Comm Bank to issue AMEX... changes to QF/Velocity point earning

[Stephen65]

The cap for the CBA platinum Amex is 120,000 CBA points if you elect for QF direct. It's 150,000 CBA points if you don't elect to take QFF points:

What is the annual Commonwealth Awards points cap on my Platinum Awards credit card account?

What this means that if you want QFF points you can only spend $40,000 per year on your CBA platinum amex because:

$40,000 = 120,000 CBA points = 60,000 QFF points = the cap

If you spend more than $40,000 you get reduced to a much lower conversion rate which is itself capped. What this means for me and the CBA is that instead of potentially spending over $250,000 pa on their cards I now spend $40,000 with the rest going to the Citibank and Amex cards I got once these ridiculous caps were brought in.

[WA flyer]

I ditched this once I hit the cap early in the year.

The 3:1 promo was good, but no value in this card for me now

[SOPOOR]

The cap for the CBA platinum Amex is 120,000 CBA points if you elect for QF direct. It's 150,000 CBA points if you don't elect to take QFF points:

What is the annual Commonwealth Awards points cap on my Platinum Awards credit card account?

What this means that if you want QFF points you can only spend $40,000 per year on your CBA platinum amex because:

$40,000 = 120,000 CBA points = 60,000 QFF points = the cap

If you spend more than $40,000 you get reduced to a much lower conversion rate which is itself capped. What this means for me and the CBA is that instead of potentially spending over $250,000 pa on their cards I now spend $40,000 with the rest going to the Citibank and Amex cards I got once these ridiculous caps were brought in.

great summRy,

so at present I get 0.5 points per $1 on the mastercard and 1.5 points per $1 on the amex, so now that I am capped , does that mean, ill get 0.5 points for MC and 1 point for the amex per $1 spent?

ive also got a citibank visa card which gives me $1 per 1 point, but no amex for it ,

I guess for me my best bet is to continue to earn $1 per point on the this card, even at places that accept amex

[Stephen65]

As I read that FAQ from the CBA once you hit the first cap you will:

- earn nothing for your CBA Mastercard spend

- earn 1 CBA point = 0.5 QFF points per $1 spent on the CBA Amex

Of course that only applies till you hit the 200,000 CBA point cap. So if you keep spending on your CBA Amex you can earn another 40,000 QFF points maximum.

[Walter Plinge]

The cap for the CBA platinum Amex is 120,000 CBA points if you elect for QF direct. It's 150,000 CBA points if you don't elect to take QFF points:

What is the annual Commonwealth Awards points cap on my Platinum Awards credit card account?

What this means that if you want QFF points you can only spend $40,000 per year on your CBA platinum amex because:

$40,000 = 120,000 CBA points = 60,000 QFF points = the cap

If you spend more than $40,000 you get reduced to a much lower conversion rate which is itself capped. What this means for me and the CBA is that instead of potentially spending over $250,000 pa on their cards I now spend $40,000 with the rest going to the Citibank and Amex cards I got once these ridiculous caps were brought in.

Despite spending some time studying the PDS I missed this. I mistakenly read it as a spend of $120,000. Capping out at a spend of $40,000 isn't good.

Still, I probably would have taken up the offer anyway as my Gold CBA card capped out at $60,000 spend with 4 months of the year to go. I have a direct-issued Platinum Amex as well. I was going to close it but I'll now keep it going.

One of the T&Cs states transactions "deemed by the Bank to be for business purposes ..." are ineligible for points.

Has anyone been affected by this? Most of my spending, some $200,000 a year, is business. I've never been disqualified but it would be obvious what my spending was if a bank employee looked at the merchant names.

[SOPOOR]

you should be right

I wasnt aware of my cap and went through my cap in 6 months to my surprise

and it was all business expenses, and I also have seen a few people say that unless its ridiculously high you should be all right

so at the moment, I dont use EITHER of my CBA amex or MC

i use my citibank card,so maybe that 'll show CBA having a cap is no good!
we will see if I renew for next year

[SOPOOR]

has anybody called to ask about the points capping.

its so damn confusing, even the sales person half way through ended up stopping because it what she was saying made no sense at all

my initial enquiry was that since im now capped does it automatically get reset on 1/1

also, to the cap, the lady went on about having 80,000 points on amex and 120,000 points on the visa/MC

which made no sense when she started mentioning conversion rates to QFF points, something about it being 1 Commonweatlh award point being equal to 1.5 QFF points, which obviously is completely wrong...

can anybody clarify

oh and MERRYXMAS EVERYBODY!

[Walter Plinge]

has anybody called to ask about the points capping.

its so damn confusing, even the sales person half way through ended up stopping because it what she was saying made no sense at all

my initial enquiry was that since im now capped does it automatically get reset on 1/1

also, to the cap, the lady went on about having 80,000 points on amex and 120,000 points on the visa/MC

which made no sense when she started mentioning conversion rates to QFF points, something about it being 1 Commonweatlh award point being equal to 1.5 QFF points, which obviously is completely wrong...

can anybody clarify

oh and MERRYXMAS EVERYBODY!

I've had similar difficulties with CBA -- neither the local branch or the inquiry line was 100% sure of their facts; more like 75%. As a result I signed up for cards that don't suit me. Oh well, live and learn.

The conversation rate is 2 CBA points for 1 QFF point. It doesn't matter whether the points were earned with the Amex or Mastercard -- it's just that you earn at a higher rate with the Amex.

I'd be interested to have confirmation that the capping re-sets on 1/1. If this is so I'll keep my cards going for another few months. I exhausted the cap in three months. I've confirmed that my CBA Gold Visa card re-sets on 1/1 so perhaps all CBA cards do.

My regular direct-issue Amex Platinum card re-sets on the anniversary of when the account was opened.

"...1 Commonweatlh award point being equal to 1.5 QFF point" - a clumsy, misleading way of putting it. The earn rate is 3 points per $1 spent - on the Amex card only. So: earn 3 points (for $1 spent) get 1.5 QFF points. Perhaps she meant 1.5 QFF points per $1.

[SOPOOR]

ok,

is anybody able to confirm that this is still the case

I have a Plat Visa/Amex

so in a nutshell,

is it

$1 spent on the amex = 1.5 QFF and $1 spent on Plat Visa/MC = 1QFF?

or was it $1 spent on Plat Visa/MC = 0.5QFF?

to be honest, I with how complicated how things are, im damn confused

[MAX_1]

CBA Plat Card
The card resents on 1 Jan. ( works on a calendar year)