Supplied (Edited) Content
Auckland, January 27, 2019
Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) has won the Inaugural Bank of the Year Credit Cards Award presented by Canstar.
The Bank had earlier won the ‘Bank of the Year-Small Business,’ ‘Bank of the Year-Online Banking’ and ‘Bank of the Year-Commercial Credit Cards’ in 2018.
BNZ Chief Customer Office Consumer and Wealth Paul Carter said that New Zealanders are getting much savvier with the way they manage their debt, and people are using credit cards in different ways now.
Low Rate Mastercard
Low Rate Mastercard is great for people who do not pay their balance off in full each month and who want low fees. If you plan to do your everyday spending on a Card and then pay it back each month, a BNZ ‘Advantage Visa Card’ is worth looking at, as it gives you the choice between earning Cash Rewards, which can be saved towards a future goal, or ‘Fly Buys’ points, with which travellers can fly almost anywhere in the world,” he said.
Mr Carter said that Credit Cards and their features are an important part of payments.
“Mobile payments and shopping online are trends that you simply cannot ignore – more and more of our transactions are happening online and through new payment technologies like Apple and Google Pay. A BNZ credit card lets you make the most of all of it,” he said.
Debit Card benefits
Mr Carter said that A Flexi Debit Visa is a great partner to a credit Card, allowing customers to get the benefits of a Credit Card, such as increased security and Contactless Payment technologies, but using customers’ own money.
Balance transfer deals can make switching banks for a new Credit Card a good deal, but customers should double-check the details of the transfer.
Warning on Transfers
“Right now, you can transfer a Credit Card balance from any other bank onto a BNZ Low Rate Mastercard and enjoy 12 months interest free. But not all balance transfers are created equally,” Mr Carter warned.
He said that it would be worth checking the order of payments applied to Credit Cards.
“When you transfer a balance to a BNZ Credit Card, your repayments go toward the highest interest balances first. This means new spending is paid off first and you can pay your transferred balance off over time without any unpleasant surprises,” Mr Carter said.
BNZ’s Paul Carter receiving the ‘Canstar Bank of the Year Credit Cards Award’ from Canstar New Zealand General Manager Jose George
(Picture Supplied)
