"Enhancements" to MR earn on Platinum Card, Reserve & Centurian

[NM]

My guess is he'd buying a card of some sort at a supermarket or 7/11 that he can use elsewhere? (NM- You don't have to advertise, just PM me if correct!)

Nothing tricky, just selective use of the card at the right establishments, and then use a non-Amex card for everything else.

 

[delfredo]

Sorry if this has been discussed (I didn't want to go through 41 pages). I just thought that it would be a good idea to use Amex to buy wish giftcard at Woolies (3 points per dollar) and use it at Woolies Caltex for petrol purchases. This is an additional point per dollar compared to using Amex at petrol stations.

 

[cove]

Because Christmas is getting close I checked the deal for buying 5% off gift cards direct from Woolies on Amex. Yes you can do it but you have to buy a minimum of $8,000 in face value for $7,600 charge to your card. There is a charge for air delivery.
I do this style of purchase about once a year for the office and you have to contact the main Woolies office to score the discount rather than at a retail store.
National Seniors and RACWA take Visa and MC so I tend to use Citi Select for those.

 

[Bunty]

I have now redirected all my utility spend (phone, internet, counciil rates, school fees, insurances etc) away from the Reserve card to the CBA Diamond Amex which still gives me 3 points per dollar (6 times more than the enhanced Reserve card).
Even if the burn rate on the Diamond card is greater than Membership Rewards, it's not 6 times worse!

All supermarket and petrol purchases are directed to DJ's Amex (also 3 point per dollar).

All BAS and remaining non-restaurant purchases that do not accept Diamond or DJ Amex (or where the surchage differential is excessive), go on the Citi Signature card (1.5 points per dollar).

What that leaves on the Platinum Reserve card is only restaurants (and that is also only when I can't also score a bottle of wine and 3 points/$ on the Citi Dining Rewards program). I hear the 3 points/$ on the Citi card is also ending soon!

As far as I can see, the only benefit (to me) of this "enhancement" by Amex is that my points are now earned in a diversified manner and not heavily weighted to Membership Rewards as it has been for the last 15 years or so. It has complicated my spending patterns (and the wife is not too happy about this either), but I'm hoping we will get used to the new world after a few weeks!

 

[Chicken]

I'm just using it for the free flights and Priority Club now. So many places stopped taking AmEx, even Red Lea Chicken.

 

[Pukka]

I have now redirected all my utility spend (phone, internet, counciil rates, school fees, insurances etc) away from the Reserve card to the CBA Diamond Amex which still gives me 3 points per dollar (6 times more than the enhanced Reserve card).
Even if the burn rate on the Diamond card is greater than Membership Rewards, it's not 6 times worse!

All supermarket and petrol purchases are directed to DJ's Amex (also 3 point per dollar).

All BAS and remaining non-restaurant purchases that do not accept Diamond or DJ Amex (or where the surchage differential is excessive), go on the Citi Signature card (1.5 points per dollar).

What that leaves on the Platinum Reserve card is only restaurants (and that is also only when I can't also score a bottle of wine and 3 points/$ on the Citi Dining Rewards program). I hear the 3 points/$ on the Citi card is also ending soon!

As far as I can see, the only benefit (to me) of this "enhancement" by Amex is that my points are now earned in a diversified manner and not heavily weighted to Membership Rewards as it has been for the last 15 years or so. It has complicated my spending patterns (and the wife is not too happy about this either), but I'm hoping we will get used to the new world after a few weeks!

So the CBA diamond Amex you can use the points for flights ?? I've got one in the safe never used it only the MasterCard and that hardly at all. Although I'm directing the majority of my spend to Citibank Signature Select an Amex option is always good. So which airlines are CBA partners with and what's the transfer rate ???

 

[greenfrog86]

So the CBA diamond Amex you can use the points for flights ?? I've got one in the safe never used it only the MasterCard and that hardly at all. Although I'm directing the majority of my spend to Citibank Signature Select an Amex option is always good. So which airlines are CBA partners with and what's the transfer rate ???

Check the CBA thread in here... there are plenty of posts on this subject.

CBA points can be sent to QFF (at a rate of 1.5QFF per $1 on the Amex) if you opt-in and send ALL your points to Qantas, otherwise you can redeem for Velocity (1 Velocity point for 2 CBA points, so 1.5 per $1 on Amex) or Air NZ...

 

[lovestotravel]

CBA Diamond Amex allows transfers to Virgin Australia and Qantas and also Air NZ

0.625 points per $1 for Visa
1.5 points per $1 for Amex

Is the real earn rate for Virgin Australia and Qantas

Pay $10 per year and you can transfer to Qantas (Direct sweep monthly)

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Carcks may be appearing..... Amex rang me today and offered bonus points if I stayed.

 

[anat0l]

Carcks may be appearing..... Amex rang me today and offered bonus points if I stayed.

If they meant more points per dollar for a year, that'd be interesting.

If it's a one-off bulk sweetner, then that's a bit more dubious.

 

[kyle]

Happy to report that my purchase on Qantas Epicure counted as 'travel', so got 2 points per $ on the Reserve.

 

[lovestotravel]

If they meant more points per dollar for a year, that'd be interesting.

If it's a one-off bulk sweetner, then that's a bit more dubious.

The offer is 1 bonus point per $1 for a max of 20,000 points

 

[edman]

The offer is 1 bonus point per $1 for a max of 20,000 points

A good start but they need to do better than that! My Amex spend for Oct was about 10% of my average monthly spend on Amex for the last 12 months, this month its likely to be closer to 5%. Had resisted the urge to move my Citibank Signature (fee free for life) to Select but after getting a 20k in increase in the limit 6 weeks ago, will now look to pay for the Select and retain the fee-free card by limit splitting to future-proof against any changes. Now that the visa is getting used a lot more its a no-brainer.

 

[greenfrog86]

If they meant more points per dollar for a year, that'd be interesting.

If it's a one-off bulk sweetner, then that's a bit more dubious.

See the other thread in here... there are a few pages of comments about these calls.

People are being offered one extra point per dollar spent, making it 4/3/2/1.5 for all spend until 30 June or 20,000 whichever comes first

 

[hummel]

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[TD="class: desc, bgcolor: #DAE2E8"]RENTALCARTOLLPH131865[/TD]
[TD="class: charge, bgcolor: #DAE2E8"]$40.09[/TD]
[TD="class: basepts, bgcolor: #DAE2E8"]20[/TD]
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[TD="class: totalpts, bgcolor: #DAE2E8"]20
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Time to start using the Visa more and more now If I can't even get $1/1pt on Tolls!

 

[aschmid]

Citibank Visa Select rocks! Some startup issues but now that's all setup ALL my spend goes through one card at 2 points per dollar as there is no more "We don't accept AMEX or there is a surcharge" BS anymore!

 

[Foreigner]

Citibank Visa Select rocks! Some startup issues but now that's all setup ALL my spend goes through one card at 2 points per dollar as there is no more "We don't accept AMEX or there is a surcharge" BS anymore!

I'm happy too with that card but my only gripe right now is that the PP card hasn't been delivered despite being told it would be in 15 business days.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Yes Select bordering on PERFECT except total inability to verify pts earn due to their less than satisfactory web site.

 

[Bunty]

Carcks may be appearing..... Amex rang me today and offered bonus points if I stayed.

Did you threaten to cancel the Amex card? Seems strange that "Amex rang...." you. Which card do you have?

 

[greenfrog86]

Did you threaten to cancel the Amex card? Seems strange that "Amex rang...." you. Which card do you have?

See the whole thread on this...

It seems to be for people with the Platinum Charge card. You don't have to have 'threatened' to cancel the card - it seems to be a last minute loyalty attempt