Looking at buying some stuff to furnish the house and it would be great if i could do that in monthly installments. Most of the stores around provide emi's through GEM VISA or Go cards. However i am a bit confused on the fees.
The other option i have is to go for NAB which has a 0% interest free for 15 month on purchases with a annual fee of 70$.
Are there any other options other than this and what would you recommend?
Alternatively you can get a CC with a 0% balance transfer and do your purchases on any card. The Amex Essentials Card seems to fit the bill.
Thanks for your suggestion. How do i use a balance transfer card for Purchases? Are you saying that, i need to get two credit cars, make purchases on one and move the balance to Amex to get the 0% balance transfer option?
I believe that's how it works, although I haven't done it myself. I think the balance transfer cards are particularly appealing to people who have already accumulated a large cc debt.
Yes, essentially what you say is correct, purchase with one, then transfer it to another. Please read up on some of the catches if you decide to go down the balance transfer road.
Amex cards' balance transfer info is here. Note that some cards charge establishment fees for setting up the balance transfer. (Amex Essentials card is $0). It is important to keep track when the balance period is over. The safest thing if you don't want to pay any interest is dont use the card for any purchases during that period, if you do, you have to read up on how to do this carefully to avoid interest.
Have a search on balance transfer threads on this and the whirlpool forum, which contain more tips/experiences from people about this.
Thanks a lot. It helped! I am going to go the easier way of getting the Nab card for now. As i dont think it would be organised enough to keep track of balance transfers.
As ilikeradiohead mentioned, the Amex Essentials Card is a good one, not just because of the 0% on balance transfer for first 12 months, but being able to take advantage of the cashback offers Amex provides. The best part being the decent reward scheme and the flexibility to claim rewards for a fee-free card. See my comment responding to another OZB member recently on this. Hope you find this helpful.
I would have thought it's up to the retailer who excepts certain providers. HN - go MasterCard, bing Lee - masters - HSBC.