Any of the Amex cards have a dual benefit that can outweigh (unless chasing cheap QFF point status flights) the points benefit. Amex provides a 100 reward points = $1 redemption for FX at their Amex FX kiosks in Westpac branches. So you can get travellers cheques, travel cards and cash all at the same rate. They do not have a worse rate for FX cash vs FX TCs and their rate seems to beat the other providers TC rate most of the time. If it doesn't if you have a stamped quote from a competitor they beat it by .01 or so if you ask.
If you are getting more than a small amount (>$1,000) of cash/cheques then you can ask for a better rate and quite often (after they call their central number) the rate improves anywhere up to 0.75%. So it can pay the $8 admin fee per currency.
Compared with the range of other cash redemption options around on other cards (range seems to be 100 points gets between $0.33 to $0.66) then this is quite a lucrative way to get value for your points.
Also there is no minimum or exact amount required (so far my experience) with redemptions ranging from 6,880 to 112,352 points. That is they allow you to redeem the exact amount required to get the FX amount you are after.
If you are getting more than a small amount (>$1,000) of cash/cheques then you can ask for a better rate and quite often (after they call their central number) the rate improves anywhere up to 0.75%. So it can pay the $8 admin fee per currency.
Compared with the range of other cash redemption options around on other cards (range seems to be 100 points gets between $0.33 to $0.66) then this is quite a lucrative way to get value for your points.
Also there is no minimum or exact amount required (so far my experience) with redemptions ranging from 6,880 to 112,352 points. That is they allow you to redeem the exact amount required to get the FX amount you are after.
