At risk of upsetting the holier than thou: 'I pay my card off every month using bitcoins via cashrewards made of recycled eneloops" crowd…
here's a good deal for scumbags like me who have lived in the moment at some point and bought something without having the pennies in the bank.
Better than any other deal going round in terms of annual fee and length by at least $50 and/or a few months.
In case you were wondering I bought myself drugs and loose women.
Worth it.
In case others were wondering, looks like you can also transfer balances from other GE Money cards (eg 28 degrees).
T&C's say as long as the balance transfer isn't coming from another coles card you're sweet.
According to the * no 4, ALL GE cards are excluded from balance transfer.
4 Offer only available for new applicants approved by 28th February 2015. Balance transfer minimum amount is $100. Balance transfer exclusions include credit cards issued outside Australia, other Coles MasterCards and GE issued credit cards. This special balance transfer rate is valid for 18 months from date your account is opened on our system. After that time the remaining transferred balance will revert to the standard annual percentage rate currently at 19.99% p.a. Standard terms and conditions apply for new transactions. Account must not be in default of your credit contract when the balance transfer is processed. Minimum monthly payments during interest free period apply. Paying only the minimum monthly payment of 2.222% may not pay out your balance transfer within 18 months.
Hmm. Missed that bit. It's worded differently in the pdf
pfft coles offered me a credit limit of 3k…. got a 30k limit on the citi….
will u spend that much? or rather paying it off by due date
na wanted to transfer my citibank balance to it. (using it as a free loan)
and 3k is a bit low for spending too….
Um. That makes perfect sense to me since you could still potentially rack up $33k of debt. Check your credit file? Apply for a couple more and see what happens :)
I'm guessing you're on pretty good coin to get a $30k limit.
na its also coz i got anz black rewards and bankwest zero as well…. too many ozbargain cards hahaha
(though I didnt declare on application for this coles card…)
The fact that you didn't declare them on the application is perhaps why you got such a low limit. They get all that information from Veda anyway so if there's undisclosed credit on the application it sends up red flags.
heh think you're probably right lol
@danwarne: I guess there is no way Veda can tell whether you are holding a credit card or not. It just tells about the check being made by provider while issuing that card to you (with the limit they gave you). Your credit file is same even if you didn't take the card after initial approval or cancel that card later on.
Not nece-celery. My ANZ card through the latest 50,000 points offer from OzB didn't show up on my credit file, or my girlfriends. I know this because I got both our files after the application was finalised
@dazzywazzy: so far there are 2 agencies that does it.. one appears to hold different information than the other …. so i'm curious to if you've checked both.
I haven't actually mate and I didn't know this, I've only got the one from DandB but is the other one direct from Veda themselves or someone else?
@dazzywazzy: DandB and Veda, and I get different entries for both… so you might want to check both to be very sure.
Got my VEDA report. You were right, ANZ is on there. Seems a bit dodgy one can have it and the other can't though?
@dazzywazzy: it's a matter of which agency the company uses/prefers, it's a cost to them so they won't use both to credit check. maybe when you are applying for mortgage (much larger amount), they might be more through.
"In case you were wondering I bought myself drugs and loose women"
And the rest you squandered?
Now I want to know what drugs OzBers use. Calls for a poll from EC, the resident demographic data spy.
Only the ones that were on clearance…
Chemist Warehouse is always on clearance isn't it?
At the moment, Zyrtec.
True OzBargainer would by a generic from the US.
+1 simply because the OP is a rare Internet user who knows how to use "loose" correctly
I still think he used it incorrectly -
"In case you were wondering I bought myself drugs and lose women"
The life of the ozbargainer, buy cheap drugs, alienate the women in his life (Mum, sister, partner), get a 18 months 0% balance transfer, and life is good again!
You are incorrect.
I suggest this bargain for you two so you are not injured as my joke flies over your head - https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/163233
I wasn't aware of this terrible scurge facing the internet, thanks for bringing it to my attention.
scurge? lol
Your a looser, mate! :-)
U speled m8 rong
As George Best said, "I spent 90% of my money on booze, women and fast cars. The other 10% I wasted."
I don't care about the 0% interest nor for the $ 0 annual fee. I just want to know - where do you meet up with these elusive loose women?
gray st.
And now we know Craig Thomson's OzB handle…
+1 to George Best
Wondering how OP payed those loosely looses – Old school swiping or tap and go Paywave ;)?
He bought eneloops, headphones and torches.
Good write up. Especially the first paragraph.
I particularly liked the last paragraph ;-)
I like all paragraphs equally
Hehe, if anyone wants to trade my string of algo numbers on paper for eneloops I'll happily swap! Paper may or may not be a real bitcoin block/hash whatever the term is. ;-p
also cant see where it says no annual fee / 18months interest free bt. am i missing it on the site…
It's on the "compare our cards" tab. And here's the fine print.
4 Offer only available for new applicants approved by 28th February 2015. Balance transfer minimum amount is $100. Balance transfer exclusions include credit cards issued outside Australia, other Coles MasterCards and GE issued credit cards. This special balance transfer rate is valid for 18 months from date your account is opened on our system. After that time the remaining transferred balance will revert to the standard annual percentage rate currently at 19.99% p.a. Standard terms and conditions apply for new transactions. Account must not be in default of your credit contract when the balance transfer is processed. Minimum monthly payments during interest free period apply. Paying only the minimum monthly payment of 2.222% may not pay out your balance transfer within 18 months.
The revert rate after the interest free period is quite high - 19.99%. If you don't think you'll pay it off within 18 months (and let's face it, the target audience for balance transfer offers is those that are not in a good position to pay off their debt), the interest will be pretty painful. You can always swing it over to another low interest credit card or balance transfer offer of course, but even those with good credit history may have trouble being approved with a good credit limit for credit cards if they are frequently applied for.
Let's also face it that people are terrible predictors of their own future behaviour (also terrible rating their own skills in case you're thinking hey that's not me :D ) and that's why these offers make money. It is doubtful that many of the people who will sign up are doing so thinking "I'm doing this to lose money…" and yet we know that's what happens.
Yes quite so. Humans aren't good at judging their own behaviour, but human behaviour is quite predictable to actuaries at finance companies!
Positive vote for your write up :)
I think the base Coles credit card has always been $0 annual fee (so the bargain here is the 18 months interest free)
However keep in mind that the base card only earns 1 flybuys point per $2 spent.
The Platinum card has a $50 annual fee (often waived first year), however it earns 4x the flybuys points, 2 points per $1 spent.
2,000 points = $10 off your groceries/Target spend etc.
This equates to a 1% "cashback" ($10 cash off for each $1,000 spent) on the Platinum card (plus bonus point offers).
If you spend more than $7,000 a year on your credit card ($583 / month - very easy - most people spend more than that on groceries alone) you are better off getting the Platinum card, paying the $50 annual fee (waived first year) and getting 4x the points and saving much more than the fee.
I got $40 free groceries just last weekend (split the shop into 4 purchases - the checkout lady didnt mind) and still have around $200 of points remaining).
And dont forget Coles also offer a whopping 2 years Price Protection, if you choose to activate it, and tend to pay your card off in full each month (to minimise the protection insurance fee).
To save having to split the bill did you know you can go to the website and convert all, or as many as you want, of your points to money on your flybuy card. When you do this you can spend as little/much as you want at any of the store that accept flybuys, you need a pin code to do it this way.
I knew I could order $50 prepaid Coles gift cards for 10,000 points, but no I did not know you could put the points/cash directly against your flybuys card - thanks for the tip!
Not the biggest deal in the world, but by redeeming your points for a gift card means that you can earn Flybuys points again on the purchase where, I'm pretty sure if you redeem Flybuy's dollars you don't earn the point on the $10 redeemed. Every cent counts ;)
Coles upgraded my coles credit card to platinum a few years ago. i dont need to pay the annual fee, but i've never used this card. now i start to realise this card actually is a pretty good one.
However, is the 18 months interest free only for new clients?
Yes I think it says that in the T&Cs
A few months ago Coles sent me a letter recently saying I had saved over $700 off my groceries (cash disc at checkout) in the past 12 months by redeeming my Flybuys points - I reckon its over $1,000 by now.
Most of my points come from everyday shopping anywhere (2pts/$), and both Coles supermarket and 1st Choice liquor shopping (especially with the 3x and 5x point bonus offers).
Given 1st Choice are one of my closest to home AND have a price match guarantee, it makes sense to buy my liquor there at the cheapest price (I price match almost every time I visit, usually against Uncle Dan's) and collect the bonus (usually multiplied) FB points.
I rarely carry much cash, so I usually offer to pay for group dinners and occasional friends/family big purchases on my credit card and get reimbursed, so I earn the points.
I once put a $15,000 JetSki on my credit card (sadly, before I got Coles, but I still got points) by putting it well in credit since my limit was only $7K at the time.
i used to think you only got good amount of points when you shopped in coles and other stores under coles group. my "gold" bmw amex card was my first option whenever i could use amex card, because its points never expired. now citi signature is my favorite. maybe i should bring coles card with me in the future.
You need a fast car aswell O.P!
What if you have this card can you get access to the BT?
the problem is they only offer small limit. cant bring balances from citi or anz
Coles credit card doesn't excite me but +1 for the write-up.
I don't want one, but I must plus-vote for the description.
nice. imma gunna buy asics and mining rigs and pay my electricity bills for the next 18 months with this card interest free.
There is a reason why those women are loose…..
why?
Morally, not physically
Could you BT a Citibank "cheque to self"?
Which means you could get BT from Citibank using signature for 6 months, then BT that balance to Coles MC for another 18 months.
I am really curious about this as well. this would be awesome but someone else mentioned that the limits on this card is small (Circa 3K) which wont be useful.
Can someone confirm if you can BT citibank 'free money' pls.
Any idea if we can redo the BT cheque to self after the initial 6 months? Or is it just once off?
Good card this.
Good customer service too - they waived a few fees when I did some silly things.
Closed my CBA mastercard because of the annual fee.
awesome balance transfer deal, applied & approved in under 60 seconds
just filling out the balance transfer form now!
I also get approved, but it says "You will receive a Welcome Pack containing your Coles MasterCard and other information in the mail within 5-10 working days"
where to fill out the balance transfer form?
I was given a balance transfer application form in PDF in the approval email. The welcome email already had my new Coles master credit card number.
The Balance transfer PDF says only 6 months interest free - can we assume we will get the 18 months?
You can also balance transfer over the phone, which is handy, if nerve racking reading out so many digits and dollars!
Nice one OP! That's the fastest I've ever applied and got approved… Card in the post. Cheers.
Thanks OP this a great deal - I have been balance transfer surfing for some time (with the money whacked in the mortgage to offset interest). In all the years I have been doing this I have never see a deal as good as $0 annual fee for 18 months.
Yep the banks are buying money very cheap on the wholesale markets at the moment
I'm interested in this concept - how are you managing it? Do you like get an amount of cash out of one credit card (with immediate interest, no days free), then bal transfer to the coles card for 18 months no interest and close the first card..?
I would like to ask about this too. Can you buy something for 10,000 using a credit card and immediately transfer the balance. Or can you withdraw cash etc….
I applied for a citibank 0% balance transfer for 9 months deal ages ago and transferred the balance to my 28 degrees card (about $15,000) which put my 28 degrees card $15,000 in credit, I then rang up 28 degrees and said "my account is in credit can i please have that sent to me as a cheque" it took like a month to get to me though. I then banked that cheque and transferred the money to my mortgage.
Just before the 9 months on the citibank card was up I applied for another card that had 0% balance transfers and then transferred to the citibank card and then closed the citibank card - I have done it about 5 times now. Another cool thing is after you've transferred the balance to the citibank card (or whatever card is just about to expire on the 0% deal) you can ring them up and say you are going to close it but you will stay if they give you another 0% balance transfer deal - citibank offerred me this out of the blue so I balanced transferred $15,000 to my 28 degrees card again.
I found ANZ also gave me another 12 months at 0% as well so I did the same.
The above sounds a bit complex - it's really not, just hard to explain clearly - if you want further clarification let me know.
Saved bucket loads of interest over the years (totalling thousands of dollars).
Have you had any issues with credit ratings, given you're opening and closing accounts all over the place?
Also, I wasn't aware you can balance transfer whenever you want. So even if I have had a card for years (e.g. your 28deg card), you can just transfer into it no worries (but without the balance transfer deal obvs)?
You my friend are a true ozbargainer!!
Also, run me through the very first step - you applied for the citibank 0% balance transfer for 9 months. Immediately after opening it has a balance of 0 credit / 0 debit. You then just say to 28 degrees "yo take 15000 out of my citibank card"? Or did you have to like make a cash withdrawal from the citibank card?
This is the only step I can't 100% wrap my head around…
It goes like this:
1) Apply for any 0% balance transfer card (like this coles one for example) - lets say you are approved for a $10,000 limit
2) Once approved ask for the balance transfer of $10,000 to be made to a credit card that you currently hold that will give you a cheque if it's in credit (I can confirm that 28 degrees will do this and have heard that citibank will as well).
3) Lets say your 28 degrees card had $0 balance at the time you asked coles to do the balance transfer, once it goes through your 28 degrees card will be $10,000 in credit.
4) Ring up 28 degrees and ask for a $10,000 cheque (or whatever amount you end up being in credit by).
Ahhhhhhhhhh gotcha. In my head I was seeing the negative balance moving, rather than a positive amount of money going from coles to whoever (resulting in the new negative balance in the coles card, but at 0% for 18 months).
You, sir, are a scholar and a gentleman. Many thanks for your time typing all this out!
Some cards (My Bank West Breeze for example), will allow you to simply Pay-Anyone the credit balance as long as it doesn't put you into the negative you pay no fee of any sort and it's only a 1-2 day wait to have the money in your home loan.
Best to check the terms and conditions/fees of course, but saves losing that months interest.
One thing that was potentially a bit misleading in my example is that both the Coles card and 28 degrees card are GE based cards so you may not be able to do a balance transfer to the 28 degrees from consoles and may need to use a different card as the destination - I think most card issuers will give you a check in credit but you might want to check first.
Another alternative is to just have the destination card in credit and spend it like usual - if you spend about $1500 a month like I do you'd still benefit with this long 18 month 0% deal and then you can always role pay off the coles card with a new 0% card before the 18 month is up.
A common misconception is that you can only transfer a balance up to the amount that the destination card is in debit by - this is untrue, the new card issuer has no idea how much you are in debt or aren't in debt with your old card.
This coles card is a pretty sweet deal - I got $10,000 so if they let me balance transfer the full amount (some issuers only do 80% of the approved credit amount) then it's worth about $650 in interest offsets on my mortgage over the 18 month period.
I currently have another 2 cards active with about $20,000 in total offsetting my mortgage. So right now I am saving about $1000 a year in interest
That's much better than a cheque - I should get a card that is easier for this kind of thing because I am finding when I go to close my 0% balance transfer cards after I have paid them back that I get offered the same 0% deal again - it would be great to have somehting faster than a cheque.
I have had no issues getting credit since I started doing this including moving my mortgage to someone else. I can't remember exactly what my veda score was recently but it was above average I think. I always make sure I close cards that I am no longer using and only keep the ones open that have active debts (with 0% interest).
You can only transfer a balance to another card on signup to the 0% card but it doesn't matter how long you have held the card that is receiving the balance transfer and you don't need to close the card receiving the balance transfer after it's done. The card that receives the balance transfer also does not need to be in debt by the amount of the balance transfer so say you want to transfer $10,000 - if the receiving card is only $1,000 in debt then that's fine, you will just end up $9,000 in credit
@seboya: yeh i'm having trouble opening further credit cards.
I've been approved for Citibank Signature, ANZ Platinum Rewards, ANZ Black, Bankwest Zero, 28 degrees
Lately I've been rejected for AMEX Platinum Edge and the Coles Mastercard.
But I also think this is because I've applied for around 4 cards in 2014 and have outstanding amounts with my telco & state revenue as well as an outstanding Citi balance transfer and a mortgage.
@chiefbodge: How about crediting the $10,000 to a Debit card? (Card in credit)? Which is effectively transferring the money into the transaction account, doable?
Not possible as far as I know. They will generally only transfer a balance to known credit card issuers (it is generally done via bpay - you can't bpay to a debit card).
As others have mentioned citibank will often do a cheque to self for their 0% balance transfer deals so that's probably the best way to go if you want to get cash out easily.
I did the same but with one of my ANZ balance transfers, the guy over the phone said he would have to open an investigation in case its money laundering. Investigation took ages & alot of upset phone calls b4 they finally released the cheque to me.
nice, maybe i can bring over my expiring Citibank 0% balance :D