Qantas Credit Union transaction account

[exceladdict]

Hi all, I need a sanity check.

Got an email this morning from the Qantas Credit Union offering 400 points for every $1000 of balance per month.

Assuming no other opportunity cost, the money would otherwise be in online savings or offsetting a home loan - let's say at 5% PA.

So forgoing $50 for every $1000 per year, to earn 4800 points. Or in other words, buying points at 1.04 cents.

Not looking to start a debate on the value of points - that has been had elsewhere - but am I missing anything?

 

[hanger.on]

Email states: 'of your average monthly balance per annum'. I think you might be calculating per month, exceladdict. Perhaps not as attractive as first thought!

 

[zainman]

I would not buy QF points at 1 CPM.

 

[RichardMEL]

Could be a nice little earner for someone who had a bunch of $$ to "park" somewhere they did not intend to use anytime soon.. like a rainy day fund, or desposit for property account or something.

And if it's a larger amount where interest could impact on one's tax situation, then it may be quite handy.

the max amount you can have in the account is $1m so hey if one had $100k parked for a year (sure I know this is not many people ) you could, in theory, earn 480k QFF points for "nothing." that could fund some F flying.....

 

[kevrosmith]

I got the email. To me, the wording is confusing and I couldn't easily work out how many points I'd earn, especially compared to the Bankwest transaction account. It doesn't sound good value cf. Bankwest on initial reading, but as I say, it's confusing, so until I get clarity, I'm sticking with Bankwest.

"400 Qantas Points for every $1,000 of your average monthly balance per annum"

How is average monthly balance calculated? Is that the sum of the nightly balance divided by the number of days in the month?

And when they put "per annum" at the end, does that mean they are only paying points annually? So it's the average monthly balance paid annually? It's confusing if you ask me.

 

[RichardMEL]

I got the email. To me, the wording is confusing and I couldn't easily work out how many points I'd earn, especially compared to the Bankwest transaction account. It doesn't sound good value cf. Bankwest on initial reading, but as I say, it's confusing, so until I get clarity, I'm sticking with Bankwest.

I forgot about bankwest... so they offer, that I can see:

• 5 Qantas Points per eligible purchase
• 12 Qantas Points per month per $100 balance in your account

This suggests 1200 QFF/$1000 account balance per month vs 400 QFF/$1000 account balance. plus the 5 QFF/purchases on the mastercard (which would be debit, not credit, but that's OK if you either don't like CC's, or have a large-ish cash balance in the account, or both).

noting:

• $0 monthly account fees when you deposit at least $2,000 per month (e.g. your salary)
• free access to Bankwest and CommBank ATMs, Australia largest bank ATM network
• no overseas ATM withdrawal fees (charged by Bankwest)**

So the QCU account offers no account fees on ANY balance (yet you'd "need" at least $1k in there for any QFFs) so bankwest is nice if you have >$2k balance.

I'm not certain which ATM's QCU allows access to.....

So yes, on the surface bankwest now does seem better I agree.

 

[EestiTiger]

Hi guys - yep I too had a close look at this, but it is nowhere as attractive as the Bankwest account.

The 'per annum' is the killer! They have a calculater on their website as well as in the PDS a formula for how they calculate your points. I am getting roughly 7500 per month in Bankwest and using their calculator and working it out myself the same amount comes to 1666 points per month. Just make sure you don't forget to divide by 12 to get the monthly value

Hope that helps someone.

 

[A330]

The QCU account also pays 2% interest. The BankWest account only pays 0.01%.

 

[jeza]

I forgot about bankwest... so they offer, that I can see:
[/LIST]

This suggests 1200 QFF/$1000 account balance per month vs 400 QFF/$1000 account balance. plus the 5 QFF/purchases on the mastercard (which would be debit, not credit, but that's OK if you either don't like CC's, or have a large-ish cash balance in the account, or both).

noting:
[/LIST]

So the QCU account offers no account fees on ANY balance (yet you'd "need" at least $1k in there for any QFFs) so bankwest is nice if you have >$2k balance.

I'm not certain which ATM's QCU allows access to.....

So yes, on the surface bankwest now does seem better I agree.

Bankwest 12 points per $100 so shouldn't that be 120 QFF/$1000, not 1200?

 

[RichardMEL]

Bankwest 12 points per $100 so shouldn't that be 120 QFF/$1000, not 1200?

er... there's a reason I got a faculty pass in first year uni maths. How embarassment!!!

yes indeed... so it's 120/$1k vs 400/$1k with QFCU offering a higher rate of interest and fee free.

this does change the dynamic.

 

[Mr_Orange]

er... there's a reason I got a faculty pass in first year uni maths. How embarassment!!!

yes indeed... so it's 120/$1k vs 400/$1k with QFCU offering a higher rate of interest and fee free.

this does change the dynamic.

The other thread, which will no doubt be shortly merged, seems to suggest that QFCU is 33 points per $1000 per month.

 

[RichardMEL]

OK I give up trying to figure it out. yep merge away

 

[kevrosmith]

The online calculator shows 33 pts for $1,000 for one month.
https://www.qantascu.com.au/qantas-points/calculate

Bankwest is 0.4 per $100 per day. So $1,000 for 30 days = 120 points. (1000 / 100 * 0.4 * 30). Much better value.

 

[exceladdict]

Email states: 'of your average monthly balance per annum'. I think you might be calculating per month, exceladdict. Perhaps not as attractive as first thought!

Bingo. Knew I was missing something. Thanks all

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Not forgetting that for the Bankwest Visa/MasterCard debit card, you need to deposit $2k a month.
Not everyone makes $24k a year, I certainly don't!
I earn my keep in other things apart from cash earnings. Kibble.

 

[coles525]

Not forgetting that for the Bankwest Visa/MasterCard debit card, you need to deposit $2k a month.
Not everyone makes $24k a year, I certainly don't!
I earn my keep in other things apart from cash earnings. Kibble.

All i do it auto transfer every few days.

Payslip --> BW
BW --> Other acc
Other -->> BW again
BW -->> final destination.

Paid fortnightly, so between 2k & 4k per month (depending on which card using).

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Coles, naughty naughty, even though it will satisfy BW's systems.
I wanted a while back to start applying for that debit card, but when I saw the need for $2k to be deposited, it put me off.
I did write to BW to mention, how about $1k min deposit, I am already a BW customer, yair, got the reply, they take all comments into account lah lah, but in the end, it probably goes in the bin.
But good on you for being able to ahem ahem it.

 

[woodborer]

I'm not certain which ATM's QCU allows access to.....

For the specific account of this thread, no ATM access. Despite the title of the thread saying 'Transaction account', it's not. This is a Cash Management account. It does not have a debit card, you have to use other mechanisms to move money around....