One day, someone will release a student credit card that delivers what students want - a normal credit limit (say $1,000 to $2,000), a low interest rate and maybe some travel features. Today is not that day.
I don't understand why financial institutions are so incredibly risk-averse when it comes to students. After all, I know plenty of students who work hard in casual jobs and would be reliable credit card customers. Banks seem happy to give out home loans to the long-term unemployed (financial crisis anyone?), but heaven-forbid a student should have a credit card.
The Westpac Student Visa is OK, but has some irritating flaws. For a start, the card only offers credit limits of $300, $400 or $500, all of which are borderline useless. You could probably get a $500 overdraft on your savings account and Austudy offers a $500 cash advance for expenses such as text books.
The interest rate is also quite high (18.95%), but you do get 55 days interest free and the credit limit is so low that even if the card is maxed-out, you'll still only accumulate less than $8 a month in interest.
On a positive note, the annual fee is low ($30) and is waived for the first year. Westpac also point out that they accept applications where income is from a casual job, part-time job or Austudy (which is a good thing, because if full-time employment was a pre-requisite, they might miss a fair chunk of their target market).
Bottom-line: the Westpac Student Visa is a card of last resort. Try looking for a card that offers a realistic credit limit and a lower interest rate, and explore your other finance options such as a savings account overdraft and Austudy's payment advance (which accumulates no interest).
