank
| Gold | 40 | Yes but must pay other holiday costs on card
| $80
|
National Bank
| Gold Thoroughbred
Gold
| 90
90
| Yes
Yes
| $95
$75
|
GlobalPlus
| Gold
Platinum
| 35
90
| Yes
Yes
| $105
$200
|
Westpac
| Gold
Titanium
| 35
120
| Minimum $1000 travel costs pre-paid
Min $500 travel prepaid
| $70
$290 |