Australia’s largest provider of interest-free shopping and consumer finance upped all customers’ terminal interest rate by 3 percentage points last week to an eye-watering 29.99 per cent.
What’s more, the increase applies to every purchase already made by every existing customer.
Shoppers taking up interest free credit offers from Harvey Norman will soon have to deal with an increased rate.Credit: Scott Barbour
Latitude Finance Australia’s GO Mastercard and Gem Visa offer up to five years interest-free on goods from Harvey Norman, Domayne, Joyce Mayne and many other retailers.
But even customers who have signed up previously will now be hit with 3 points of extra interest on “expired promotional purchases”. In other words, on any debt that remains at the end of the interest-free period.
In response to questions, a spokesperson for Latitude said: “Unprecedented interest rate hikes have added significantly to our funding costs. While we have made the difficult decision to increase the expired promotional rate, GO Mastercard and Gem Visa customers can still shop interest free for up to 60 months on promotional offers at thousands of retailers, providing excellent value compared to traditional credit cards.”
The sting in the tail of this type of credit has always been the potential cost if you fail to clear the debt in the 0 per cent interest window: now it’s virtually a 30 per cent cost. And that rate at the time the item may be well-worn and ready for replacement.
Rachel Wastell, a spokesperson for the price comparison platform Mozo, said shoppers should be cautious of interest-free payment plans on promotional credit cards.
“One to five years interest-free may seem like enough time to pay off a purchase, but there’s a real risk you could forget to pay it off, especially with those longer terms,” she said.
Tens of thousands of ‘interest-free’ shoppers slugged rate hike
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09.02.2024
Australia’s largest provider of interest-free shopping and consumer finance upped all customers’ terminal interest rate by 3 percentage points last week to an eye-watering 29.99 per cent.
What’s more, the increase applies to every purchase already made by every existing customer.
Shoppers taking up interest free credit offers from Harvey Norman will soon have to deal with an increased rate.Credit: Scott Barbour
Latitude Finance........
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