Westpac Altitude Points Devalue September 2016

[forumninja]

In the latest statement, Westpac notified me that they will be devaluing the points on Altitude cards beginning Wednesday 28 September 2016.

Details are here: altituderewards.com.au/change

This will affect anyone warehousing points on these cards. Best to redeem your points a week before this date.

 

[kpc]

Thanks for the heads up. ..the one most of us will be annoyed about is that 2.5 altitude pts will be needed for 1 Krisflyer mile (currently it is 2 for 1)..so a 20% devaluation

 

[cove]

Ok got that date!

 

[leyy]

Thanks for the heads up.

It was only a matter of time, Westpac was the last out of the big 4 banks to devalue due to interchange rates and capping.

 

[leyy]

FYI, at the new redemption rates of 2.5 points for KF and AM it works out to be.
1.2 KF points per dollar for AMEX and 0.5 points per dollar for M/CARD compared to 1.5 and 0.625 previously.

No changes to Velocity or Air Points, I have this card free for life as it is part of my home-loan package so i will keep it.

Still a great card for warehousing points and still decent rates for AMEX spend.

Will probably need to look at Citi prestige for Visa/MC spend.

Let me know if there are any other suggestions for AMEX/MC/VISA combos or cards.

I mainly prefer Krisflyer.


Cheers

 

[johnny_yh2000]

FYI, at the new redemption rates of 2.5 points for KF and AM it works out to be.
1.2 KF points per dollar for AMEX and 0.5 points per dollar for M/CARD compared to 1.5 and 0.625 previously.

No changes to Velocity or Air Points, I have this card free for life as it is part of my home-loan package so i will keep it.

Still a great card for warehousing points and still decent rates for AMEX spend.

Will probably need to look at Citi prestige for Visa/MC spend.

Let me know if there are any other suggestions for AMEX/MC/VISA combos or cards.

I mainly prefer Krisflyer.


Cheers

Would like to know about this too!

 

[johnny_yh2000]

Had a quick look. Looks like Dinners charge/Word Master Card will be the next card to go.
Dinners Earn rate to SQ 1:1.5, Master Earn rate 1:0.625
Annual fee much the same like Westpac Black

 

[Comoman]

Thanks for the heads up. ..the one most of us will be annoyed about is that 2.5 altitude pts will be needed for 1 Krisflyer mile (currently it is 2 for 1)..so a 20% devaluation

Still better than washing them through VA with the 35% conversion loss to KF. Is a bit annoying though....

 

[deka2]

Not unexpected

Still a good card for Krisflyer

 

[johnny_yh2000]

Not unexpected

Still a good card for Krisflyer

But there are better cards available

 

[burmans]

But there are better cards available

What, for Krysflyer?

 

[johnny_yh2000]

What, for Krysflyer?

Yes. For a master card, the one with dinners club gives a better earn rate than Westpac

 

[AnnaB]

Thank you for the heads up. We usually have this account for warehousing points but now I am not so sure anymore. Seem to be losing quite a lot of points if sending them to KrisFlyer after the due date. But I dont want them at KF unless I have a purpose for them as they will then expire within 3 years.

Seems like I have some thinking to do...

 

[burmans]

Yes. For a master card, the one with dinners club gives a better earn rate than Westpac

Seems like a theoretical argument only though, at 1:0.625 I'll send my points to QFF instead given I can get 1:1. For me the main advantage of the Altitude is the Amex card only, the other card isn't even in my wallet and the MasterCard with the Diners Club wouldn't be either.

 

[kpc]

Whilst 1.2KF miles per $ spent with the Westpac Altitude Black still isn't too bad, anyone know if there are any cards (eg bank issued Amex cards) that are still giving 1.5KF miles per $ spent?

 

[k_sheep]

Call me a heathen but I've always used mine for paying off the home loan fee or gift cards :S Just don't have enough annual leave to make KF useful

 

[Edge]

Still better than washing them through VA with the 35% conversion loss to KF. Is a bit annoying though....

Will also depend on whether they keep offering periodic +15% Velocity bonuses for transferring as well.

 

[burmans]

Call me a heathen but I've always used mine for paying off the home loan fee or gift cards :S Just don't have enough annual leave to make KF useful

if you insist then - you are a heathen!

 

[leyy]

I think the Citi Prestige will be the best Visa/MC card but comes at a cost of $700 p.a and 150K income requirement.

Once converted to KF/AM it works out to be 1 pt per dollar and 2.5 pts per dollar for overseas transactions.

Mind you, Citibank have already devalued their cards so there should be no further changes in a while.

 

[burmans]

Yes, it's a good card but a very high entry hurdle and you'd need to be putting serious money through the card to justify that!