August 28 2015: Prominent financial journalists have told an Australian senate enquiry into credit card interest rates that banks are needlessly gouging consumers with high interest rates. That could lead to stricter regulations, but consumers don't have to wait for that to happen to use their credit cards more intelligently.

At the hearing yesterday, prominent TV commentators Ross Greenwood, David Koch and Paul Clitheroe said that irresponsible lending had led to $51 million in credit card debt for Australia, news.com.au reported.

Channel Nine's Greenwood argued that rates hadn’t fallen due to an increase in competition or product transparency. Instead, fees have become a means of extra profit, he said.

Channel Seven's "Kochie" argued that credit card providers have been neglecting their responsibilities by taking advantage of vulnerable applicants. "Credit cards have been a rort on so many different levels and generally it is the consumer getting skimmed,” he said.

Former Money host and chairman of the Federal Government’s Financial Literacy, Paul Clitheroe, also fired shots at zero percent balance transfer deals.

“They are a debt trap,” Clitheroe said, arguing that banks took advantage of cardholders trying to consolidate their debts. While banks encourage customers to use balance transfers to reduce existing debts, Clitheroe argued that they can cause cardholders to spend more than they earned, a fact that banks often take advantage of.

Koch also pointed out the potentially deceptive and confusing nature of rewards cards. After recounting a bank credit card advertisement that read “buy fuel in Tamworth, fly to Thailand”, Mr Koch asked: “Where’s the advertising for the low-rate, low-fee cards?”

Greenwood suggested that future damage could be reduced if banks ceased targeting the vulnerable and provided consumers with standardised information. While banks and cardholders could both benefit from greater transparency and more responsible lending practices, there are some simple strategies cardholders can immediately adopt to protect their finances.