Qantas Cash Card

[opusman]

Right now QC is 0.7385, ANZ is 0.7412 and xe.com is 0.77335. Comparing the QC rates against the market rate is a bit misleading since you can never get that anywhere. I think comparing against bank rates is a more accurate guide to the value (and ok, it's still a worse rate than the bank example, but not by 5% - and you obviously pay a premium to earn FF points on the overseas spend).

 

[drross]

Right now QC is 0.7385, ANZ is 0.7412 and xe.com is 0.77335. Comparing the QC rates against the market rate is a bit misleading since you can never get that anywhere. I think comparing against bank rates is a more accurate guide to the value (and ok, it's still a worse rate than the bank example, but not by 5% - and you obviously pay a premium to earn FF points on the overseas spend).

how do you value the bonus QFF points? such as the recent load $1k of foreign currency and get 10000 bonus points?

 

[opusman]

how do you value the bonus QFF points? such as the recent load $1k of foreign currency and get 10000 bonus points?

I guess there's lots of other things you can take into account besides the headline exchange rate when deciding which product works best for you.

(btw, to get 10000 points you had to load $5K worth)

 

[drross]

I guess there's lots of other things you can take into account besides the headline exchange rate when deciding which product works best for you.

(btw, to get 10000 points you had to load $5K worth)

sorry. my mistake.

 

[opusman]

sorry. my mistake.

Don't apologise, I just didn't want you to be disappointed if you'd loaded the wrong amount

 

[drross]

Don't apologise, I just didn't want you to be disappointed if you'd loaded the wrong amount

checked with the boss. all good.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Main asset of each is that I was accepted to be a card holder for both QCC and VGW.
Wont pass credit assessment for other credit cards.
Not to mention earn points.
Ratio of FF earn rates same on cheaper credit cards. 1 point per $2 spent.

 

[samh004]

Main asset of each is that I was accepted to be a card holder for both QCC and VGW.
Wont pass credit assessment for other credit cards.
Not to mention earn points.
Ratio of FF earn rates same on cheaper credit cards. 1 point per $2 spent.

I'm in the same boat as you.

Too many look at the exchange rates or the ratio of points earned and dismiss it, but I could never see Qantas leading the pack with a prepaid card, despite wanting them to.

For what they offer its not bad value if you can't earn points another way, or get a CC for foreign transactions.

 

[serfty]

...
Too many look at the exchange rates or the ratio of points earned and dismiss it, but I could never see Qantas leading the pack with a prepaid card, despite wanting them to.

For what they offer its not bad value if you can't earn points another way, or get a CC for foreign transactions.

I look at it and can get two Qantas/Velocity point per dollar from other cards I use; therefore I have better options. Many do not have these options.

I would not state "Too Many"; every ones circumstances are different; more like horses for courses.

 

[samh004]

I look at it and can get two Qantas/Velocity point per dollar from other cards I use; therefore I have better options. Many do not have these options.

I would not state "Too Many"; every ones circumstances are different; more like horses for courses.

What I meant to imply was that the majority of users on AFF can apply for credit. Not there are some who can't and have to look elsewhere.

 

[calmelb]

Like for me, being under 18 I can not get a CC or any line of credit for that matter so a card that is cheaper to reload than ANZ and earns me points is my favourite thing!

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Cal, when you do come of age, and are eligible for a "real" credit card, play it very carefully.
A lot of points earning cards start their fees at $99 and up.
When jobs/employment start, just play it very carefully.
When I got my first job after school, a few years after, I got deep into hock, very deep.
AN (Ansett's) tie in card with Westpac was my best friend, as well as QF's ANZBanking card.
Very badly burnt, and it took a very long time to get out of that hole.
The more expensive cards have 1:1, a lot of the cheaper cards have 0.5:1. QCC amd VGW both have no annual fees, good earn rates without chances of getting into debt/hock.
And that is where I will leave my tutorial at for now.

 

[medhead]

I was under the impression the Qantas Cash Card is essentially for using pre-purchased foreign currency in a travel / transaction card. It can be used for on-line purchases and in person over the counter. For that intended purpose, for me, the alternative is to buy foreign cash and here are the rates from 12 June 2015 (I have not attempted to compare other travel money cards' rates):

	UAE	US$	SIN$	YEN	HK$	GBP	NZ$	EUR	Thai
QCash	2.6412	0.7385	0.9852	89.8668	5.6888	0.4721	1.0531	0.6509	24.2832
Westpac	-	0.7320	0.9812	90.14	5.7212	0.4741	1.0549	0.6475	23.87
CBA	2.5655	0.7413	0.9802	90.0700	5.6388	0.4726	1.0572	0.6503	24.3800
AusPost	-	0.75	0.99	90.44	5.74	0.48	1.06	0.65	23.95
TMonOz	2.5337	0.7544	0.9895	88.9425	5.5172	0.4772	1.0477	0.6574	23.8306

Travel Money OZ is really shopfront Flight Centre with back end AMEX
CBA and Westpac charge commission on top of the above rates.

I have been critical of Qantas Cash operations but looking at comparable rates for the intended purpose QC seems to be competitive, if you are not trying to be an FX trader.

Plus QC provides QFF points.

Another alternative is to get the foreign cash now to lock in the current exchange rate if that's what you want. Then closer to travel time convert it back, if there has been a favorable change in the rate, and load your Citibank plus card.

I'd suggest adding the current mid market rate and UAEXchange to your comparison.

Travel money used to be competitive with UAEXchange but weren't in April this year. Luckily travel money did match the UAEXchange rate for turkish lira. Went from 1.5 lira to the dollar up to 1.75 lira. Citibank atm withdrawals in turkey was getting me 2.10 Lira/$

 

[hossein_au]

I look at it and can get two Qantas/Velocity point per dollar from other cards I use...

Serfty, love to know which card(s) you use to give you 2 ppd (appreciate a PM if don't want to divulge the information widely).

 

[serfty]

Amex reserve on international purchases for example ... double that of QCash

 

[moa999]

4.5 minutes to activate my new card - including 2.5 minutes on the Qantas IVR before getting to MasterCard.

The MasterCard message also tells you that this was a free call, unless on mobile -- it is not as Qantas gives you it's 13 number not a toll free number.

Also interesting that the BPay symbol and biller code is gone from the back of the card, replaced by the wireless paywave symbol

 

[opusman]

It would be much better if they published the direct mastercard phone number, to save going through the 5000 different menu layers to get to it.

 

[drross]

the boss and I just received our bonus 10K points (each)

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Seeing that we can now make funds transfer to QCC from a bank account, and it takes a day where as bpay takes 3, I guess that the bpay sign and bpay code being removed, was for that reason.
When QCC first came out, there was not an option to do funds transfer into the card, only bpay and account number.
I guess we could give our payers/employers... or who ever the bsb and account # and they could pay directly into QCC, but I have not tried that.
Edit: must say, activating my VGW card was a cinch though. Expiry date and PIN and that was it.
For the QCC you must wait till the PIN is read back to you for the whole kit and kaboodle to work! Hope you got to that stage.

 

[moa999]

Seeing that we can now make funds transfer to QCC from a bank account, and it takes a day where as bpay takes 3, I guess that the bpay sign and bpay code being removed, was for that reason.
When QCC first came out, there was not an option to do funds transfer into the card, only bpay and account number.
I guess we could give our payers/employers... or who ever the bsb and account # and they could pay directly into QCC, but I have not tried that.
Edit: must say, activating my VGW card was a cinch though. Expiry date and PIN and that was it.
For the QCC you must wait till the PIN is read back to you for the whole kit and kaboodle to work! Hope you got to that stage.

No pin needed on card renewal (given you can't change it anyway)