Credit Card Users Prefer Discounts Over Rewards: Survey
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday September 11, 2008
CONSUMERS are opting for credit cards with no annual fee or those offering discounts on petrol or grocery prices, a survey shows.
As confidence rebounds from recessionary low levels after last week's interest rate cut, a survey of 1402 credit card users by Research International shows Australians are breaking with their long-standing preference for credit cards with reward schemes, with 56 per cent saying they would apply for a card with no annual fee and no reward scheme next time."People's interest in reward-based cards is waning and they are becoming less single minded about the rewards they are looking for," said the report's author, Jonathan Sinton.When consumers were asked which reward scheme interested them most, food and fuel vouchers were the most popular. Frequent flyer points came sixth."Five years ago it was all about getting frequent flyer points on your credit card. Now, it's about everyday spending, racking up those points to gain discounts on food and petrol in an increasingly difficult economic climate," Mr Sinton said.A credit card analyst at Cannex, Frank Lopez, said of the 268 credit cards tracked by the research company, 28 offered no annual fee. But of these, half offered no "interest free" days, meaning interest was accrued from day one of a purchase.For those considering reward schemes, Mr Lopez said they only made sense if cardholders spent enough to earn points. The average return on an awards card was $74 in rewards for every $10,000 spent each year. "It's not worth it if you're going to spend peanuts."Meanwhile, official lending statistics show consumers remain cautious about taking on debt, with the annual growth rate in outstanding "revolving credit" slowing to 4 per cent in July.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald
