Lenders roll out the enticing festive deals

LENDERS have rolled out a suite of enticing deals across credit cards, personal loans and mortgages to lure in new customers ahead of the Christmas break.

With shoppers sure to give their plastic a serious workout over summer, financial institutions have timed their latest incentives beautifully, with offers including introductory interest rate deals and bonus rewards points on some products, new analysis by financial comparison website Finder.com.au has revealed. Some of these deals include:

$300 cashback when customers apply for a Commonwealth

Bank Low Rate Mastercard before

February 4.

$100 off a single

Coles supermarket shop if customers sign up to their

No Annual Fee Mastercard before December 31.

Westpac Unsecured Personal Loan – $0 establishment fee on new loan applications before December 7. NAB’s 350,000 reward points offer when you bundle a NAB home loan with a NAB transaction account and credit card before December 31. However, Finder.com.au’s Bessie Hassan has urged consumers to take a deep breath and review these deals and make sure you don’t act in haste.

“Consumers spend more money at Christmas than any other time of the year and financial providers want a piece of the action,’’ she said.

“In many cases, if an offer seems too good to be true, it usually is . . . you don’t want to be stung with a nasty surprise down the track.”

AMP financial adviser Darren James urges consumers to consider whether they really need the product on offer and if it will result in them saving money.

“Do you need the additional credit or the offer available, or is it just a deal that is enticing you in,” he said.

“Especially around rewards points, will you get actual benefit from this and be out in front, or is it something that is going to cost you money and something you won’t use?”

Mr James said the commercialisation of Christmas often resulted in higher expectations of parents being able to keep up with “what little Johnny down the road is getting for Christmas” and it puts a lot of pressure on spending levels at this time of year.

This often results in consumers over-extending themselves and ending up in more debt.