Dubious Credit Card Comparison Websites

Defined Terms and Documents

Dubious Credit Card Comparison Websites means there are half a dozen or so 'Credit Card comparison websites' which assert to inform web browsers of the best Credit Card Products.

Credit Card Comparison Australia - 100% Australian owned - prominently lists Cash Advance interest rates. Alas, the below webpage notes ".... Check out the current top 10* credit card offers below which we think are some of the most competitive offers available right now. ..." which can mislead many level 1 and level 2 Australians. None of the

Credit Card Finder^® - Compare Australian Credit Cards - Credit Card Comparison and Application Service lists Cash Advance interest rates on its main page.

CANSTAR Credit Cards Star Rating - Report #24 - April 2013 lists hundreds of Credit Card Products as good value - click on PDF version. It makes one material deceit by listing only the interest rate on Purchases and omitting the interest rate charged for Cash Advances which in the vast majority of Credit Card Products the Cash Advance rate is materially higher.

Below extract from Canstar - Credit cards website, notes that Canstar is funded by many of the Credit Card Issuers. Ipso facto, Canstar's recommendations are 'conflicted', whereupon it opines favourably on the hands that feed it!!!

"Subscriptions to our databases: Banks subscribe to our databases so that they can keep an eye on their competitors without having to spend hundreds of hours on competitor websites. Interestingly, when CANSTAR first started in 1992 the internet didn’t exist and staff had to walk the streets to do this. From a consumer’s point of view, the fact that banks are prepared to subscribe to our databases says a lot about the quality of our data. Canstar allows limited advertising on its site. Our goal is to present quality advertising that is highly relevant to consumers. We always include an ‘advertising’ or ‘sponsored link’ sign above the and so people know what it is."

InfoChoice - Cheapest Credit Cards in Australia -

* provides a search of 'List cards in order of rate for purchases »'

* but not a search for 'List of cards in order of rate for Cash Advance »'

In 2011, InfoChoice became a wholly owned subsidiary of iSelect Limited.

Labyrinth of ‘Concealed Spiders’ lists 4 such 'financial adviser websites' that the Writer reviewed extensively when preparing the Writer's CD submission to RBA sent 8 Dec 2011, although the notorious website www.australia.creditcards.com, administered by a USA company, continues to list the Australian Credit Card Issuers no longer provides any such information. Seemingly, Australian Credit Card Issuers have desisted dealing with www.australia.creditcards.com.

Alas, they all have vested interests - conflicted by needing to please the 'hands that feed them'.

None of the above Credit Card Products promoted by the above 5 Dubious Credit Card Comparison Websites compare with the five best of the six Lowest Interest Rate Purchase & Cash Advance Credit Cards recommended by Mozo's Best Low Rate Credit Card and the AFR's Smart Investor - Blue Ribbon Awards 2013: The Winners which -

charge the same interest rate on both Purchases and Cash Advances which are between 8.99% and 11.95%;
levy an annual fee between Nil and $40; and
provide up to 55 days interest free on Purchases, provided the full Outstanding Indebtedness is repaid by the prescribed monthly repayment date.