CIRCLE Alliance Bank Visa Credit Card

Pauline Hatch

Pauline is a personal finance expert at CreditCard.com.au, with 8 years in money, budgeting and property reporting under her belt Ask Pauline a Question about this card.

The CIRCLE Alliance Bank Visa Credit Card

As a social enterprise, CIRCLE strives to make a social impact through the provision of banking services. So, with the CIRCLE Alliance Bank Visa Credit Card, you can enjoy access to credit while making change within your community. You can also enjoy a low ongoing purchase rate and annual fee, backed by CIRCLE’s customer support and all the features you’d expect on a Visa.

What we love...

CIRCLE Alliance Bank is a B Corp, which means it believes in using business as a force for good, making social impact through the various banking products it offers. So, the more business you do with CIRCLE, the more CIRCLE can help make a difference to you and the communities you live and work in.

Working as a social enterprise, CIRCLE partners with Good Return to provide micro loans to people living in poverty. It offers $1 for $1 donation-matching for staff fundraising, and provides paid volunteering days for its staff to support local organisations. It also offers free financial education, budgeting and banking services to clients of commUnity+, and helps to prepare local secondary students for job interviews in association with the Ardoch Youth Foundation.

But, it’s not just your community CIRCLE aims to help. As a member-owned bank, it can also help you with lower fees and interest on your credit card. The CIRCLE Alliance Bank Visa Credit Card offers a nice, low interest rate on both purchases and cash advances, with up to 55 days interest free on purchases when you clear your balance by the due date each month.

As a cardholder, you can also keep costs down with a low annual fee, paid monthly throughout the year. And, while it’s fair to say this card keeps features basic, it does provide access to credit with worldwide acceptance via Visa’s global network, as well as digital payment capability, with the ability to sync with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.

What’s not so great...

As you may have noticed, the CIRCLE Alliance Bank Visa Credit Card is not big on features. You will not earn rewards on your spending with this card, and you won’t have any fancy features to sink your teeth into. This card focuses on the essentials only, so if you want more than the essentials – and don’t mind paying more for them in annual fees and interest – you’ll need to look elsewhere.

Why should you choose this card?

The main reason most people will choose the CIRCLE Alliance Bank Visa Credit Card is for its low cost status. If you carry a balance each month, you could save on interest with the card’s low purchase rate. Or, if you simply want access to credit without heaps of extras, this card could make that happen with a low annual fee.

However, you may also choose the CIRCLE Alliance Bank Visa Credit Card because you want to make social change. Instead of opting for a card from a big bank, you could choose CIRCLE for its status as a B Corp and as a social enterprise, supporting local communities via the partnerships and charities CIRCLE supports.

Overall Rating

A low cost card from a social enterprise bank, the CIRCLE Alliance Bank Visa Credit Card offers a low annual fee and purchase rate, alongside the opportunity to attain social change.