Got an email from Westpac that they're smashing their earn rates up (on the Westpac Airpoints Platinum Mastercard) from $85/1 Airpoint to a tiered system that sees the base level moves the earn rate to $110/1 Airpoint.
In short: this card is no longer worth the fee and and I'm wondering
A) anyone experienced other cc companies signalling they're moving their earn rates?
B) recommendations for a replacement card with an average monthly spend between 3-5k?
Cheers!
Best Airpoints Credit Card Earn Rate
Comments
I've been with ANZ for ages now. I've been quite lazy to move even with lots of bonus airpoints promotions around. The last time I thought about changing, Westpac wanted to spend like an hour on the phone with me going through lots of information and I just couldn't be bothered. ANZ's platinum earn rate is still at $85 for 1 airpoint for now and they still offer 2 complimentary lounge passes for $30k spend which I just managed to achieve recently.
If they made the earn rate worse then I'd also consider going the Amex Airpoints Platinum route or ask ANZ to wave the card fee for 6 months/1 year to make up for it.
I've been with Amex for a while, the Airpoints Platinum card has a really good earn rate ($59 = 1A), but it is not as widely accepted as Visa/Mastercard. Some places (often hotels) charge a higher surcharge for using Amex.
Noticed this as well with PBTech. Higher surcharge with AMEX compared to Visa or Mastercard.
All of them are moving all their deals around at the moment since this law change capping the fees they can charge to the merchants, ie they are all trying to find ways to pay you less and if they havent yet, they probably will soon. ASB tried, just stupidly went to early and had to back down, bet they regret that early greed now - although you can be pretty sure they will be back.
If your not in a rush, I would probably wait a bit for it to settle down especially if there is upfront card fee- as they could change the scheme as soon as you join. They will all be trying to cut their schemes back, they need to keep those billions rolling in after all - every cent , some might back down if they get to big a reaction to a change, then some might go the other way to win some market share and around around until it settles again.
Amex airpoints platinum is good but not accepted at all places. On the bright side, there are running more promos with new and existing retailers. Direct debit is good. App is decent. Plus access to Amex lounge in Sydney (2 visits) and 2 priority pass visits are included.
One option to consider is the AMEX Airpoints Card. Not as good as the Platinum earn rate, at $100 spend = 1 Airpoints Dollar. But it has $0 Card fee. So I use it where I can, then Visa for the rest.
Not worth changing cards right now as they are probably all going to allign over the next 6 months.
Merchant fees have dropped drastically except for AMEX they are the outlyer as they are a charge cardhow can banks in other countries offer much better rewards with lower merchant fees?
Suppose its higher population?
My friend in Denmark says Cashback points incentives are basically non existant but i suspect they have even lower merchant charges.Singapore 5M population and they have cards with 5% cashback.
@huffboy: Brings me back to Japan where cash is still very much used and they offered i think it was 2.5% discount for Visa/Master and 3% for AMEX
Definately trying to bribe the population into cards.
5% is crazy merchants are roughly paying 2.5% give or take depending on retailer for credit card so i can only see 1% actually being pheasable at best once you cover the "overhead"
Moved from Kiwibank credit card to anz credit card for the earn rate. Seems to have the best earn rate and still have the airline vouchers. Hope they don’t change the earn rate in the future.
Too lazy to have to bring an extra Amex card.
Switched from Kiwibank to Amex last month.
- Signup process was the easiest ever! All online. (Probably because of pay/credit rating etc)
- Most major expenses of ours seem to be covered by Amex.
- Notable exceptions though… AIA insurance, Auckland council, Restaurants/Pubs are hit and miss.
- No google pay and paywave for me is hit and miss.But with the significantly better airpoints earn rate (59:1) and other offers available I would still highly recommend it.
Thinking of adding a TSB platinum card into the mix just cause its mastercard
but might wait to see if someone else pops up with better offers.Dosh Visa Debit card is now offering 1% Cashback on all purchases. No sign up/annual fees.
Flight Centre is still doing 1.5% rewards but can only be spent at Flight Centre
Hi Guys,
Does anyone know if ANZ will be running a promo soon on their Airpoints Visa Platinum Cards??
Last year they had a deal but I haven't seen it for a while.
- ANZ Airpoints Visa Platinum: Signup & Receive 400 Airpoints with $1000 Spend in The First 3 Months ($150 Annual Fee).
I need a CC ASAP and ANZ seems to be the best one (x status points).
Thanks and advance,Not sure about the deal for ANZ currently, but if you are after status points, they have a great incentive. For every AirNZ flight you take, you get bonus 50% status points. i.e. if you take a flight that earns 15 status, youll get a bonus 7.5. The purchase doesnt even need to be with the same card (i.e. corporate purchase). Seems to be that if you hold the ANZ airpoints card, and have an AirNZ flight, you get the points. Just thought that may help sway things
Yeah… I know about the 50% bonus part. This is the main reason I want the ANZ card :)
I'm just waiting for the Airpoints Bonus deal… last year they were offering 400 Airpoints after $1000 spent.
Thanks mateYeah thats when I signed up. They have changed their earn rate slightly, but the 50% bonus more than makes up for it (specially since it appears to be regardless of whether the card is used for the ticket purchase or not). Good luck!
I'm thinking of getting the Amex Airpoints Platinum ( https://www.americanexpress.com/nz/credit-cards/airpoints-ca… )
I'm with Kiwibank but they have one of the worst earn rates ($1A per $115 spend) & $180p.a fee plus additional cards at $30p.a
Amex has $195p.a fee with $0 for additional cards including 300Airpoints as welcome offer which is a good deal