New Ultimate Awards card (uncapped till May 2020)

[daft009]

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

 

[albyd]

thanks for sharing this. Brings CBA back within the realm of relevance. Quite good earn rate when transferred to FF points during the promotional period. Quite run of the mill after that. Good to see CBA at least getting. Competitive since so many of us have their Diamond card with our home loan packages.

 

[Mattg]

This could be a decent card for overseas purchases if spending $2,500-$10,000 per month (enough to avoid paying the $35 monthly fee, but less than the threshold where you start earning fewer points), although I'm typically skeptical of CommBank Awards as a program.

The "access to over 1,000 airport lounges worldwide" benefit intrigued me, until I read the fine print...

To gain access to participating airport lounges, you must present your Ultimate Awards card or your digital lounge access code on the Mastercard® Airport Experiences app, along with your boarding pass and identify yourself as a LoungeKey member for validation.

Each time you visit a lounge, you will be charged a lounge visit fee to your Ultimate Awards card. You will also be charged a lounge visit fee for each additional guest you bring with you.

 

[daft009]

Yes bit dodgy. No free entries included

 

[David F]

But no sign up bonus ? May suit a very select few but cant see its broad appeal in such a competitive market

Unless they gave you Warnies Baggy Green for a month

 

[daft009]

But no sign up bonus ? May suit a very select few but cant see its broad appeal in such a competitive market

Unless they gave you Warnies Baggy Green for a month

Yeah it's one for the SME operators I feel.
Hammer paying overseas suppliers till May then restrict to $10k a month for max benefit

 

[Mattg]

But no sign up bonus ? May suit a very select few but cant see its broad appeal in such a competitive market

Unless they gave you Warnies Baggy Green for a month

Their form of a signup bonus appears to be that they are offering uncapped points (i.e. the reduced earning rate above $10,000 spend per month is being waived) until May.

 

[daft009]

Their form of a signup bonus appears to be that they are offering uncapped points (i.e. the reduced earning rate above $10,000 spend per month is being waived) until May.

Very good point!

 

[David F]

Their form of a signup bonus appears to be that they are offering uncapped points (i.e. the reduced earning rate above $10,000 spend per month is being waived) until May.

Ok, so then it may appeal to a very select few

 

[ramboflyer]

Very hard to get excited about this card. No sign on bonus points and poor earning rate for everyday spend. I try to avoid cards that earn less than $1 - 1 ff point.

 

[sydunipete]

This could be good for me.

I currently have a platinum card with $359 p.a. fee (with additional card). I don't use it for international purchases but I figure $359 for 12 months unlimited travel insurance is pretty good. (I spend about 6 months of the year overseas.) I use one of the fee free cards (usually Bankwest Mastercard) for overseas transactions but miss out on points as a result. I spend between $2000 - $7000 per month, mostly $4000 - $5000.

This card gives me all the same benefits (yes it does include travel insurance by the same insurer) plus I will earn points for overseas transactions plus I wont pay fees when I spend over $2500 (which is more often than not ) - I get a better product for a lower price.

There is a button on the website that allows me to switch my card to the new scheme but I assume they won't pro-rata my annual fee and there's no point double dipping with fees.

I'm also assuming the currency conversion rates are the same - at usual Mastercard rates.

 

[Walter_Plinge]

I currently have a platinum card with $359 p.a. fee (with additional card). I don't use it for international purchases but I figure $359 for 12 months unlimited travel insurance is pretty good.

I'm the same position except my platinum card has zero fees as an accident of history (a decade ago it was a CPA Australia members' gold card). I think I'll take up the offer. Now I'm retired I'll never get over $10,000 a month.

 

[risaka]

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.

 

[theblank]

Whilst initially skeptical, I have crunched a lot of *my numbers on this product. Assuming that one always meets the fee waiver threshold, it cant be beat due to the Visa/MC competitors having high annual fees and points earn thresholds.

Any Rewards card with the annual fee waived, is going to be very difficult to beat, If you can get one, cherish it forever. The banks have outsmarted us with combo of annual fee and earn thresholds.

* I value 1VFF as 1 cent and I dont do comparisons for Qantas points.

 

[Walter_Plinge]

Having looked deeper into the T&C it's not worth the trouble of changing unless you do a lot of overseas transactions. All I would get is 0.75 of a point extra on Woolworths and the like. As my Platinum card is fee-free there's no benefit there.

 

[daft009]

yes the value is only there for intl payments.. so a SME who is importing stuff regularly can take the best advantage IMO.
ordinary for everyone else

 

[ramboflyer]

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.

Or the ANZ Rewards Travel Adventures card for $0 overseas transaction fees and 75000 Velocity sign on bonus points.

The CBA card seems to suit those who aren't big on accumulating points and want a low annual fee and no fx fees.

 

[daft009]

Or the ANZ Rewards Travel Adventures card for $0 overseas transaction fees and 75000 Velocity sign on bonus points.

The CBA card seems to suit those who aren't big on accumulating points and want a low annual fee and no fx fees.

ANZ is full points earn only on first $2k/month. CBA is at least $10k/month

 

[ramboflyer]

ANZ is full points earn only on first $2k/month. CBA is at least $10k/month

True, I should have made the distinction between sign on points rather than spending points.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

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