Following on from the success of its insurance and credit card products, supermarket giant Coles is expanding its list of financial service offerings to include personal loans, with special benefits for flybuys members.
Coles confirmed that its personal loan will have a lower interest rate for flybuys customers and will also allow them to earn extra points while shopping at Coles.
Customers can apply for loans between $5,000 and $50,000, with terms of three, four or five years. Amounts and interest rates are based on customers’ personal credit score.
Flybuys members will benefit from the lower interest rate, starting at 11.99% per year, compared with 12.99% for non-members.
They will also earn one extra flybuys point for every $1 spent at Coles.
In a statement to Inside FMCG, Coles said: “The loans also maximise flexibility for customers with no exit fees for early repayment and the ability to reuse available credit up to your borrowing limit without the need to re-apply.”
Retail expert, Assoc Professor Gary Mortimer, believes that Coles have a competitive advantage over big banks with access to a “treasure-trove” of shopper data.
“Over 14.5 million Australians use FlyBuys and Woolworths Rewards loyalty cards, gathering a treasure-trove of data on consumer habits, budgets and lifestyles. Combine this with data from partners like Telstra, Qantas, WebJet and Medibank, it becomes pretty clear that Coles and Woolworths will have an advantage [in the banking sector],” Mortimer stated in an article on The Conversation.
