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The average Australian credit card debt has risen to roughly $3500 in 2009 making it on of the biggest household debts in Australia. During the credit crunch, families have been struggling to stay afloat, and are using credit cards make it through the month. Currently in Australia the total credit card debt is around 42 Billion dollars. The stat that is most amazing, is that the average amount Australians pay on credit card interest rates is around 19%. The fact that the average credit card interest rate is so high shows, that people are doing one of the following.

1. Unaware of the interest rate they are paying.
2. Not caring about the interest rate they are paying.
3. Unaware of lower interest rate credit cards.
4. Unaware of balance transfer offers.
5. Not shopping around for the best deal, before they sign for a card.

Currently in Australia there are many credit card deals, that offer an interest rate of between 10 and 12 percent. If you are the average Australian paying 19% then you may wish to consider making a change to a lower interest rate offer. Some credit cards, such as the St George Vertigo and Aussie Mastercard, offer a balance transfer rate of 0% for 6 months and 4.99% for 12 months respectively. It makes sense to take advantage of these balance transfer offers while you can, just as long as you are willing to cut the high interest rate card, after you have paid it off.

One reason credit card debt is so high, involves individuals not getting rid of the old, high interest credit card once they have transferred the amount to a new lower rate card. People are getting stuck with, two, three, sometimes four credit card repayments due to tough economic times and bad management of money. Balance transfer deals can work if properly executed, however you must be diligent and follow the rules to make it beneficial for you.

If you are one of the Australians experiencing difficulties with credit card debt, then check this Australian Government Website for debt help

This entry was posted on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 6:32 pm and is filed under Aussie, Balance Transfers, Low Interest, St George. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.