Community First Low Rate Visa 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 Community First Low Rate Visa Card

With one low ongoing interest rate on purchases, balance transfers and cash advances, the Community First Low Rate Visa Card is a card that knows how to keep it simple. It has a low annual fee and up to 55 days interest free on purchases when you clear your balance each month, backed by Community First customer support and all the features of a standard Visa card.

What we love...

The Community First Low Rate Visa Card is an award-winning credit card that offers no frills benefits to cardholders who want to keep costs down. One of the first things to note about this card is its super low rate of interest. This low rate covers purchases, cash advances and balance transfers, so not only is it simple, it could also help you save money day to day on your card use.

How can Community First offer such as low rate on this card? Community First is a mutual organisation, which means it is owned by its members rather than external shareholders. So, instead of looking to improve its bottom line to provide dividends to those shareholders, Community First can reinvest its profits back into the organisation to provide better rates and lower fees to members.

While you may see bigger banks offering their version of a ‘low rate’ card, it’s likely their rate won’t be as low as the one offered on the Community First Low Rate Visa Card. And, happily, its low cost status also extends to the card’s annual fee, which is lovely and low. Sometimes you find low rate cards have slightly higher annual fees, but that’s not the case with this card.

Another appealing feature on the card is its interest free period. While it’s not uncommon to find interest free days on most cards, if you want to save on interest, it’s generally better to choose a card with interest free days offered. How this works is, as long as you pay off your balance by the due date each month, your purchases will benefit from an interest free period of up to 55 days.

What’s not so great...

With its low annual fee and low interest rate, the Community First Low Rate Visa Card is designated a low cost card. While this can be a great option for money savers, the card doesn’t have much in the way of fancy features. If want more features and you don’t mind paying a higher annual fee – and you clear your balance each month to avoid interest – a card with more extras may be better for you.

Why should you choose this card?

If you want a basic card that provides you access to credit while helping you save on interest and annual fees, it could be hard to go past the Community First Low Rate Visa Card. With its super low purchase rate, you could save on interest if you carry a balance each month. And with its fairly lenient eligibility requirements, it could be a good option for cardholders getting started with credit.

To be eligible for this card, you must be an Australian citizen or a permanent resident over the age of 18. You must have a regular income and have been in your current job longer than six months. You must not have had defaults on any loans, credit cards, interest free finance or store cards in the past five years, and you must not be bankrupt.

As long as you meet these requirements, you could be approved for a credit limit ranging from $500 up to $15,000. You can then use your card to enjoy features such as Visa payWave for a more seamless experience at the checkout, Verified by Visa for safer online transactions, and Visa Zero Liability to reduce your liability if you are the victim of credit card fraud.

Overall Rating

An award-winning card, the Community First Low Rate Visa Card has an incredibly low rate and a low annual fee, with up to 55 days interest free on purchases.