New Ultimate Awards card (uncapped till May 2020)

[theblank]

May not be tempting people to churn but it certainly tempted me to switch over from my existing CBA card.

A smart person would take on the Platinum card first to get 100k (50k VFF) points for just $250 annual fee then switch later.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

A smart person would take on the Platinum card first to get 100k (50k VFF) points for just $250 annual fee then switch later.

Unless they already had a Platinum card.

 

[sydunipete]

I emailed my CBA personal banker and he confirmed that if you are an existing Diamond Awards card holder and you convert to Ultimate then your Diamond annual fee will be refunded pro-rata. So I'm making the switch now.

It may not attract too many new card holders but I was seriously considering churning to another bank and this has retained me.

I assume this would apply for Platinum too if you used the hack mentioned above.

 

[sydunipete]

Unless they offer bonus sign up points offer, I won't touch this card. For 0% overseas fx fees, stick with macquarie or bankwest card.

I have CBA Diamond, BankWest and Macquarie. I use the latter two when overseas or making overseas transactions. I spend quite a bit on overseas airfares and I live overseas for six months of the year. (Actually less than six months if anyone from the ATO is here.)

My free and fee free BankWest and Macquarie cards don't give free travel insurance, Macquarie Debit cards can't usually be used for car hire (where a credit card is required) and with Macquarie I don't earn interest when money is in the debit card account. (As pitiful as interest rates currently are.)

All have good apps that provide control and information to the traveller something where the Latitude 28 degrees global runs a long way behind.

One reason I stick with CBA is their travel insurance is quite good, doesn't require a minimum spend to validate and doesn't require a return ticket originating in Australia. I buy my return tickets originating in Europe saving about $8000 per year.

 

[sydunipete]

I just did the switch. Despite what my personal banker told me, the switch website says that the monthly fee will start after your current annual fee period has passed.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

I just did the switch. Despite what my personal banker told me, the switch website says that the monthly fee will start after your current annual fee period has passed.

That's interesting.
I had to do the switch by phone because my current Platinum Awards card is a Visa card not a Mastercard.
Something I had deliberately retained because Visa is (or was) more useful in France (at places like payage on the motorways).
However I have since acquired another Visa card so I can afford to switch the CBA card.
It will be interesting to see what happens with the fee. I only just paid my annual fee so I will hope for a pro rata refund.
I'll be calling if it doesn't happen automatically.

 

[cdp88]

I agree none of the CBA cards have great points earning - I have only retained because it’s free (although I pay for the Wealth Package) and I can transfer CBA reward points to EVA’s FFP. We fly each year on EVA and I’ve never been refused a points upgrade request so it’s worth it for me to have the points for EVA upgrades notwithstanding the poor transfer rate from CBA awards. As most of my spending requires MC/Visa this ends up being my default card.

I’m interested the Ultimate as it may be better for me than the Diamond card. At the moment that Diamond only earns 1.25 points per $spent. I’ll have to do the maths on % of spending to see if this gives me more points overall.

I got the ANZ travel rewards last year with the 80K VA sign on bonus. The free VA domestic return flight is a good benefit for the $200 annual fee particularly as it books as a revenue fare and counts towards status.

 

[albyd]

I've got my Diamond on the Wealth Package too. I've just kept it in the bottom drawer as it's rewards are quite pedestrian so am not an expert on all things CBA. If I convert to the ultimate and am on the wealth package, will I still get it for "free" or will I lose my fee exemption if not meeting my $2500 minimum spend?

 

[theblank]

Unless they already had a Platinum card.

then that person is unlikely to be complaining that this Ultimate card doesnt have a signup bonus

 

[Jet L]

Thought I would post some photos of what the card looks like, sadly its a vertical design (I will get over it) like the world debit they are trialling. The card also has a tactile feature next to the mastercard logo to help the vision impaired to differentiate cards.
I did a product switch from my Platinum Awards after confirming I won't pay the monthly fee until my card membership year ends (so the card will be free regardless for 5 months) not sure if I will hit the monthly waiver because almost all of my spend goes through my Amex plat. I do like the waived forex fees because previously I only had debit cards that don't charge 3%. If this card doesn't work out I'll probably switch to the Low Fee gold after to keep the waived forex over points earning.

 

[Nathant123]

I considered this card but decided against it and instead will stick to the velocity Amex. A signup bonus would have tempted me and I don’t think I’d meet the monthly minimum spend to avoid the fee as most of my spend goes through the Amex. I did however sign up a while back for their world debit card and to my understanding that card also includes complimentary travel insurance, 2 free lounge passes and no forex. Strange that they didn’t include any free passes with their top end card. I like how with commbank you can simply activate the insurance for the duration of the trip without even having to book and pay for the trip with a commbank card. Something my Amex doesn’t offer.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

I considered this card but decided against it and instead will stick to the velocity Amex. A signup bonus would have tempted me and I don’t think I’d meet the monthly minimum spend to avoid the fee as most of my spend goes through the Amex. I did however sign up a while back for their world debit card and to my understanding that card also includes complimentary travel insurance, 2 free lounge passes and no forex. Strange that they didn’t include any free passes with their top end card. I like how with commbank you can simply activate the insurance for the duration of the trip without even having to book and pay for the trip with a commbank card. Something my Amex doesn’t offer.

How did you sign up for the world debit card?

 

[Jet L]

How did you sign up for the world debit card?

Certain customers got an offer about 6 months ago, from what I have read not worth the $10 monthly fee my ING has better benefits for overseas atms with little criteria, pair that with a CBA credit card that has travel insurance and you're better off less the loungekey passes

 

[Chicken]

I considered this card but decided against it and instead will stick to the velocity Amex. A signup bonus would have tempted me

100,000 Bonus Awards Points when you apply for a new CommBank Ultimate Awards credit card by 30 May 2020 and spend $5,000 on eligible purchases using your new card within 90 days from activation.

 

[Nathant123]

How did you sign up for the world debit card?

Got an invite through Netbank and took them up on the offer and will reassess it when it is no longer free. I currently own no CommBank credit cards so I like the idea of travel insurance that can be utilised without having to put all purchases on one card. I alternate between my AMEX and Coles MasterCard so I never book a trip with one card only. I will give the insurance t&c a proper read though before I use it.

 

[theblank]

100,000 Bonus Awards Points when you apply for a new CommBank Ultimate Awards credit card by 30 May 2020 and spend $5,000 on eligible purchases using your new card within 90 days from activation.

haha, good work CBA . now we have a genuine sign up bonus with no annual fee (assuming the minimum spend can be kept)
points chasers will be delighted.

 

[Ekka]

I've kept my CBA Diamond, previously Platinum (Diamond grandfathered at $250 p,a. because I've had it so long, in the hope that they'd do something since they dropped Amex a couple of years hence). Their Travel insurance is second to none and is trustworthy.

Points earned though have been pitiful.

I'll have a look, because there is little point in having two expensive CCs.

 

[Nathant123]

100,000 Bonus Awards Points when you apply for a new CommBank Ultimate Awards credit card by 30 May 2020 and spend $5,000 on eligible purchases using your new card within 90 days from activation.

Well that’s either a new offer or I missed it before. I might now consider it at the very least for the bonus points offer. If I can then somehow swindle them into letting me keep the world debit fee-free then that would be even better. I noticed though that the travel insurance on the world debit maxes out at 21 days... but strange how they offer a couple free lounge passes but not with their top end credit card.

 

[blacksultan]

new card by CBA, looks to be a winner for paying in foreign currency.

Ultimate Awards credit card - rewards credit card - CommBank

Earn unlimited Awards points or Qantas Points each year with the Ultimate Awards credit card. International travel insurance included, activate before you travel.

www.commbank.com.au

3ppd (which i think translates to 1.5VFF) for paying in foreign currency with no forex fees!
uncapped points till May 2020, then upto $10k/month uncapped. Reduced to 0.5ppd after that (pfft!)

Hope it helps someone

Does anyone know if transactions in A$ but processed by an overseas merchant are processed as an international transaction ? What’s the conversion rate like ?

 

[tizey]

Does anyone know if transactions in A$ but processed by an overseas merchant are processed as an international transaction ? What’s the conversion rate like ?

Unsure of AU $ processed overseas as an international transaction, but I did a USD foreign transaction, and the FX rates was exactly the MasterCard rate of the day. Very happy with how it dealt with it.