ASB has recently released the ASB Visa Flex, a credit card with an interest rate of just 9.95% — making it Aotearoa New Zealand’s lowest-rate option.
The ASB Visa Flex also boasts no annual fee or conversion fee for foreign currencies.
Plus, as a sweetener, the bank is offering up to $150 cashback for new customers who get a Flex Visa by 30 November 2024. New cardholders can claim the cashback in three stages.
- Earn $50 cashback by using the card by 10 December 2024.
- Earn another $5 cashback by setting up Apple Pay or Google Pay by 10 December 2024.
- Earn the final $50 cashback by purchasing something and paying it off in full for each of the first three months.
However, there are a couple of downsides to the ASB Visa Flex. Firstly, the maximum credit limit of $4,000 won’t be enough for some consumers. Note that a minimum $500 credit limit also applies.
Secondly, the card is not eligible for ASB’s balance transfer deal. For other ASB credit cards, new customers can transfer a balance from another credit card and pay 0% interest on that balance for the first six months. ASB has chosen to not make this offer available for the Visa Flex.
See our guide to balance transfer credit cards for more.
How does the ASB Visa Flex compare with the competition?
The ASB Visa Flex has the lowest purchase interest rate of any credit card in New Zealand — and by a margin.
The closest is the TSB Low Rate Mastercard, which has an interest rate of 11.95%. The TSB card has a $20 annual card fee, but it also includes some benefits the Visa Flex doesn’t, including mobile phone insurance and price protection insurance.
Both Kiwibank and Westpac offer credit cards with a 12.90% interest rate. Neither the Kiwibank Zero Visa nor the Westpac Fee Free Mastercard has an annual fee, and the latter also has no foreign currency conversion fee.
ANZ’s Low Rate Visa is perhaps the weakest card in comparison with a comparatively high purchase interest rate of 13.90%. The doesn’t include an annual fee, but unlike the ASB Visa Flex (and some other available cards), it does include a currency conversion charge of 1.3%.
Compare the ASB Visa Flex with all other New Zealand credit cards in our comprehensive guide.
