Annual Credit Card Fee or Annual Credit Cardholder Fee means that prior to Aug 1993, Credit Card Issuers were restricted from charging an Annual Cardholder Fee on Credit Cards as the various State Credit Acts prohibited most Credit Card Issuers from charging annual fees if they charged interest on credit card purchases (e.g. Credit Act 1984 (NSW) s 54). Following a recommendation from the Prices Surveillance Authority’s 1992 'Inquiry Into Credit Card Interest Rates', State legislatures issued exemption orders which allowed all financial institutions to charge both interest and fees on credit cards from 1 August 1993.
1993 MasterCard and Visa introduced domestic interchange fees in Australia determined collectively by their Australian members. Australian credit laws were amended, inter alia, to allow issuers to charge an Annual Fee on a Credit Card and Merchants to charge different prices for accepting different payment instruments.
Persistent Revolvers provides two pie charts' that evidence that Annual Credit Cardholder Fees account for only 2% of 'Revenues' to Credit Card Issuers.
are incentive programs operated by Credit Card Issuers where a percentage of the amount spent by a Credit Cardholder is paid back to the Credit Cardholder by means of points earned. Many Credit Card Issuers run programs to encourage use of their Credit Card Products where the Credit Cardholder earns loyalty points, often referred to as Reward Points, frequent flyer miles or a monetary payment.
Credit Cards that offer the highest Rewards Programs charge the highest Interchange Fees and charge the highest Annual Cardholder Fees which are attractive to small and large companies, as well as sole traders, that can charge Annual Fees as a legitimate tax deduction. Rewards under Rewards Programs are not assessed as taxable income by the ATO.
Citi Select Premium Credit Card grants 70,000 'bonus reward points' and a welter of income tax avoidance gifts and charges an annual fee of $700 - likely an annual company expense.
