Seeking opinions on new credit cards/rewards programme

[drvik]

Hi everyone,

I'm a first time poster having discovered this forum just last night. I am impressed by the amount of information here. Thanks to all contributors.

I'm wondering if those of you who have more experience than I, could offer an opinion on the following scenario.

I have been a customer of the NAB Gold Visa/Rewards + Diners Club (AMA cobranded 1.5 points/$) for the last few years and I must admit have been a bit slack about looking at other options because all my banking has been with the NAB for a while (nice and convenient).

On reviewing our spending, it's obvious we aren't getting enough value from the current cards. Last 12 months I charged about $37K on my Diners and another $120K amongst my gold card/wife's card/business related spending (much to my shock!). My wife's card and my business spending don't have a rewards program linked. I have kept those cards separate to make it easier to track the spending in those accounts. As a result, many points have gone unearned. I only use my Diners when there is no additional fee for using it, or when it is the same as my Visa.

Based on this information and info from Cannex I have found the Westpac Altitude Platinum seems to be suitable. I am expecting that anything I used to spend on the Diners to now be handled by the associated Amex card earning me 3 points/$ (total approx 110K points based on last 12 months) and another 120K on the Westpac Visa.

We tend to mainly use our points for store cards/vouchers so with the Altitude programme that would yield roughly 14 x $100 vouchers. With respect to airlines, we tend to mainly fly Virgin Blue, and mainly BNE - ADL (well mainly my wife actually). Internationally, we tend to use Singapore (we wouldn't fly more than once a year on average).

Other benefits to me is that the westpac internet banking uses the OFX data protocol so I can use Quicken or equivalent to keep a tighter track of our spending.

On the downside, all my personal + business + wife's spending ends up on the one single account so I can't tell at a glance who's spending how much (unable to separate out transactions, not even electronically).


So my question is, are there any other options I should consider? The Amex addon card seems to clinch the deal over offerings from the CBA. I've noticed a few members using Citibank products and Amex directly. I've read on here that Diners is still useful for converting points to SPG then to AA but I don't plan on flying to the US or necessarily staying at 5 star hotels. I am willing to mix and match rewards programmes if there is a substantially added value to the added complexity.

As a final note, we will be travelling through Europe shortly and I read that a chipped card is a must which the Westpac Visa, but not the AMEX has. However we are interested in minimising transaction costs so are also looking at the Wizard Clear advantage card or the NAB Gold debit card for our use overseas.

Looking forward to your opinions.

drvik

[Slats7]

Sign up to QF FF and get a NAB platinum AMEX & Visa.

[lovetravellingoz]

Given the $$ you put through Cards and that you fly Singapore anyway I would recommend the new Westpac Krysflyer combination Platinum Amex/VISA as being the way to go.

See the new thread on this.

You get a free extra set for your wife too.