A credit card can help smooth your cash flow and let you take advantage of features like Awards points. To make the most of your credit card, it’s important to understand the components that make up your balance.
Purchases
Your credit card statement will show you your purchases for that statement period.
Most credit cards usually include an interest-free period of up to 55 days on purchases (effective 1 May 2024, the interest free period on purchases will change to up to 44 days for Awards Standard, Gold Awards, Platinum Awards, Smart Awards, Diamond Awards, Ultimate Awards credit card). During this period, no interest is charged on a new purchase, provided you pay your closing balance in full by the due date each month. If you don’t pay your closing balance, you’ll be charged interest at the purchase rate for any new purchases, along with your outstanding balance.
Interest-free cards generally come with a 0% purchase rate, meaning you won’t be charged interest on your purchases.
Cash advances
If you use your credit card to make a cash withdrawal, transfer funds from your credit card or make a cash equivalent transaction (such as using your card for gambling, buying lotto tickets or foreign currency), you’ll be charged interest at the cash advance rate for that transaction.
There’s no interest-free period on cash advances, so interest begins to accrue immediately. You'll also usually be charged a cash advance fee. On certain types of credit cards, cash advances are blocked.
Balance transfers
From 1 December 2023, balance transfers will no longer be offered on our credit cards. Balances already transferred will continue on the promotional rate until the amount is fully repaid or the balance transfer period ends, whichever comes first.
A balance transfer is when you transfer a balance owing on a personal credit issued by another bank or a store card to your CommBank credit card. With CommBank there’s no fee charged to make the transfer and a special interest rate may apply from the date the transfer is made for an introductory period. After this introductory period ends, any amount still owing is then charged at the cash advance rate.
Instalment plans
An instalment plan is a feature to help you repay all or part of your credit card balance in regular monthly repayments over a set term. Interest is charged on the portion of your balance that you enrol into an instalment plan, for a set period of time. When you apply to set up a plan, we’ll quote you an interest rate that is fixed for the term of the plan.
Fees
Credit card fees can include an annual fee, monthly fee, late payment fee, international transaction fees, or cash advance fee. Check out this list of standard fees and charges for personal CommBank credit cards.
