Select credit card rates cut at ANZ
Four months after a pledge "to take a bit of leadership" on repricing its credit cards, ANZ will begin to do so this week.ANZ yesterday said it would reduce purchase interest rates (but not cash advance rates) on two credit card products by up to two percentage points.From Thursday, ANZ will reduce the purchase rate on its Low Rate Platinum card by 200 basis points to 11.49 per cent. It will cut the rate on its Low Rate Classic card by 100 bps 12.49 per cent.The lower rates apply to "more than 500,000 existing ANZ Low Rate accounts," the bank said.For the time being these price points afford the bank a qualified claim of price leadership, if ranked against the better known names. Comparison websites Mozo and Finder yesterday featured products from CommBank (under a Bankwest label) and Citi (in Coles livery) at a rate of 12.99 per cent.Mozo listed the lowest priced credit card offer as being from Community First Credit Union. A number of other mutual banks now find their pricing bettered by a major bank.Credit card pricing consumed slabs of time at last October's hearings with big banks CEOs before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics.ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott said then: "I think there's an opportunity for us to take a bit of leadership on this."The next round of hearings begin on Friday next week, with Elliott the first CEO on the schedule.