CBA Diamond...

[fantasy86dj]

Unless you get the CBA Diamond for free as part of a package you might as well go straight for the Platinum Amex Charge card as it is much better value.

The Diamond card has a points cap of 1,000,000 pa but what is it for the Amex Plat :?:

Personal - Credit cards - Platinum awards - Benefits - Commonwealth Bank Group states

You have the potential to earn up to 250,000 Awards per year with a Commonwealth Bank Platinum Awards credit card.

So 125k Frequent Flyer Points ​

:shock:

 

[liparj]

Also, CBA dont look at spend volumes to determine what Rewards card you will get, they base it upon Credit Limit. If you have a limit less than $18k they wont look at you for Diamond. However, despite consistent turnover of $5k per month (spend & payback in full) that wont get you anywhere or any more status than a platinum if you dont meet their limit requirement.

Not necessarily so, I have a $15k limit on my CBA Diamond Mastercard/Amex and don't turnover $5k/month...and that's by choice..

 

[fantasy86dj]

Not necessarily so, I have a $15k limit on my CBA Diamond Mastercard/Amex and don't turnover $5k/month...and that's by choice..

You have $15000 and you still have a CBA Diamond?? When I applied for my card they made me go for a limit increase from $8,500 up to $18,000 as I was told that was the minimum credit limit required to get the Diamond.....

I smell a rat!

 

[Stephen65]

Unless you get the CBA Diamond for free as part of a package you might as well go straight for the Platinum Amex Charge card as it is much better value.

The Diamond card has a points cap of 1,000,000 pa but what is it for the Amex Plat :?:

That's 1,000,0000 CBA points but CBA points are not worth as much as Amex MR points (e.g. 2 CBA = 1 QFF, 1 MR = 1 QFF).

The cap on the Amex Plat Charge is $200,000 spend but you also get a freebie Plat CC with another $100,000 on it.

Expressed in terms of the common currency of QFF points the caps are:

CBA Diamond: 500,000 QFF

Amex Plat Charge: 300,000 + 150,000 = 450,000 QFF

 

[straitman]

That's 1,000,0000 CBA points but CBA points are not worth as much as Amex MR points (e.g. 2 CBA = 1 QFF, 1 MR = 1 QFF).

The cap on the Amex Plat Charge is $200,000 spend but you also get a freebie Plat CC with another $100,000 on it.

Expressed in terms of the common currency of QFF points the caps are:

CBA Diamond: 500,000 QFF

Amex Plat Charge: 300,000 + 150,000 = 450,000 QFF

A bit more to it though.

For CBA Diamond:
MC $1 spend = 1.25 CBA award points = .625 QFF points.
AMEX $1 spend = 3 CBA award points = 1.5 QFF points.

So whilst the CBA MC gives less QFF points the CBA AMEX gives more due the higher points cap.

ie CBA AMEX spend of $333.333.33 gives 1,000,000 CBA points = 500,000 QFF points
or CBA MC spend of $800,000 gives 1,000,000 CBA points = 500,000 QFF points.

If you use the CBA AMEX solely you have the ability to earn an extra 50,000 points over the straight AMEX. The CBA product also has the ability to give you a backup when AMEX is not accepted.

Personally I don't spend that much money on either, and I have both so I figure that I'm safe.

 

[Stephen65]

I try to never use the CBA Diamond MC because of the terrible earn rate ($1 = 0.625 QFF). If I must spend on Visa or MC instead of Amex then I use my Citibusiness Gold Visa ($1 = 1.25 QFF).

Both the CBA and Amex Plat charge earn at the same rate ($1=1.5 QFF) but as you note the CBA card has a slightly higher cap. The Amex Plat charge does come with much better extras like travel insurance, rental car excess cover, Fine Hotels program etc but is more expensive at $900pa. I also find the Amex customer service to be easily better than CBA's.

I actually have both because I got the CBA card for free after signing up for the Amex Plat. Between them I have enough capacity to cover all my Amex spend including tax bills.

 

[Daggs01]

The other thing on the Amex plat charge is when the cap is reached, the earn rate on Membership Rewards then reverts to 1pt per $1.

I believe CBA does not allow the earning of any more points once the cap is reached.

 

[Stephen65]

I believe CBA does not allow the earning of any more points once the cap is reached.

I asked my "private banker" at CBA why the cap had been set at one million points. His response was that the CBA believed nobody would earn over this in a year. I asked him why not just make it unlimited then? He didn't know.

 

[New Chump]

The other well-hidden feature of the CBA card is the ability to Great Rate a transaction - where you pay 0.99% for 3 months on a puchase. It does not affect your interest free period for other purchases.

You can use it most effectively if you have a big payment to make (28 Feb tax payment is looming large for me), and if you crunch the numbers it is worth doing, particularly as it lets you leave the $ in your home loan (if you have one ) for the 3 months instead of the usual 55(?) day interest free period.

You can Great Rate 6 transactions per year.

NC

 

[straitman]

The other well-hidden feature of the CBA card is the ability to Great Rate a transaction - where you pay 0.99% for 3 months on a puchase. It does not affect your interest free period for other purchases.

You can use it most effectively if you have a big payment to make (28 Feb tax payment is looming large for me), and if you crunch the numbers it is worth doing, particularly as it lets you leave the $ in your home loan (if you have one ) for the 3 months instead of the usual 55(?) day interest free period.

You can Great Rate 6 transactions per year.

NC

Thanks.

I didn't know that one.

 

[tim374]

My friend who works at CBA told me about the Great Rate a while ago, however he said it doesn't apply to gambling or travel related purchases.

 

[Daggs01]

That's not so bad actually, I'd chose that over interest free I'd live the points.

Also. Once the points cap on plat amex is reached, it reverts to a 1:1 learn rate.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

 

[serfty]

The other well-hidden feature of the CBA card is the ability to Great Rate a transaction - where you pay 0.99% for 3 months on a puchase. ...

The Westpac platinum Earth has a similar feature where for eligible Qantas purchases over $500 you can arrange a 5.99% rate for the life of the amount. Better than that, such transactions earn at 2.5 points/$.

Posted on a wing & a prayer

 

[Dr Bob]

Interesting read.
Have just received an offer to upgrade to Diamond Awards M/C at no extra cost (i.e. still 250 a year Platinum M/C). Nothing free for me. I use to earn 300K plus a year before limit reductions but now struggle to get 250K. Max out the CBA platinum M/C to 150K use Amex where ever I can - about 70K - have advantage rewards so those point can go anywhere - and spill the rest to ANZ visa at a very poor earn. So I think I'll dust off my Citibank platinum M/C (I think) - $25 credit & 10K points - not used since the QFF rewards take over - & see if I can convert to the Citibusiness gold visa.
Glad I looked here before accepting the offer.
Thanks everyone.

 

[Dr Bob]

Sorry made a mistake there.
The Amex rewards are the Ascent Premium(allows you to transfer to any airline including QF) on a rewards advantage card.

 

[asdf]

hmm, so a Diamond card pack just arrived in my mailbox today - much to my surprise as I certainly didn't apply for anything!

Something about an offer to 'pay what you pay for Platinum' - but have not yet contacted them to see if means my fee waiver for Platinum will carry over...

 

[wxxnxs]

hmm, so a Diamond card pack just arrived in my mailbox today - much to my surprise as I certainly didn't apply for anything!

Something about an offer to 'pay what you pay for Platinum' - but have not yet contacted them to see if means my fee waiver for Platinum will carry over...

Same here, I got mine yesterday, however my credit limited is under its minimum.

 

[straitman]

hmm, so a Diamond card pack just arrived in my mailbox today - much to my surprise as I certainly didn't apply for anything!

Something about an offer to 'pay what you pay for Platinum' - but have not yet contacted them to see if means my fee waiver for Platinum will carry over...

Mine did.

 

[elbarto]

Same here, I got mine yesterday, however my credit limited is under its minimum.

And it won't change if you take up the offer. They're giving out diamond benefits at platinum or gold costs and limits.

 

[drron]

hmm, so a Diamond card pack just arrived in my mailbox today - much to my surprise as I certainly didn't apply for anything!

Something about an offer to 'pay what you pay for Platinum' - but have not yet contacted them to see if means my fee waiver for Platinum will carry over...

Same here.Though I only got the diamond MC not the Amex-but I wouldn't use a CBA Amex anyway-only real Amex for me so as to transfer to SPG.
Mine was in replacement for my fee free gold MC-another hangover from my AMA membership.So I have a fee free DC,A fee free diamond MC and a fee free gold Amex all of which at one time where offered to AMA members.When the AMA gets a new partner you can just keep on with the old ones.