Fact or fiction: Can credit cards pay you interest?

Having a credit card issuer pay you interest sounds like a deal too good to be true? After all, we have 0% interest on purchases for a limited period and 0% balance transfer for life and many other types of introductory offers. But there is a hitch, you actually have to have a surplus balance.

This feature is not available in many Australian credit cards and for many people not worth considering. However, credit cards that pay interest are almost like a debit card with an overdraft facility. In other words you could do away with a transaction account or a savings account and just consolidate with one product. This is likely to reduce transaction fees, possibly earn some rewards points and receive one statement of all your activity, knowing that if you have a surplus it will pay your interest and when you are short there is a cost.

Doing more research never hurts. To see a wide range of credit card offers visit RateCity’s credit card comparison tool.

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