Is Woolworths Visa Good Value?

[Assassin]

Hi all

Following points devaluation I thought this card would get the chop as it now only offers 1 ppd for the first $2,500 per month and then drops to 0.5ppd. However, I've noticed some other benefits with the card, which are making me re-think this decision:

1. Get 10% off a Woolworths shop once per month - if I spend ~$150 that is a saving of ~$15per month or $180 per annum (but perhaps miss a couple so only save $120-$150 per annum)
2. I have received a couple of bonus points offers, the latest being spend $200 at Woolworths on the card and receive 4,000 bonus points
3. My Woolworths rewards bar-code is on the back so saves me carrying another card around (v. small benefit, I know!)

Do people think 1 and 2 above justifies the annual fee of $169pa?

Thanks

 

[ric_melb]

I also thought I may give this card the chop given the annual fee went up to $169, plus a cap was set on earning 1 point per $1.
However there are few Visa or Mastercards now that earn one point per $, and generally I can keep my spending on this card to under the $2500 cap per month.

1. The 10% off once per month can usually save me $5 to $10 per month.
2.. I have received two offers of bonus points. Spend $150 in a two week period, and earn 4000 QF points each offer.
3. I also like the convenience of only having to use one card as a credit card and for rewards points.

So looking at use per the above and valuing Qantas points at 1 cent (But generally get 2 cents plus) I estimate I can get a minimum of around $400 of value per year.
So for now I will keep the card.

 

[Mattg]

Honestly, I could not personally justify paying a $169 annual fee for this card.

But if you genuinely think that you'll get almost that amount back in savings (your first point) and will use the Qantas points earned on the card effectively, then it could well be worth it for you.

I wouldn't be taking your third point into consideration - it sounds like the kind of thing Woolworths would advertise as a benefit when they've run out of actual benefits to advertise.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Compared to the many other cards available I think this card is very poor.

 

[edcba]

For those not interested in Qantas points the Woolworths Platinum Visa Card costs $49 a year, not $169.

 

[burmans]

For those not interested in Qantas points the Woolworths Platinum Visa Card costs $49 a year, not $169.

Not interested in Qantas points, what do you think this is - the Australian Frequent Toaster Buyers site?ð

 

[edcba]

Apparently you would be surprised at the number of travellers who prefer Virgin and Singapore Airlines. Anyway, the value to me of the Woolworths Platinum Visa Card is the shopping discounts, which more than reimburse the annual fee.

 

[burmans]

Apparently you would be surprised at the number of travellers who prefer Virgin and Singapore Airlines.

Relevance? You can't get either of those with the Woolworths card.

 

[Bilton]

I filled in the on-line application this morning (as it seems to me that there are enough direct benefits for a regular Woolworths shopper and QFF to more than cover the cost) and received this message when submitting.....

Unfortunately we are experiencing technical difficulties and are unable to process your application at this time.
Please save your details so you can return and resubmit your application a little later.

..... which is not a comforting start!

 

[GSP]

So, I have this card.

I got it as it had a sign on bonus of 40k QFF points and had a $99 annual fee (haven't been informed or noticed it's looking like going to $169).

So, my view was $99 for 40,000 points was good, but what I did like was the 10% once per month deal mentioned above. We shop mainly at WOW and generally north of $200 per weekly shop (not a lot of intra weekly shops). So we now wait for our the appropriate week in the month and do a bigger shop (of course not spending money on non discounted items for the heck of it), so generally 220-280 per shop (we have also found it has worked on gift cards - once it was for WOW, the other time WOW was not allowed but was for now WOW, Myers by way of example). One month we just fell short of the maximum of $500 spend = $50 saving.

So $22-$28 discount on spend that was already going to happen (plus the 250 or so QFF points landing in my account each month - I use the card exclusively for this once a month shop) for the year stopped me closing the card out and evaluate at renewal time. $169 v $99 is something I need to take into consideration. Further , the 5% discount that can be achieved on eWish cards also must be considered as the $22-$25 could effectively be halved for a like for like (5% vs 10%). 12 * $11 = $132 - more than $99, but less than $169.

Maths says I'm still in front @ $99 annual fee. Will present that analysis at renewal time for whether to pay the fee for the following year or not.

 

[Renato1]

So, I have this card.

I got it as it had a sign on bonus of 40k QFF points and had a $99 annual fee (haven't been informed or noticed it's looking like going to $169).

So, my view was $99 for 40,000 points was good, but what I did like was the 10% once per month deal mentioned above. We shop mainly at WOW and generally north of $200 per weekly shop (not a lot of intra weekly shops). So we now wait for our the appropriate week in the month and do a bigger shop (of course not spending money on non discounted items for the heck of it), so generally 220-280 per shop (we have also found it has worked on gift cards - once it was for WOW, the other time WOW was not allowed but was for now WOW, Myers by way of example). One month we just fell short of the maximum of $500 spend = $50 saving.

So $22-$28 discount on spend that was already going to happen (plus the 250 or so QFF points landing in my account each month - I use the card exclusively for this once a month shop) for the year stopped me closing the card out and evaluate at renewal time. $169 v $99 is something I need to take into consideration. Further , the 5% discount that can be achieved on eWish cards also must be considered as the $22-$25 could effectively be halved for a like for like (5% vs 10%). 12 * $11 = $132 - more than $99, but less than $169.

Maths says I'm still in front @ $99 annual fee. Will present that analysis at renewal time for whether to pay the fee for the following year or not.

You've gotten $400 worth of FF points for $99. That puts you way ahead.

As for the other discounts, they look pretty good - but Woolworths discriminates against people like me, as I shop there two or three times a week and never get a big shopping trolley's worth of goods for the big 10% discount.

The monthly cap of 2500 points means that you are getting 1250 more points a month than from cheaper cards, so that's 15,000 more points a year - which nearly pays for the card's annual fee, if you can get the spend up that high when you include health insurance, phone, electricity etc.

Shame I missed the 40,000 point promotion, I only see 16,000 points there now.

I have the added complication that my Amex Platinum Edge card earns me 3 points per dollar every time I go to Woolies, so that the Woolworth's card earns a lot less than it does. It hurts my head trying to figure out how I would optimise the usage from both cards at Woolworths if I had them.
Regards,
Renato

 

[Bilton]

A further update - after multiple iterations with the call centre during the application process, and supplying a small mountain of supporting documentation, I now learn I have been declined, but that I can reapply again after 6 months

The experience was even worse than the QANTAS Money application (which was ultimately successful). The Woolworths card would have been nice to have, but it by no means essential and I'm not going to jump through any more silly hoops for it.

My takeaway from this is that both Macquarie Bank and Citibank have abysmal approval processes which are quite unable to cope with the financial settings for Australian self-funded retirees, no matter how well-heeled they are! Caveat emptor.

Concurrently, I had a Westpac cards and Amex cards approved in a day or so without any fuss at all.

 

[Scott Thorncraft]

Just made a call to the Woolworths call centre and said I was about to cancel the card. They quickly offered me 50% off the annual fee (taking it to $84.50) which I took.

Was very willing to cancel it at $169, however $84.50 is pretty decent and worth keeping in the wallet for the benefits you can get from this card if you use it right.

 

[GSP]

Haven't used the card in a few months so was offered 1000 QF points for spending $150 on the card over a 2 week period. Well that was pretty easy.

 

[GSP]

Haven't used the card in a few months so was offered 1000 QF points for spending $150 on the card over a 2 week period. Well that was pretty easy.

Well the 1000 points haven't been paid out yet to QFF - it did say 8 weeks from 15 July which equals this Sunday 9th September. We'll see what happens.

Anyhow just received another offer of 1000 QFF points for spending $75 on the card for 2 consecutive weeks.

 

[GSP]

Re: my post last September, they did pay me to 2 * 1000 points but were late and i grizzled so they gave me another 1500 points.

This also gave me leverage to have the annual fee waived in November.

Anyhow dont use the card unless caught short withoout one but in March then April they had another promotion to spend 1000 dollars over a 2 week period to receive 5000 QFF points which i did. The first lot were late and i grizzled again and offered 1000 additional Qff points so OK. The first 5000 point payment come through straight after (but not the exta 1000), then a few weeks later the next 5000 come through within the 8 weeks criteria so was waiting for my exta 1000. Just received a statement where 6000 points come through. Bonus and not sure how but all good.

So this card has been beneficial for no fee.

There are some websites that charge a fee for Amex and premium (Black/platinum cards).Gift cards or rewards sites the main protagonists. But despite it being a platinum card it doesnt trigger the fee. More savings as i regularly purchase coles or other vouchers not available on Cashrewards.