The Bendigo Basic Black MasterCard is a low interest credit card offered by Bendigo Bank. Despite the fact that it is called a “black” card it is in fact on the opposite end of the spectrum from normal black cards in that it is actually a very cheap and straight forward card without the high interest rates or perks that a card user would usually expect from a black card.
The card has a low annual fee of $45, as well as one of the lowest interest rates on the Australian credit card market. Its interest free period is lower than some, at 44 days, although this is not an unnaturally low period. There are also a number of additional credit cards that are allowed for other members of the family and these are issued at no extra charge.
One of the ways in which the interest rate and annual fee are kept so low is through the fact that there are no introductory periods when the interest rate is low. This is a marketing device that although it can be effectively used by some credit card users is a very effective way of getting in credit card users on to a higher rate.
As well as not having any introductory offers the card also does not offer any perks such as free insurance on items bought on the card. There is also not any rewards program. This all keeps the costs down, and these low costs are passed on in both the low interest rate and the low annual fee.
The Bendigo Basic Black MasterCard offers cash advances, which means that the consumer can get cash out on the credit card as if it were an ATM card. This is usually charged a higher interest rate than normal transactions and does not have an interest free grace period. However the Bendigo Basic Black MasterCard charges the same interest rate for both credit card transactions and cash advances. As the interest rate is already low then this can be about a third of the interest rate compared to the rate for cash advances some other credit cards.
Bendigo bank is the retail arm of the Bendigo and Adelaide bank, a large publicly owned banking corporation. The card is processed by MasterCard, the second largest credit card company in the world which is accepted at more than 29 million locations around the world.
