Why are Visa and Mastercard forcing you to have contactless credit cards?
Filed under: Banks, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
ASB contactless credit cards are a faster and simpler way to pay for your purchases. Now you can fly through checkouts at participating stores, paying by just tapping your card on the terminal.
This new technology sends payment data to the terminal at the checkout with just one quick tap to the terminal. Once your payment has been confirmed you’re ready to go.
Problem is – it seems that these cards are being sent out automatically to people. And many of those people are phoning the banks and trying to get an old style card back because they don’t want a contact-less credit card. We don’t want one either – the security holes in this system are big enough to drive fly an Star Destroyer through)
The problem is they are being refused. That’s right – you have NO CHOICE except to have a credit card that allows funds to be taken out of your account without you ever having to swipe it, push the chip into a machine or type in a pin or sign for it.
Given that banks and Credit Card companies has thus far failed to find a way to stop your average common or garden credit card fraud – you would think they would be loathe to invent a system that is wide open to mistakes, abuse and the emptying of your account.
And the worse thing is that if this does turn out to be watertight as a sieve – most people wont even notice because most people never look at their credit card statements. It should be noted that although I have posted up a picture from ASB and quoted their website – this is not something ASB are forcing on us (or any other bank for that matter). This is being driven by the Credit Card Companies – though I have to say that the banks probably have the power to tell the to get stuffed if they wanted to.
Time for an RFID Blocking Wallet???
What my credit card says about me.
For some bizarre reason this morning, hubby had a flick through the credit card bill that arrived yesterday, and noticed that there seemed to be a marked preference for spending in a certain type of shop.
So for you amusement – here are the types of items you can see on our credit card statement.
Supermarket – 15 Items
Business stuff – 2 Items
Medicines & Health care – 2 Items
DIY – 2 Items
Health Insurance – 1 item
Clothes – 1 Item
Cinema – 1 Item
Utilities – 2 Items
Books & DVD’s – 7 Items
Online Gaming – 4 Items
Cafes and Restuarants – 21 Items
Ooops. I’m off for a coffee to drown my sorrows!
The New Zealand Art Show Wellington
Last night we popped along to the opening of the NZ Art Show in Wellington.
Now this isn’t usually “our thing”. Neither of us are particularly “arty”, and I have a tendency to think of things like this as a little pretentious. Though I do quite love painting an drawing myself. But in this case we were actually invited by the Bank.
Yep. We owe the bank enough money that they invited us to something!
Actually that’s not strictly true – we owe them more than we did when we bought our home, but it’s still not exactly a huge amount. But ASB are the main sponsors of the event, and our personal manager at the Manners Street branch asked if we would like to go.
Far be it from me to turn down wine and nibbles supplied by the bank!
But you know, the event really is rather impressive – even if Art is not really your thing. The main impression I left with was there that would be something in there for everyone. Some of it I found hideous, and some I swear I would have whipped out the credit card for if I had had the money to burn on it. But I guess that is the point of art – it’s all very individual. One person’s loves are another person’s loathes. And as long as you can afford it – well, then it’s your taste that matters, not anyone elses.
Just don’t take out a loan from the very friendly bank to do it!
As someone buys a piece, new work is added, so over the three days of the exhibition, it will be changing.
Tickets are $10 each for Friday during the day, Saturday and Sunday.
Edited to add. As we were leaving we saw Alan Bollard, govener of the Reserve Bank heading into the show. I sure hope he wasnt buying anything and thus adding to the rate of inflation meaning he just has to put our interest rates up!
Paying off debt – still too hard for most people :(
Filed under: Banks, General Budgeting, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
According to a piece on the herald today, Kiwi consumer debt (that doesn’t include mortgages on property) still stands at a whopping $11.96 billion. That’s $11,960,000,000. Now the Stats NZ population clock stands at over 4.4 million, but census information says there are 895,000 people here under the age of 15. Which leaves an “adult(ish) population of 3.5million give or take. Which means on average every one over the age of 15 would be carrying a debt of $3417 each, all at high interest rates. This is debt on credit cards, store card and hire purchase.
That’s actually quite a lot really.
And according to the article, the most that people are thinking of doing to sort this out is not get further into debt. But there are very few people thinking of paying it down.
Now for the moment, we also have some consumer debt on a credit card – expenses from setting hubby up as a contractor. As you know, we swapped this to a “low” interest credit card, saving us about $250 a month in interest, and that is being paid off rapidly, and will be gone by the end of September. To be honest, I felt really unconformable having the debt there, and it just didn’t seem to be getting lower. So we took steps and have budgeted $2000 a month to pay the card off. Now most people will not have the income to do that, especially here in New Zealand. But the bottom line is – debt has to be paid off somehow.
It doesn’t have to be $2000 a month, but it does have to be more than the minimum payment, and having consumer debt means if nothing else – you have to stop buying things you cannot afford.
Its a pain – but its true.
Apparently the interest we are collectively paying on our credit cards (at an average of 18%) is $650 million in a year.Now shared amongst the same 3.5 million of us sharing the debt, that works out at a reasonable sounding $185 a year each. But when you consider that you pay that for the privilege of having the debt, and you actually don’t have anything to show for it – its a bit of a waste of money isn’t it?
Believe me – that $2000 debt repayment could be much better spent on us having some fun. Though actually because I’m completely sad – once the credit card is paid off, its going to be used to pay down some of our business mortgages. We may however be able to use 1 month of it to fund the purchase of a new laptop. In the meantime, I gain a huge amount of pleasure from denying the banks a fair chunk of interest each month.
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I’m a credit card tart and proud of it!
Filed under: Banks, General Budgeting, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
A credit card tart is someone who swaps the balance of their credit card to another card in order to take advantage of special low introductory rates on balance transfers.
This was hugely popular in the UK in the years before we emigrated, where it was not unusual to get several offers in the post each month from different providers, often with 0% interest on the balance transfer.
Now many people took these out, and ended up spending yet more money and ended up with a lot more debt. But people in the know used these rates to pay down debt faster and faster – including us.
Yet when we came to New Zealand, there was no such thing. With standard interest rates on cards at about 20%, “low” rates were about 7% at the cheapest. But now ANZ are offering 2.99% on balance transfers for 6 months. And while most banks won’t “lend” me money (because we have investment properties), one of our mortgages is with ANZ and they have decided to take our business. I am not taking on an extra credit card – I will be canceling the ASB card as soon as I have the physical new card – I just want to take advantage of a good offer!
This is the only credit card we have with debt on it – and it is associated with Hubby’s contracting business – so this is where all the set up costs, training costs and such went. The interest we are paying on the card with ASB is about $200 a month. On the ANZ card it will be about $30.
Not a bad saving.
Even better – one of those money saving options that results from not having to “give up” a single cup of coffee (or anything else!)
Of course the trick to being a successful Tart is to keep paying off the credit card at the same rate, and not see the $170 reduction as extra money you can spend! I will be aiming to have the balance paid off in full by the end of the 6 months introductory period, and then we can go back to not having a revolving balance on any of our cards.
So thanks today goes to ANZ bank – for not only helping me out with my finances and budgeting, but for making the process of getting the cards and transferring the balance an easy and pleasant one. I am very impressed.
In contrast to my opinion of Kiwibank.
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Making the most of your Credit Card Provider
Filed under: Banks, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
Did you know that when you buy good and services on a credit card – you automatically access one of the most convenient consumer protection services I have seen?
Most people don’t.
If you don’t get the service you paid for, and you are getting nowhere with requesting refunds – you can contact your credit card company and ask them to reverse the charge.
You get a nice credit on your card, and the seller has to take it up with the credit card. In the UK you can often do this over the phone, but here in New Zealand you usually have to fill out a form laying out the steps you have taken to resolve the issue with the seller. Often, an email or two that you have sent the seller, showing that you got no reply, is enough.
Please don’t be shy about using this service – especially if you live somewhere where you are being charged for your credit card. 
It can save you a lot of money – and to be honest – even if it saves you a little bit of money – better that money is in your pocket than the pocket of someone who “sold” you goods or services they didn’t provide. This also means you should try and pay for good and services with a credit card whenever possible, so that you do have this kind of protection.
Good luck – it works for me, and prevents dishonest businesses taking advantage of me!
(Note: I learned today that this apparently is not the case everywhere – such as Malaysia.)
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Why the hell does WizWireless want to charge 5.4% Credit Card Surcharge???
Filed under: Banks, Cost of living, General Budgeting, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
I’ve just had a rather rambling email from WizWireless, our Internet provider, who among other things have said that prices are going up form some people (but don’t actually seem to have told us who and to what – communication is not a high skill of theirs I often have to ask for clarification) and that they will now allow you to pay by Direct Debit or Credit Card.
But they are going to charge a massive 5.4% surcharge on Credit Cards.
WTF???
If their merchant services are charging them that much – they need to change banks, and if they aren’t, then WizWireless need to hang their heads in shame for profiting from bank charges at our expense.
I’m sick of this. It’s rampant here in Australia – all over the news this week (well before a royal engagement announcement anyway) was the fact that about 60% of businesses here are planning on charging CC Surcharges. Cos of course they aren’t already charging an arm and a sodding leg! Restaurants and Hotels seem to be the worst. The Hilton – to whom we paid over $100 for 2 main meals and 2 glasses of wine (using a Bogof deal from the entertainment card) snuck on a 1.5% CC Surcharge at the till.
Turns out we are exempt from the surcharge that the hotel charges. Like I’ve said before – a lot of people will remove the charges if you ask them to. The guy at the hotel asked me in a confused tone why I didn’t want to pay it! What the hell can you say to that?
Um – cos you are ripping me off and I kinda object to that?
I went with:
Because my bank is already charging 2.75% to pay your bill, I really don’t see why I should have to pay another 1.5% to your bank to cover your bank charges as well as my own.
I have asked WizWireless to justify the charge, especially as it is so ridiculously high, and why I should pay their bank charges as well as my own. Depending on the response, I may pass this to the Consumers Organisation.
To Businesses.
If you don’t want to take credit cards – then don’t take them – but don’t charge us for the privilege of trying to pay your sodding bills – which are already way too expensive.
So think twice (or three times) before becoming a customer of WizWireless. This was a great company to deal with before it got taken over (again – I think we are on the 4th incarnation since we put our Radio Mast in 5 years ago). But it’s getting more and more expensive, and now it’s not a straightforward choice on price – they are catching up with the other options. I think it’s time to look at those options. They may well still be cheaper, but I think I’ll actually check and try and fine a company thats a bit easier to deal with.
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Shopping in Sydney – Part 2
Filed under: Cost of living, General Budgeting, Life in New Zealand, Things to do
It was time to face the prospect of major city shopping, so I started this morning with elegance – at the QVB – Queen Victoria Building. At least here, when you get bored of wall to wall expensive “stuff”, you can oggle at the gorgeousness of the building and the miles of stained glass. And at the moment, a rather swanky Christmas tree.
QVB is basically a palace of designer stuff, with a few cafes dotted around (got a nice long black at the Vienna Cafe on the top floor. You can also get high teas in the Tea Room – as sampled by Domestic Executive recently, and thus photographed to look exceedingly scrummy. I’m quite tempted to try one – and take the inevitable cost of the sugar overload.
This is somewhere where I just seem to wander round, soaking up the atmosphere, rather than shopping per se – but then to be frank, shopping bores me to tears at the best of times – and its not like I can really spurge right now anyway. I was rather taken with the jewelery on sale in the Metropolitan Museum of Art shop – but pairs of earrings start at about $200, so I just gawped for a while.
I also tried to look round a shop selling expensive hair accessories, but the guy running it thinks its perfectly acceptable to touch the customers, was decidedly “iffy” and thought that my T Shirt slogan (Bite Me – from Dracula’s at the Gold Coast) was probably an invite. 
If you visit – I suggest you hang around for the Royal Clock chiming on the hour – its rather something.
In the basement of the QVB are the more “average” shops, and handily a walk through to the Pitt St Mall, now home to a Westfield shopping centre. They were building this last time I was here, so it was nice to see it finished and not so much a pile a roadworks and rubble. Pit Street itself is just a pedestrianised area, and the Westfield center sit across that and the surrounding streets. Its actually a bit hard to describe, but then I got lost several times trying to wander round. The center is basically a gleaming black, glass and mirrored temple to rampant (exceedingly expensive) commercialism and designer overload. Great for people with wads of money to burn – or a credit card they don’t really care about – but I just felt a little depressed to be honest. Once again – the “normal” (read cheap) shops are stuck in the basement.
I think Sydney is trying to tell me something.
So, did I buy anything???
Well yes. I bought a book (shock, horror – thats a whole other post right there – coming up next). I bought a bar of Sugar Free chocolate (Darrell Lea Milk – don’t bother), and the piece de resistance – a pair of strappy black heels from Nine West! In fact that alone made the traipsing round endless rows of shops worthwhile. Why oh why cant we get a Nine West in Wellington? Not that I don’t love Mi Piachi – the only shoe shop in town that seems to sell shoes I like – but a little variety would be nice.
Apparently Nine West ship to NZ for $25, but really I think you do need to try shoes on. I probably would have bought something in a shop called Tree Of Life (ethnic clothing and stuff), but the shop assistant was just way to pushy, so I left – rapidly.
I think I’ve nearly had my fill of shopping to be honest – but I may give it another go today – just to make sure.
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Is Credit Scoring changing?
Filed under: Banks, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
Credit Scoring is the really blunt instrument that banks use to determine whether you are worthy to borrow money from them. They don’t really look at much, but essentially get a “Credit History” on you off a Credit Reference Agency. (Equifax or Experian in the UK, VEDA in New Zealand).
Now, according to an article I came across in the Herald, that might be changing.
It seems the privacy commissioner here in New Zealand is looking at whether or not lenders could be given access to more information about your financial history – so they get a better picture. Now usually, I’m the last person to believe that people should get more info on you than they have already. In fact I can get quite “testy” with people who insist they have a right to private information that they – in fact – don’t have a sodding right to. (Vodafone for example who claimed I was being “rude” when i refused to give them contact details for a “Friend” so I could get a bloody mobile phone.)
In a case like this though – where I’m asking a bank to lend me money – I actually don’t mind them having as much financial information as they want. I’m still not going to give them my friends details though!
The idea is that credit referencing would move to “Positive Reporting” – that is how good you are at paying your bills, what sort of lending you already have, who its with and for how much. Rather than right now where all they can see is if you have defaulted on a payment. Some people in the industry also think its a good idea to be able to see how much of a loan is used – which is great when looking at any credit cards or revolving credit loans you have: the limit may be $20k, but if you only routinely use $2k of it – why should a lender only look at it as a $20k loan.
In its submission to the Privacy Commissioner, finance company GE Money said the number of people being declared bankrupt or approved for the brankruptcy [sic] alternative, the No Asset Procedure regime had been on the rise.
It calculates the “negative” credit reporting system gives only a 10 per cent picture of a person’s true credit risk. The changes proposed so far would provide an additional 20 per cent, it said. Including current account balances and 24 months’ payment history would boost that to 50 per cent.
That’s a bit scary really. You mean to tell me that decisions on giving credit to people are currently made on the basis of 10% of the information???? No wonder the world got so screwed up with a credit crunch and recession. Even with these changes – it doesn’t look really good.
So all in all – I’m in favour of more info going to the lenders - on the proviso that they can’t ask silly questions that have no relevance – like Vodafone insist on.
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Arghhh – having to pay interest on the credit card!
Filed under: Avalon's Money Thread, Cost of living, Interest Rates, Credit Cards & Mortgages in NZ
Well, for the first time in five and half years – I cannot pay off the whole balance on our credit cards, and we will be paying interest.
This is quite depressing.
I guess I should be happy that its only likely to be a few months where we have to pay, and that we have been able to organise our finances so well for so long that we haven’t had to do this thus far while we have lived in New Zealand. But still – its damned annoying.
Especially since the interest rate is a whopping 19.95%
So – from here on in – hard nosed budgeting and spending restrictions to get us back on track as fast as possible.
Why has this happened?
Some really big bills I’m afraid. Despite the emergency fund, which I still have some left of, we have had some really big expenses come through and no income. The emergency fund is coving our living expenses and top ups on the rentals, but it cant cover:
- Some large medical bills.
- Set up costs for Hubby’s contracting business.
- Legal fees
- Buying furniture for an apartment in the city. (and yes – even though we have 2 houses worth of furniture – it still turns out we need a few things – that was a depressing moment!)
Hubby has income coming in now, but almost all of it is paying the setup costs: new computer, travel, phones, internet bills, city pad – it all adds up.
And at least this time I actually know what I’m doing. I know how to work through the budgets, I know how to cut costs, and I know how to stick to the harder decisions. One thing I am sure of – that debt is not going to be there long. Ill be paying money into it as soon and as often as I can.
I’m just not sure how to cut my coffee budget
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