Standard Bank lowers entry level for gold credit card

Credit cards can now be used as a debit card.

JOHANNESBURG – Standard Bank has widened accessibility to its gold credit card by reducing the salary required for one to qualify for the card which attracts less interest than the entry-level blue credit card.

So if you have been qualifying for the gold credit card but have been shying away from it and using the blue one in order to create a perception that you earn less, think twice as your modesty could be costing you more to service your debt. Annual interest on a blue credit card is 19.5% compared to 18% in the gold card, said Leila Fourie, the director of card division at Standard Bank.

“The gold account attracts a lower interest rate. So if you have a big balance gold cards will be cheaper,” explained Fourie.

She said that in order to broaden access to its gold card the bank had decided to lower the salary required to qualify for this card to R8 000 from R10 000.

“It’s really to try and stimulate growth. We are including a broader population and allowing access. So we are doing our best to open access to the broader market.

Alan Hales, the head of consumer cards at Standard Bank added there is also “the impact on the colour of the plastic ... people tend to take their card out more if they are using a gold card”.

Although the bank is making it easier for customers to access credit, it says it is doing so based on customer affordability.

Hales also explained that using a credit card was a smarter way to bank because there were no transaction costs when swiping, whereas a client was charged for swiping with their debit card. Hales went on to say that Standard Bank customers were also allowed to link their debit orders to their credit cards.

Someone could transfer their salary from their debit card to the credit card, allowing the client to extinguish the outstanding balance on the credit card. This could save the customer from being charged interest. Debit orders can also run from the credit card. On the other hand the customer will swipe for free with their credit card, saving him or her transaction costs that could have been incurred via a debit card.

However, Hales said it was not advisable for one to use their credit card to withdraw money at ATMs although the withdrawal fees were the same as using a debit card. If you withdrew with your credit card at an ATM interest was calculated from the time you withdraw from day one, even if you settled the outstanding balance at the end of the month.

Standard Bank is the dominant player in the credit card market, according to September data from South African Reserve Bank. It has a market share of 30.5%, followed by Absa at 26.89%, FirstRand at 18.14% and Nedbank and African Bank at 14.04% and 8.23%, respectively.

Fourie said although there was a contraction in credit card growth last year. This year had picked up.

“We increased our balances by R280m last month [September],”Fourie added.

Fourie believes that Standard Bank’s credit card growth this year will be slightly above inflation. However, she said customers were paying down balances, spending responsibly and were swiping more often but in smaller amounts.

Standard Bank’s credit cards are divided into three, the emerging income groups earning between R3 000- R8 000, middle income earning R8 000- R60 000 and upper income which earns over R60 000 per month.

Overall the bank expects household credit extension growth to slow from 4.4% in 2011 to 3.4% and 3.9% in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Fourie said household demand was unexpectedly strong in the first quarter at 5.2% but contracted to 3.8% in the second quarter.

http://www.moneyweb.co.za