CREDIT CARD ISSUER OF THE YEAR Commonwealth Bank

Funny thing about credit cards. Recent years have seen a decline in the number of cards held by Australians - from a peak of almost 17 million in 2018 to around 12 million today.

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Despite the drop in numbers, research by Finder reveals that almost one in three (29%) Australians says they rely on credit cards to manage their money. This dependence is slightly skewed towards women, with 33% of women leaning on credit cards compared with 25% of their male counterparts.

While two in five (40%) cardholders applied for their credit card to have a source of emergency funding, 29% say they are chasing reward points, and 17% want a card to make a big purchase.

Clearly, credit cards still have a key role to play. It can be as simple as using our cards to book a table at the local restaurant or scoring a few freebies through reward points.