Heritage Gold Low Rate 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 Heritage Gold Low Rate Credit Card

With no annual fee, the Heritage Gold Low Rate Credit Card can help cardholders keep ongoing costs to a minimum. It also has one low rate for purchases and cash advances, which could mean it would work well for cardholders who carry a balance. In terms of features, cardholders can benefit from the standard range of Visa extras, including Verified by Visa and Visa Entertainment.

What we love...

The Heritage Gold Low Rate Credit Card has two main things going for it. First up, it has one low rate for purchases and cash advances. Why would you want a card with a low rate? The main reason for choosing a card with a low purchase rate is to save money when you carry a balance. When you carry a balance on a credit card, it accrues interest at the card’s purchase rate. So, it only makes sense that you would want that purchase rate to be as low as possible.

If you choose a card with lots of features, or one that earns rewards, you may find the purchase rate on your card is significantly higher than the one on the Heritage Gold Low Rate Credit Card. While you may think you are getting more from the card on all the extras it offers, the interest you are paying out on your carried over balance is likely negating any value you gain in features and rewards.

The second main attraction on this card is the fact that it doesn’t charge an annual fee. Again, this feature works well for cardholders looking to keep costs down. By not paying an annual fee each year, cardholders can spend that money elsewhere. Whether it goes towards paying down that balance, or doing something else entirely, it’s certainly nice not having an annual fee to pay.

What’s not so great...

Many credit cards now offer a certain number of interest free days on purchases. The Heritage Gold Low Rate Credit Card does not. That means you will start paying interest on each purchase from the day you make it.

It is worth bearing in mind that a low rate card tends to suit cardholders who carry a balance, as it helps them to accrue interest at a lower rate. However, interest free periods are only offered to cardholders who clear their balance each month. If you carry a balance, you would be paying interest on each purchase from day one regardless of whether the card offered an interest free period.

So, this card lacking an interest free period would really only affect cardholders who would usually clear their balance month to month.

Why should you choose this card?

As a basic card, the Heritage Gold Low Rate Credit Card would likely suit someone who wants to keep it simple, while trying to save on interest and annual fees.

We’re not entirely sure why it is designated a ‘gold’ card. Typically, a gold card tends to offer more in the way of features, which places it above ‘classic’ cards. However, the Heritage Gold Low Rate Credit Card doesn’t have any special features that we could see. It really only offers the kind of extras you would expect on a classic or low rate card.

The only way we can explain this is with the fact that the card charges no annual fee, as cards with no annual fee tend to have fewer features.

Overall Rating

The Heritage Gold Low Rate Credit Card has a low ongoing purchase rate and no annual fee, keeping things basic despite its ‘gold’ status.