Starting positive habits

A credit card should make your life easier. By using it responsibly and keeping on top of your repayments, you’ll find it's a valuable addition to your wallet.

Here are some tips on how you can use a credit card to your best advantage.

You can also watch our video on managing your credit card.

Set a budget and stick to it

By creating a budget that clearly shows your income and expenses each month you can determine just how much you can safely spend. An effective budget should also allow for a proportion of your income to be saved.

Make use of your interest-free period

To minimise your interest repayments, pay off your credit card in full every month and you'll always get up to 55 days interest free on your purchases.

Stay one step ahead of your spending

You can see your pending transactions in real time in NetBank so you can keep track of your spending 24/7, 365 days a year¹  You can also view more information about where you’ve used your card using NetBank’s one click Google search.

Maximise your points earning potential

Use your Awards credit card to cover your daily expenses, as well as major purchases, so you can earn even more Awards points.

Discover how many points you could potentially earn and the awards you could redeem here.

Stay in control of your credit limit

There may be times when you need to increase your credit limit to make a one-off purchase. Be sure that you can manage the larger repayments if you make use of a higher limit. If you’re eligible, you can change your credit limit in NetBank, or by calling 13 2221, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

You can reduce your credit limit by calling 13 2221 at any time.

Transfer balances to your Commonwealth Bank credit card account

If you have a number of credit cards with different issuers, managing your finances can be a lot of work and potentially confusing. By consolidating all your Australian credit and store cards with the one provider, you’ll receive one monthly statement and have only one monthly payment to make. If you transfer any balance from another financial institution or store-issued credit card to your Commonwealth Bank credit card account you’ll pay only 5.99 % p.a. for the first five months.

• Please note that the interest free period (up to 55 days) on purchases and most bill payments does not apply to any purchases whilst a balance transfer remains outstanding.

Use your card safely over the internet

When entering your credit card details online to make a purchase be sure the website you are using is encrypted. This means that any information sent between your computer and the website is protected and is unreadable by anyone else. An encrypted website gives you the peace of mind to confidently transact online. Here are a couple of things to look out for:

• To determine if a site is encrypted: a key or padlock in the bottom of the browser lets you know you are viewing a secure web page The address bar has 'https:' before the web site URL which also provides assurance the web page is secure.

Using your card overseas

We recommend you take several payment methods with you when you're travelling in case you have any problems with your credit card. More on using your credit card overseas.

Protect you and your card

What do you do if your card gets lost or stolen, or you suffer an injury and can’t repay your balance? Here are a few things you can do to:

• CreditCard Plus insurance (optional) — help cover your minimum monthly credit card repayments if you suffer total temporary disablement due to an injury or illness or are involuntarily unemployed
• Secure Sentinel (optional) — lets you report a lost or stolen credit card, keys, mobile phone, passport and other valuables and will help you organise replacements and emergency cash. Fees apply
• Secure Internet Shopping (optional)  — provides a more secure way to shop online by offering added protection against the fraudulent use of your card by utilising your Netbank Netcode.

Make your monthly minimum repayments

It’s important that you always make the monthly minimum payment by the due date. You can set up custom alerts and payment reminders so you’ll receive an SMS or email from us five days before your credit card payment is due, making it easier to remember your repayments²

Another simple way to avoid paying late fees on your credit card is to set up an automatic payment in NetBank using AutoPay. Or you can download and complete this direct debit request form (PDF 121KB) and take it to your nearest branch. This is an automatic direct debit, which comes from a savings or transaction account to cover either the minimum credit card payment each month, the total balance outstanding, or a set amount each month.

If you fall behind with your payments, the first step is to stop using your credit card and ask any additional cardholder to do the same. You should also advise us as soon as possible so we are aware of your situation and can advise you of your options.

 
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• Important information
  1. Excludes some manual transactions and some contactless payments.
  
  2. Subscription to this service may be limited.