Your purse strings are stretched from petrol prices and market uncertainty. What better time to review your credit card or home loan provider? To help, our sister publication, the AFR's Smart Investor, has bestowed awards to products in three credit card categories and 11 lending categories, as judged by partner Infochoice.

Plastic money

This year's winner of the AFR Smart Investor low rate credit card category is the Intech Credit Union Titanium 55 Visa, with interest rates around 9.55 per annum. It also has a 55-day interest-free period and a low annual fee of $36.

Two highly commended in this category: the mecu Low Rate Visa and the Newcastle Permanent Value + card.

If you've already got a hefty credit card balance and want to take advantage of a competitive rate by transferring your balance to another card, look to the American Express Blue Sky credit card. It is the winner in the balance transfer category because it combines a low interest rate and low fees. A card member transferring $3000 and paying $150 a month, for instance, would repay the debt in one year and 11 months and accrue a total cost of $199, comprising interest only (at an interest rate of 6.99 per cent for the life of the balance).

Unlike many competitors, the card charges no annual fees. You can also use its points system to book flights. Two highly-commended cards are Credit Union Australia's Silver MasterCard and Victoria Teachers Credit Union Visa credit card.

For those who pay off the card balance each month, it's more important to choose a card for its features, rather than its rate. In this category, the American Express Platinum has won the fully featured category for two years in a row. Interest is charged at 19.99 per cent for purchases and customers pay an annual fee of $395 but there's a 55-day interest-free period and you're entitled to one Qantas domestic economy return flight every year to selected capital cities in Australia; domestic and overseas travel insurance; a credit limit of up to $100,000 (subject to approval criteria); and for every $1 spent you earn 1.5 reward points.

Highly commended in this category are Westpac Banking Corporation's Altitude Platinum - where two Altitude points are equal to one frequent flyer point - and the American Express Gold Card.

For the home

Credit cards are great for smaller amounts of debt but when it comes to looking for a home loan you need to think much bigger. BankWest is AFR Smart Investor's home lender of the year because of its competitive Rate Tracker. The mortgage loan is one percentage point less than the average variable rate of the four major banks.

If you prefer online banking, one direct is way ahead of the rest due to its competitive rates and range of products. Launched by ANZ in July 2006, one direct offers fixed, variable, split and low-doc loans.

Infochoice has also judged one direct to be the best fixed-rate home loan provider. There's no loan approval fee or ongoing fees and customers have the ability to make up to $10,000 in additional repayments per annum at no charge.

At current rates interest would be 7.99 per cent on a fixed loan of one year or 8.39 per cent for a fixed loan of two to five years.

Highly commended fixed rate products include Newcastle Permanent Building Society's fixed rate home loan and the MyRate fixed loan. Despite Newcastle Permanent scoring better than one direct for average fees and features, one direct displayed a lower median interest rate and interest rate rises in line with RBA changes.

For a variable rate loan, Infochoice says you should look to mecu's premium home loan - standard variable, which offers free loan protection and a repayment pause for new families (mecu also offers a 100 per cent mortgage offset and free redraw).

One direct and Bankstown City Credit Union were also highly commended.

Other options

If you're looking for a loan with a bit more flexibility, there are plenty of options involving a minimum of documents; allowing an extended line of credit; offering more options through a banking package; or providing a reverse mortgage.

The winner of the low-doc loan award is one direct lo-doc variable loan. It has the same low rate as a regular standard variable loan, with no loan approval fee or ongoing fees, and customers have the flexibility to use up to 50 per cent of the loan for business purposes. At current interest rates, you would pay 8.35 per cent interest a year. Other highly commended products in this category are the Homeside Offset home loan and the NAB tailored home loan variable rate.

The line-of-credit award goes to Bankstown City Credit Union for its home equity manager product which has a current interest rate of 8.69 per cent. The product is linked to a savings account and allows use of Visa, debit, cash and Bpay. There are no fees and you can limit the amount you want to draw down. Highly commended products are one direct and Bank of Queensland with its line of credit HLPP $250,000 loan.

Meanwhile, ANZ's Breakfree package has won best premium banking product award hands down. Launched in 2003, it offers unlimited free transactions within Australia, as well as 10 free loan splits and is available in personal, company or trust names for owner-occupied and investment purposes.

Highly commended in this category are Westpac with is premium advantage package, which has an annual fee of just $395 and a discharge fee of $250, and the Commonwealth Bank wealth package.

Finally, for the equity rich but cash poor, there are reverse mortgages. Several providers have closed to new business as a result of the credit crunch but there are still products in the market.

Infochoice's award for reverse mortgages with a variable rate goes to Transcomm Credit Union for its annuity plus options product (variable interest rate 8.9 per cent). ABN AMRO's variable rate reverse mortgage and Mariner Financial's equity access FFS 100+ were also highly commended.

Meanwhile, the Mariner equity access fixed for life FFS 100+ product was named winner for the fixed rate reverse mortgage. At current rates you would pay 9.85 per cent interest.

Highly commended in this category were Vision Equity living lifestyle plan fixed for life and ABN AMRO's lifetime fixed rate products.

The personal touch

Of course it's not all about home loans. It's also important to shop around for personal loans and some of the best rates and features in this category are provided by credit unions, rather than banks, according to Infochoice.

The winner of the personal loan-secured award is Australia's largest building society and mutual organisation, the Heritage Building Society, with its standard personal loan.

The loan can be taken for any purchase and can be offered secured or unsecured at the same rate for up to 10 years.

The judges said: "This product offers attractive features, with options including fee-free early termination, longer terms and also a modest application fee. You can also make lump sum repayments without penalty, draw back additional payments and have a partial offset account attached to this loan to save interest."

Highly commended were IMB with its secured personal loan and Newcastle Permanent Building Society with its fixed rate loan.

For an unsecured personal loan the winner was Wagga Mutual Credit Union with its gold personal loan. Highly commended were the Victoria Teachers Credit Union personal loan (unsecured) and the Heritage Building Society standard personal loan (unsecured).

The Wagga product offers a highly-competitive rate at 11.25 per cent, with no monthly fees and lump sum payments without penalty. You can borrow up to $10,000 for everything bar debt consolidation.

AFR SMART INVESTOR BLUE RIBBON AWARDS WINNERS
CREDIT CARDS
Low interest rate credit card           Intech Credit Union
                                Titanium 55 Visa Card
Fully featured credit card              American Express Platinum Credit Card
Balance transfer credit card            American Express Blue Sky Credit Card
HOME LOANS
Home lender of the year                 BankWest
Online lender of the year               One Direct
Fixed-rate home loan            One Direct (ANZ) Fixed Home Loan
Variable rate loan                      Mecu Premium Home Loan
Low doc loan                    One Direct (ANZ)
                                Lo-doc Home Loan (Variable)
Line of credit                  Bankstown City Credit Union;
                                Home Equity Manager
BANKING AND LOANS
Premium banking packages                ANZ Breakfree Package 
Personal loan - unsecured               Wagga Mutual Credit Union
                                - Wagga Gold Personal Loan
Personal loan - secured                 Heritage Building Society
                                - Standard Personal Loan
Reverse mortgages (fixed/capped rates) Mariner Financial Limited
                                - Mariner Equity Access
                                Fixed for Life FFS 100+ 
Reverse mortgages (variable)            Transcomm Credit Union
                                - Annuity Plus Options
* For the latest rates on all of these products please see our rate table on p8 or check rates on www.infochoice.com.au