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End of year uptick in balance transfer cards

End of year uptick in balance transfer cards

05 Jan, 2018 - 2 min read

The number of credit cards offering 0% balance transfers grew slightly at the end of 2017, offering some relief to Australians with post-holiday debt. However, despite this surge in card numbers, there are still fewer interest-free balance transfer cards available than there were in mid-2017.

There were 89 credit cards offering 0% balance transfers available on RateCity at the end of December 2017, up from a 6-month low of 86 at the end of November 2017. This is still a more limited number of balance transfer card options than the 104 that were available at the end of June 2017.

The 89 cards offering 0% balance transfers account for just under half of the total number of credit carts currently available on the market, which is currently at a high of 184.

Also, the average credit card interest rate (excluding Diners cards and cards that are part of home loan packages) remained at a low of 16.91% , with an average annual fee of $130.18 (excluding fee-free cards).

Date	No. of cards on the market	No. of cards offering 0% balance transfers	Average rate	Average annual fee
31 May 2017	182	101	16.97%	$128.63
30 June 2017	182	104	17.02%	$132.07
31 July 2017	181	94	17.05%	$131.74
31 August 2017	182	98	17.02%	$131.67
30 September 2017	182	96	16.99%	$131.19
31 October 2017	183	97	16.94%	$130.29
30 November 2017	182	86	16.91%	$130.71
30 December 2017	184	89	16.91%	$130.18

Disclaimer

This article is over two years old, last updated on January 5, 2018. While RateCity makes best efforts to update every important article regularly, the information in this piece may not be as relevant as it once was. Alternatively, please consider checking recent credit cards articles.

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This article was reviewed by Head of SEO Leigh Stark before it was published as part of RateCity's Fact Check process.

Mark Bristow

Personal Finance Editor

Mark Bristow is RateCity's Home & Personal Finances Editor, and an experienced analyst, researcher, and producer. While primarily focused on Australian mortgage and home loan expertise, he has experience across energy, home and travel insurances. Mark has been a journalist and writer in the financial space for over ten years, previously researching and writing commercial real estate at CoreLogic. In the years since, Mark has worked for the Winning Group, Expedia, and has seen articles published at Lifehacker and Business Insider.