IMHO the best credit card combination for an Australian FF

[gumpy]

Just my thoughts but would love to hear others perspectives on this.

I think the best CC combination out there for the Australian Frequent Flyer is:

1. Amex Platinum Charge Card
2. Citibank Business Gold

Let me explain;

Amex - gets you fantastic levels of travel insurance, lounge access, concierge esp useful when you travel, hotel memberships and 1.5 QFF points per spend. Probably the best customer service of an institution. Only issue is Amex isn't accepted everywhere...

Here the Citibank card comes in as it is a visa... gets you 1.25 QFF points per dollar... infact if you only had to have one card for QFF points I'd say this card would be it. It also gives you 4 times the points for the IC and Crowne group and Hertz...
Pity about the bad customer service.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Stephen65]

This is the exact combination I have as my primary two cards and for the reasons you give.

The only limitation is that spending on the Citi card is capped at $64K = 80K FF points so you might need another Visa card.

 

[gumpy]

This is the exact combination I have as my primary two cards and for the reasons you give.

The only limitation is that spending on the Citi card is capped at $64K = 80K FF points so you might need another Visa card.

Woolies everyday rewards on the side?

 

[cove]

Capped cards are fine only if you dont reach the cap level for points.
Woolies EDR is running fine.
I am addicted to Amex Ultimate with the free flight each year cancelling the annual fee.

 

[Peter2]

Cove, being new to this points game and just having my initial experience at firing up mega Citi Select points, I have been contemplating how the CC company makes a dollar out of it?

I can obviously see how the money is made on the merchant side, but on the customer side I am confused. I crank up mega points @ about 1.2 cents per point minimum and pay off the transactions.

Is it the case that the CC company will lose out totally unless I forget to pay off the balance and use their prohibitive interest rates?

This is starting to concern me as if I get say $20K per year in points value, the CC provider should be $20K behind on the profit & loss and will therefore seek to turn the tap off?

Peter T

 

[deka2]

I have an Amex Platinum Reserve Credit card and a Citibank Citibusiness Card.

Wife has a Citibusiness as well having applied when the Annual Fee was $79.

Think we are well covered, but would like to get 1.5 QFF points per $ instead of 1.25.

Are the extra benefits of the Amex Platinum charge card worth the extra $600?

 

[cove]

PeterT basically it is pretty simple.
The "average" credit card user is extraordinarily slack and is so different from you or me.
Merchant fees charged by banks vary from around 0.64% thru to about 5% of a transaction then the money becomes a loan at about 20% to 30% charged monthly.
Let's now add the card annual fee,late payment fees and overseas currency fees and before long it can really add up to just below a pawn brokers pricing.
The bank then mines your information to cross sell products like insurance and other goodies.
Makes you want to own a Bank?
As I have said in the Frequent Flyer Fiend Blog it is just a Game that we are playing well.
Don't panic,keep away from capped points cards and play to win.
I hope you love getting $20K value out of a Bank by the power of the system.

 

[Peter2]

Thanks Cove for your thoughts. I am still suspicious though. Say you can millions of points per year, the transactions flowing regularly through your account has got to get someones attention, especially when I start clocking significant redemptions.

@1c min that is $10K of value per $mil, & @5c (if lucky) it is $50K of value. Can't be too long before the bank tries to stop this hemorrhaging... unless someone can point out how they also make a dollar out of my transactions....

Another interesting thing is that the amount of work involved in a $100 CC transaction is probably the same as a $100,000 transaction, so it really comes down to being able to interpose your credit card in the mega flows.... It is a bit likely beekeeping.... or real estate buying and selling....

Peter

 

[cove]

Gee I thought for a minute that you had accessed my FF accounts!
Now I received a gushing letter from one my largest points suppliers......but no champagne nor chocolates so it can be the reverse of what you are thinking.
My partners think I am a genius as they too are travelling up front.
Before long you will feel impoverished when after a spate of redemptions one of your accounts drops below a seven figure level.
If you can spare $50K you could get a saving off retail of up to $500k for your family/business/friends.
I started this in 1979 and I am no genius but more a tenacious user of wholesale everything.
Some points cost nothing,others are 0.65 cents,next ones are 0.833 cents( and above 1.0 cent I don't bother unless it carries a tax deduction.)
Those figures are all pre-tax .

 

[cove]

If I was running with one card for QF points it would be Woolworths Everyday Rewards at $89 with a nice sign on bonus.

 

[wxxnxs]

Is it the case that the CC company will lose out totally unless I forget to pay off the balance and use their prohibitive interest rates?

This is starting to concern me as if I get say $20K per year in points value, the CC provider should be $20K behind on the profit & loss and will therefore seek to turn the tap off?

Peter T

CC company will never ever loss out no matter what, remember that.

When you use your cc to go for shopping, you pay via your card to the merchant, the merchant gets charged by cc company for certain % of amount, and then merchant will put those % amount cost back to the product which you buy. Your cc company will give your points due to the purchase you made from your card.

The picture will be like this:

Yourself-->merchant-->cc company

You might get little return from cc company but obviously much less than you spend.

The conclusion is you pay for the points which you get from the cc company.

 

[gumpy]

I have an Amex Platinum Reserve Credit card and a Citibank Citibusiness Card.

Wife has a Citibusiness as well having applied when the Annual Fee was $79.

Think we are well covered, but would like to get 1.5 QFF points per $ instead of 1.25.

Are the extra benefits of the Amex Platinum charge card worth the extra $600?

Does the Amex Plat Reserve get your QFF points? from memory it's only accent and not accent premium membership which excludes you from QFF points...

Is the charge worth it? yes I feel it is for all the other travel benefits and the travel insurance that applies even if you don't purchase the ticket on the card... It was definately worth it with the 75k points offer.

 

[TonyHancock]

Is the charge worth it? yes I feel it is for all the other travel benefits and the travel insurance that applies even if you don't purchase the ticket on the card... It was definately worth it with the 75k points offer.

I agree, for me it is worth it.

 

[Peter2]

CC company will never ever loss out no matter what, remember that.

When you use your cc to go for shopping, you pay via your card to the merchant, the merchant gets charged by cc company for certain % of amount, and then merchant will put those % amount cost back to the product which you buy. Your cc company will give your points due to the purchase you made from your card.

The picture will be like this:

Yourself-->merchant-->cc company

You might get little return from cc company but obviously much less than you spend.

The conclusion is you pay for the points which you get from the cc company.

I don't think this is right. The merchant CC company picks up the fee for use of their CC facilities. The customer CC company hands out the points. Interestingly the tax office merchant fee is about 0.65c in the dollar, but citibank's customer points appear to be 1.2c per $ so there is a mismatch here.

I suspect they are just hoping I dont pay it down at the end of the month so they clean up on the pawnbroker type interest rates.....

Peter

 

[deka2]

Yes gumpy, the Amex Plat Reserve is a QFF Sweep card, and we also get a free flight or hotel night with it.
Paid through an Industry Assoc our fee is $295. Also have an Annual Travel Insurance with TID which cost around $350. Both together are still $250 short of the Charge Card Fee.

 

[gumpy]

Yes gumpy, the Amex Plat Reserve is a QFF Sweep card, and we also get a free flight or hotel night with it.
Paid through an Industry Assoc our fee is $295. Also have an Annual Travel Insurance with TID which cost around $350. Both together are still $250 short of the Charge Card Fee.

Can anyone else confirm that it earns QFF points? because I go to the site now and it says it partners with 7 not 8 airlines. It comes free with the Plat charge card and I have one because it gets you the free flight. The amex person at the time said it will earn QFF points because I am a Platinum card holder and there for enrolled into ascent premium which this card will become part of.

as with the remaining 250, there are things like SPG gold, concierge, priority pass, very good lounge access in the states, 75k points, very good J tickets (unsure if that's for all amex plat) and some more stuff don't have the start pack with me.

Edit: I've gone over the T&C's of the Reserve Plat

I think you can launder QFF points via Hilton Honors...

 

[pangwen]

Can anyone else confirm that it earns QFF points? because I go to the site now and it says it partners with 7 not 8 airlines. It comes free with the Plat charge card and I have one because it gets you the free flight. The amex person at the time said it will earn QFF points because I am a Platinum card holder and there for enrolled into ascent premium which this card will become part of.

as with the remaining 250, there are things like SPG gold, concierge, priority pass, very good lounge access in the states, 75k points, very good J tickets (unsure if that's for all amex plat) and some more stuff don't have the start pack with me.

Edit: I've gone over the T&C's of the Reserve Plat

I think you can launder QFF points via Hilton Honors...

With my professional organisation, you get a choice (with an annual fee of $295):

- Membership rewards points, that you can transfer to 7 different airline programs. Earn rate 1.5 points/$

- Qantas frequent flyer points. Earn rate 1.25 points/$

So you're enrolled in EITHER Ascent (normal) or Qantas direct. Choosing Qantas will get you a lower earn rate.

 

[gumpy]

With my professional organisation, you get a choice (with an annual fee of $295):

- Membership rewards points, that you can transfer to 7 different airline programs. Earn rate 1.5 points/$

- Qantas frequent flyer points. Earn rate 1.25 points/$

So you're enrolled in EITHER Ascent (normal) or Qantas direct. Choosing Qantas will get you a lower earn rate.

right... nice...

if that option is still available without the 75k bonus points I'd say it's line ball... I guess it then depends on the spend level.

 

[zig]

I went with the Platinum Edge as the partner to my Plat charge rather than the Reserve. Edge give 3 points for supermarket spends and 2 points for petrol.

 

[k_sheep]

What about the good old faithful Wizard / 28 deg card? Need to get that fee free cash overseas somehow!