Credit card reward scheme warning for consumers

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Consumer New Zealand is warning against using credit cards to rack up reward points, saying there are some rewards but not many.

The watchdog spent $25,000 dollars over two years on credit cards and paid them off monthly, in order to see what reward scheme offered the best return.

Consumer New Zealand CEO Sue Chetwin said for those who regularly paid off their outstanding debt there are some rewards but not many.

"The top amount of money we could get on a card was $182 of flying," she said.

"People on average shouldn't really use those cards as a reason to buy something or for points."

Chetwin said 13 of the cards went into negative value, by the time fees were taken into consideration.

- NEWSTALK ZB