Qantas Cash Points bonus email received

[slinky123]

Hi everyone, I just received this email from Qantas Cash. Looking at their Terms and conditions, It looks like you usually don't receive points for loading cash to the card.

Turn your holiday into another one with up to 40,000 bonus points from Qantas Cash, the travel money card built into your Frequent Flyer card.

Simply register then lock in your foreign currency by 30 April 2017 and you'll be rewarded with:

Up to 20,000 bonus points when you load
Lock in AU$2,500 or more in foreign currency and earn 1 Qantas Point for every dollar loaded (up to a maximum of 20,000 points)*. You can lock in rates on up to 10 currencies: USD, GBP, EUR, THB, NZD, SGD, HKD, CAD, JPY and AED[SUP]~[/SUP].

PLUS

Up to 20,000 points when you spend
Earn 1 Qantas Point for every AU$1 spent on eligible purchases in foreign currency[SUP]^[/SUP].

That's enough for a one-way Economy Classic Flight Reward from Sydney to Beijing (plus taxes, fees and carrier charges of $174.42**).

So what are you waiting for? Register then load your travel money today

My daughters are travelling to the USA in June, wondering if this card would be a good travel card to use? We hadn't yet thought about which travel card but this offer arrived and are now pondering. Has anyone used the qantas cash card?

 

[opusman]

Correct, you normally only get points for spending on the card, not for loading it.

Most people on AFF hate Qantas Cash with a passion for some reason, but it's useful if you want to be able to lock your exchange rate in before hand. It's not really better or worse than any of the other pre-paid travel cards on the market, except for the ability to earn QFF points.

 

[neil37]

The reason people hate it is that the exchange rate is lousy.

 

[TheInsider]

The reason people hate it is that the exchange rate is lousy.

But so is going to a Travelex or some other currency exchange place (which the majority of people do), especially when people only take a few thousand with them

 

[Dr Ralph]

But so is going to a Travelex or some other currency exchange place (which the majority of people do), especially when people only take a few thousand with them

That's not my experience. Particularly when you factor in cashrewards.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi everyone, I just received this email from Qantas Cash. Looking at their Terms and conditions, It looks like you usually don't receive points for loading cash to the card.



My daughters are travelling to the USA in June, wondering if this card would be a good travel card to use? We hadn't yet thought about which travel card but this offer arrived and are now pondering. Has anyone used the qantas cash card?

A far better card in terms of cash in your pocket is the Citi bank debit card. No fees. No transaction fees. No foreign exchange fees.

On the $20K you'd load on Qantas cash you'd have $1000 extra in your pocket using Citi over a travel wallet. Ok the exchange rate may plunge between now and June, but having $$$ tied up in a travel card could otherwise be earning points in a Bankwest account.

 

[opusman]

A far better card in terms of cash in your pocket is the Citi bank debit card. No fees. No transaction fees. No foreign exchange fees.

On the $20K you'd load on Qantas cash you'd have $1000 extra in your pocket using Citi over a travel wallet. Ok the exchange rate may plunge between now and June, but having $$$ tied up in a travel card could otherwise be earning points in a Bankwest account.

Yes yes yes. You and others trot this out every time the subject comes up. And then I bring up the fact that I have $10K in USD on my QC card that I bought at 0.94 and strangely everything goes quiet.

Different products. Different purposes. Not directly comparable...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes yes yes. You and others trot this out every time the subject comes up. And then I bring up the fact that I have $10K in USD on my QC card that I bought at 0.94 and strangely everything goes quiet.

Different products. Different purposes. Not directly comparable...

And that's great for you! Although if you had taken the 10K in cash you would have got close to parity.

There is always the caveat that the aussie could fall. But a 5% loading to Qantas in exchange for a few magic beans isn't always necessarily the right option for everyone.

 

[opusman]

But a 5% loading to Qantas in exchange for a few magic beans isn't always necessarily the right option for everyone.

No one's ever said it's the right option for everyone, but it's the right option for some people.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Yes, I had received it too earlier today.
Keeping the half a point per Aud$1 dom Aust spending would have been best suited to me.
But they had to make enhancements, and now they are trying to "keep" members with QCC, with such a big bonus for $2500 deposited into the account.
I don't travel far, and don't have a spare $2500 sitting around, so the offer is of no use to me.
Edit: If I were in your (OP)'s shoes, I would get a supplementary with you as major card holder, and her as supplementary card holder.
As a main card holder, this allows you access to keeping an eye on and if any iffy transactions occur, as the bank would let you know first, or you can log into the account and see if something looks strange, ie, strange transactions were to show up.
The QCC is good if only one person was involved, but if you want to keep an eye, a true credit card with you as main card holder and her as supplementary would be best.
OR the VGW card, where you can have 2 or 3 cards issued in one name, one main card, a second card with separate numbers, and a virtual card.

 

[nickfromeastryde]

Yes yes yes. You and others trot this out every time the subject comes up. And then I bring up the fact that I have $10K in USD on my QC card that I bought at 0.94 and strangely everything goes quiet.

Different products. Different purposes. Not directly comparable...

So assuming you loaded that in about 2012 seeing as that was the last time AUD was close to parity. Say 5% cost of holding funds per year you seem to me to be way underwater compared to using a Citi Debit Card with cash deposited today

 

[opusman]

So assuming you loaded that in about 2012 seeing as that was the last time AUD was close to parity. Say 5% cost of holding funds per year you seem to me to be way underwater compared to using a Citi Debit Card with cash deposited today

Lol, if you can show me a deposit account paying 5% interest I'll happily acknowledge your superiority in all matters financial.

(and it was actually close to parity in early 2014, but don't let that stop you)

 

[nickfromeastryde]

2014 is still three years so still dead money. Like many people, measuring savings against my mortgage with it's nice tax free return

Not professing to be any type of financial guru, just an ordinary joe that doesn't like to see any of my dollars sitting there doing squat

 

[opusman]

2014 is still three years so still dead money. Like many people, measuring savings against my mortgage with it's nice tax free return

Don't have a mortgage, bank interest rates are negligible, and I've made 30% on the forex. Leaving the money sit in a citibank account would have been a stupid idea.

YMMV. All I keep saying is, QC works for some people.

 

[nickfromeastryde]

Don't have a mortgage, bank interest rates are negligible, and I've made 30% on the forex. Leaving the money sit in a citibank account would have been a stupid idea.

YMMV. All I keep saying is, QC works for some people.

We'll have to agree to disagree however glad to see your happy. After all, it's your call and nothing to do with me or anyone else.

 

[Vic]

I'm interested to work out the cost of this option.
Qantas cash currently saying that USD is 0.7267. A$2500 = $1816
I know a few currency exchanges where I can get within $0.005 of the middle market rate for cash. say 0.75, so $1875. Is 20000 points worth US$59(A$79)? $0.004 per point.

In terms of the other discussion, my mortgage has been sitting around 4-5% for a number of years. Money can sit in an offset account and then be transferred to citibank as needed. Money doesn't have to just sit in the citibank account, unlike for something like qantas cash. If I want to lock in an exchange rate then buying physical cash at a much better exchange rate is more attractive to me.
In this case, do I want 20,000 points for that cost?

 

[opusman]

In this case, do I want 20,000 points for that cost?

Only you can answer that, which is really all I keep saying. QC is not bad, evil, a scam, etc. It's just a product, similar to other products and different to yet other products. If it has what you want, buy, otherwise don't.

 

[Vic]

Only you can answer that, which is really all I keep saying. QC is not bad, evil, a scam, etc. It's just a product, similar to other products and different to yet other products. If it has what you want, buy, otherwise don't.

Of course. But shared opinions on value are useful. Or checking my calculation - wouldn't be the first time I was wrong.

I don't think I said it was evil. All products have a cost.

 

[astrosly]

I'm interested to work out the cost of this option.
Qantas cash currently saying that USD is 0.7267. A$2500 = $1816
I know a few currency exchanges where I can get within $0.005 of the middle market rate for cash. say 0.75, so $1875. Is 20000 points worth US$59(A$79)? $0.004 per point.

Remember it is *up to* 20000, you need to load AU$20K to get that amount of points. If you load AU$2500 you will only get 2500 points.

 

[neil37]

OK, OK, the point of me saying that Qantas Cash has a lousy interest rate is because otherwise I thought people might not know.

I keep a little money permanently in a Citibank Debit card because everywhere I go in the world I can withdraw it from any bank's ATM at a better interest rate and without fee. THAT's what I call convenience.