There's a new card in town

[littletee]

That's pretty pathetic then.

I will look to open one up ASAP.

My concern is that perhaps a lot of places don't accept AMEX and I need to see if my direct debits accept AMEX as I want to still keep on earning 1 point per $1 spent.

Also, I wonder if places charge extra if you want to pay by AMEX?

 

[Doug_Mi16]

Hi Littletee, I guess the advantage of the Earth card (IMO) is that you get a Mastercard and an AMEX. I already have a Virgin MC so it wasn't a huge selling point for me.

I only plan to pay for Qantas flights and a hotel or hire car here and there on the Amex, making use of the double points (after 30 Nov).

I does seem that most merchants charge 2% commission / credit card fee for Visa / MC and 4% for the Amex, which is a bit of a PITA.

 

[Doug_Mi16]

Oh, have a read of the insurance docs, however it seems partners will be covered if you're travelling together and the flights for your both are on your card.

Thanks Chris.

Did you go with the "Earth +" or just the regular vanilla card?

It does seem with many of the travel insurance policies offered through credit cards, that your baggage and possessions aren't covered for theft or loss (only loss or damage by the carrier). This is another reason I went with a regular card as opposed to a Gold or Premium / Platinum card .. I probably only travel overseas for 'leisure' once a year (if I'm lucky!).

 

[chrisb]

Thanks Chris.

Did you go with the "Earth +" or just the regular vanilla card?

Earth+ - But i'll probably reassess that at the end of the year. Once points go back to 1 for Amex and 0.5 for Mastercard the card will lose some of its value as i'm still having to put about 1/3 or more of my monthly expenses (by value) on the Mastercard due to the lack of Amex support.

 

[Doug_Mi16]

Yeah, I just went with the regular one.

I'll re-assess at the end of next year I think. The Qantas-branded Amex card seemed like good value, but I couldn't really justify the $100 annual fee.

I'll have to wait and see how much I can put on the Amex and how much I'm spending with Qantas. The travel insurance perks could work out as good value further down the track.

I'm always leery of travel insurance and take a 'belt and braces' approach now (involving reading all the fine print and usually over-insuring). The only time I've had to make a claim my policy was underwritten by bloody HIH... :evil:

 

[littletee]

Thanks for all the info everyone - I appreciate it.

Still thinking about the Earth card as I'm a little iffy/iffy about how many people accept AMEX and if I will be charged extra every time I use it etc. If that is the case, then it may not be worth moving.

BUT I really like the interest rate, the yearly fees, the points system (although it would be better if the MC was the same as AMEX lol) and the fact that you get 2 cards.

I'll way up the Pro's and Con's soon I guess.

 

[danhan]

In regards to AMEX acceptance, you'll find that most large to mid size retailers now accept them...However, some of the smaller companies accepting AMEX still feel the need to pass on their merchant fees, I have found the surcharge to be anywhere from 0.5 to 3.8% !

Daniel

 

[Doug_Mi16]

For example Best Flights, 4% AMEX surcharge. The points-versus-surcharge equation is rather complex! I'll be buying two fares to Europe soon with B.Flights, so I'll have to make a call as to whether the (over $100) surcharge with the AMEX is worth the roughly 6,000 points I'll gain if I use the Earth AMEX.

Although, by using rather convoluted and unscientific maths if one were to compare this with a SYD-MEL red e-deal at $125, for a gain of 1,000 points, that would value those points at around 12.5 cents.

Using that logic, 6,000 points at 12.5 cents would be worth $750. So it seems like a reasonable deal, compared to half the points and half the surcharge on a Mastercard, and no points and no surcharge on bank transfer.

Disclaimer: this equation bears no resemblance to proven or existing facts..

 

[serfty]

For example Best Flights, 4% AMEX surcharge. The points-versus-surcharge equation is rather complex! I'll be buying two fares to Europe soon with B.Flights, so I'll have to make a call as to whether the (over $100) surcharge with the AMEX is worth the roughly 6,000 points I'll gain if I use the Earth AMEX.

Although, by using rather convoluted and unscientific maths if one were to compare this with a SYD-MEL red e-deal at $125, for a gain of 1,000 points, that would value those points at around 12.5 cents.

Using that logic, 6,000 points at 12.5 cents would be worth $750. So it seems like a reasonable deal, compared to half the points and half the surcharge on a Mastercard, and no points and no surcharge on bank transfer.
Disclaimer: this equation bears no resemblance to proven or existing facts..

Those figures relate to point earning. And imply that points are less expensive when gained from CC's then when compared with SYD-MEL flights.

It's in the burning of points that things change; those 6000 points are ¾ of the points required to redeem an award SYD-MEL trip, notionally saving ¾ of the $75 when you take the additional ~$50+++ required into account; roughtly $56. So that's a burn value of .94 ¢ per point.

Depending upon your travel needs, there are other ways to get the most value from CC points: See this thread here for example: Credit Card Surcharge vesus Points

 

[Doug_Mi16]

Aha! Thanks Serfty, interesting thread.

Gotta love this site. I thought my calculations sounded a little too good to be true.

Edit: Although for clarification, I wouldn't use the points for MEL-SYD, rather for upgrades to Biz when on personal travel.

-D

 

[skaliwag]

I just transferred my Altitude card for a Earth card and extreemly happy as there is no points capping like my Anz FF Gold. Regarding the accepatance of AMEX I have kept my FF Gold to use where AMEX is not accepted so I can still get the 1 for 1 points return.

 

[littletee]

Yeah I think I'll be closing down my ANZ FF Visa and switching to Earth as well.

For places that don't accept AMEX, then the Mastercard will come in handy I guess.

Most of the money I spend comes from Direct Debits from things such as gym memberships, charities, mobile, internet etc and from what I understand, they all accept AMEX with no fees so that's all good.

I don't care that the Mastercard is only 0.5 point as I've already reached my goal and have got enough for a return trip to Europe or anywhere else in the world already

Infact, I think I might apply now.

 

[kamchatsky]

Has anyone used the Earth+ card for overseas transactions or overseas ATM withdrawals yet????? Any good or bad experiences?

I rang up Earth and they said that normal Earth card charges 1.5% for foreign currency transaction fee as well as 1.5% overseas ATM cash advances. However this is waived for Earth+ card. Can anyone else confirm this?

I was originally thinking of getting Wizard Clear Advantage card because it has no foreign currency/overseas ATM fees with no annual fee. But I don't want to have too many credit cards so Earth+ is tempting because I was planning to close NAB Velocity card soon and go to normal Earth anyway.

I will be going overseas soon so I was thinking of put Earth+ card into credit and then withdraw cash /make purchases when in overseas ..... So I will save those annoying cash withdrawal fee ....

 

[littletee]

Well if the Wizard card has no annual fees, why dont you just keep it for overseas so you dont get stung just like you stated??? Sorry, I don't see what the problem is.

 

[kamchatsky]

Just don't want yet another credit card (one more entry in your credit report with Baycorp, affects your credit rating), not to mention more paperwork/cards to worry about, and in case of losing your wallet one less card to cancel/replace etc etc etc. But mainly not getting the yet another entry in my credit report. I am planning to just get Earth card and not get any new card for a while after that ....

Of course, you earn points on Earth+ when spending overseas (AND no foreign currency transactions), whereas Wizard card doesn't earn u any points.

 

[littletee]

Yeah fair enough, then the Earth+ card might be the way to go to justify the extra little bit of money for the annual fee minus the overseas costs.

 

[JohnK]

Just don't want yet another credit card (one more entry in your credit report with Baycorp, affects your credit rating).... But mainly not getting the yet another entry in my credit report....

It really does not affect your credit rating unless you apply for 2 or 3 credit cards a year and then cancel when annual fee is due. The Baycorp credit report works on a 5 year rolling basis. I thought there would be many entries in my credit report, as I have 5 credit cards, when I requested it last month but was surprised to find only 3 entries of which one 1 is a new application which never went through.

As I posted in another thread about my credit report "There are 5 credit requests in the last 5 years, 2 from citibank, 2 from GE and one from ANZ. Of these, 3 are for unspecified amounts, 1 is for $1 and another is for $10,000 (GE)." It is a good idea to ask for your credit report from Baycorp, if you haven't already done so, because you may be surprised at what you see.

 

[littletee]

Does it cost anything to get your credit report?

 

[Mal]

Does it cost anything to get your credit report?

Nope, as long as you're willing to wait about 2 weeks for it.

(Skip over the paid stuff at the top of the link below, and go to the "free service" section at the bottom.)

Discover your credit history - My Credit File - Australia

If you're a Tasmanian resident, then I believe there is another Credit Reporting agency based there. Can't recall their name now, and not even sure if they are still around.

 

[littletee]

Thanks heaps for that - will fax it through tomorrow.

Cheers