Australia: Introducing Wizard Clear Advantage Mastercard

When my friend Elena was in Kuala Lumpur early this year, we had gone shopping to Mid Valley Megamall. She mostly shopped for items which were not as easily accessible to in Australia.

Elena had brought along this card, called the Wizard Clear Advantage Mastercard. She described the card as useful as the card did not charge for overseas foreign transactions (foreign here meaning Malaysia), and conversion was done instantaneously. This was useful on the days when the Australian Dollar was high compared to foreign currencies.

This card is a credit facility provided by GE Finance Australia. Among some of the features of this card are:

• ZERO Annual Fee
• 4.99 % P.A for six months on balance transfer from the date of opening.
  
• Cash Advance Facility available. 
• The standard 55 interest fee free days on purchases. 
• Annual Interest Rate 18.49 %

From what I have read, customers can actually bank in cash into the card via BPAY, and withdraw cash in foreign countries without having to incur interest rates on cash withdrawal. As most may know, cash withdrawals will normally incur huge interest rates and chargeable from the day you start withdrawing.

I seriously think this card is extremely economical and useful. When I was travelling to South Korea and Japan, I had brought along my HSBC Visa Debit and CommSec Mastercard Debit. The HSBC Visa Debit charges a hefty fee for foreign transactions, where-as the CommSec Mastercard Debit charges a sizable conversion rate..

You could guess that I did not really use much of both cards, except for that one time during an emergency when I was already leaving for Japan and had lost of my korean won. I had no alternative but to use the HSBC Visa Debit-- when I looked at the statement a month later, I realised that I was charged about AUD4+ for that one transaction. A hefty fee indeed!

So yeah, to travellers, I'd recommend this card, if only to save on foreign transaction fees, and conversion charges as well. ^^

For more information about this card, click here.