Credit card spending on the rise in Australia
THE amount of money racked up on credit and charge cards rose almost 8 per cent in September, figures from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) show.
Australians spent $19.191 billion on their credit and charge cards in September, compared with $17.802 billion in August, a rise of 7.8 per cent.
Making money from bear share markets
IF history does indeed repeat itself, now is the moment when a lot of investors will amass great fortunes, UBS wealth management head Liz Cacciottolo says.
By last week, “the general feeling from clients was that it has got to such extreme levels that value is there, and we saw a bit of cautious buying”, she told The Australian.
Citibank Personal Loan, Citibank Personal Credit
Looking to finance a new car, consolidate your debts? Read more
Credit Card or a Loan?
IT IS the twelfth round and both fighters are on the ropes.
Credit cards, popular with the crowd, have been through a lot of fights and are a little punch-drunk.
Personal loans may not be as popular but their lower interest rates are keeping them light on their feet.
OK, it’s not quite a sweat-laden title fight, but you can win if you know their game plan.
Why a credit card
Australians had 12.3 million credit cards in their wallets in July, carrying $40.4 billion of debt. We clearly like them, Zobel Finance manager Simon Burgess says. Read more
House Prices Starting to Fall?
MANY of the nation’s most prestigious suburbs appear to be facing house price slumps amid the credit crunch as their cheaper outer-suburban counterparts begin to emerge from years of price declines, The Australian reports. Read more
Interest Rates Slashed
All eyes and ears were awaiting the news this afternoon – and not to see which horse had come out on top. It’s Melbourne Cup day, and the luck was firmly within the homeowners grasp as the official interest rates were announced.
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Petrol price drop the biggest in years
PETROL prices have fallen almost eight cents in the past week, the biggest slide in more than four years.
As pump price wars broke out across suburban Sydney, fresh data from the Australian Institute of Petroleum showed the national average price of unleaded had fallen 7.7 cents to just below $1.40 a litre.
“The price of petrol could hit a 12-month low of $1.25 a litre in the next fortnight, courtesy of lower oil prices and a firmer currency,” CommSec’s chief equities economist Craig James said in a regular market briefing. Read more
CBA Cut Mortgage Rates
COMMONWEALTH Bank of Australia (CBA) has become the first major bank to cut its variable home loan interest rates, after the central bank eased official rates.
CBA has lowered its variable home loan interest rates by 58 basis points.
The move comes after the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) decision today to cut the cash rate by a larger than expected 75 basis points to 5.25 per cent.