HSBC Capping Platinum Card, AMEX to follow suit and Citi not sure...

[Claire Lee]

As most have heard no doubt, a "leak" from HSBC has informed its Qantas Platinum card holders of a cap on points earn of $2.5K as of Aug 01 and no longer a x2 earn from overseas transactions. I had it on very good authority over coffee this morning American Express is to announce a similar thing on most of their direct earn cards before the end of the calendar year and Citi has not been able to negotiate a better bulk buy rate from Qantas Frequent Flyer so the writings on the wall there as well.

 

[Colrad]

As most have heard no doubt, a "leak" from HSBC has informed its Qantas Platinum card holders of a cap on points earn of $2.5K as of Aug 01 and no longer a x2 earn from overseas transactions. I had it on very good authority over coffee this morning American Express is to announce a similar thing on most of their direct earn cards before the end of the calendar year and Citi has not been able to negotiate a better bulk buy rate from Qantas Frequent Flyer so the writings on the wall there as well.

Can anyone confirm this? I read the same on Australian Business Traveller, but a thorough review of my last two HSBC statements and the relevant Ts & Cs on their website make no mention of any pending changes to earn rates or the existing 300k p.a. cap. Would think if these purported changes are to take effect from 1 August, they would have to let customers know within a certain time frame?

 

[PLANT]

Maybe these guys have head quartets in Greece?

 

[unnamed]

Can anyone confirm this? I read the same on Australian Business Traveller, but a thorough review of my last two HSBC statements and the relevant Ts & Cs on their website make no mention of any pending changes to earn rates or the existing 300k p.a. cap. Would think if these purported changes are to take effect from 1 August, they would have to let customers know within a certain time frame?

View attachment 51671
https://www.hsbc.com.au/1/PA_ES_Con...ommon/pdf/personal/plat-qantas-rewards-tc.pdf

Seems that they have up until the day of change to notify via either personal contact or an announcement in a newspaper... Having rang HSBC to find out what is going on, not a single soul knew anything about the said changes happening on August 1st...

 

[Scr77]

Article on Australian Business Traveller quotes an actual HSBC source. Seems the change date depends on when your account was opened.

HSBC cuts Qantas frequent flyer points, credit card lounge access - Australian Business Traveller

 

[opusman]

I guess HSBC and Amex are going to see cardholder numbers start to drop pretty quickly...

 

[Scr77]

I don't understand the CC companies thinking. Both HSBC and AMEX are increasing their signup bonus while cutting the earn rate. Aren't they just encouraging us to churn and burn and not be loyal to any card?

 

[Deleted member]

Maybe these guys have head quartets in Greece?

Four times more than I would have thought (lol)

 

[Isochronous]

There goes the sensible Visa points earn option. Guess we will have to stick to BankWest World now.

 

[cove]

Qantas Credit Union CC is looking good. Now it was difficult doing 3 months of so many credit cards in my case but I ended up with a card that ears a point per dollar to Qantas and is not an Amex card.

 

[get me outta here]

Cove, just wonder what the annual fee is on that Qantas Credit Union card? I remember it was a marathon application.

 

[Anna]

Cove did you say something recently about your wife being pleased with changes to her HSBC card? What was that about?

 

[cove]

HSBC gave her a good credit limit to please her after a two week silence when she was getting the card. She received a mail offer because she did not have a Woolies credit card and has HSBC accounts in Australia.
Qantas Credit Union CC was $195 annual fee and 30,000 sign on and spend Qantas points. I have earned 20,000 of those over at 4 months of 5,000 miles per month. They are no Big 4 bank with their systems but it has worked ok.
With my QCU application for a credit card I gave them my tax return, our family trust tax return, about 12 credit card 3 months of statements so that made the document file pretty large. Plus of course proof of identity. When I thought more about it I took a snap of a My Wealth out of Commsec and that seemed to get me over the line as I felt some poor person was wading thru about 100 pages of credit card statements that all ended at zero after flurries of activity.
Mrscove suggested I give up but I did do that Tenacity100 course so I kept at it.

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

I don't understand the CC companies thinking. Both HSBC and AMEX are increasing their signup bonus while cutting the earn rate. Aren't they just encouraging us to churn and burn and not be loyal to any card?

This probably has less to do with the credit card companies and more with Qantas gouging in terms of the price they charge for one 'valuable' QFF point. In HSBC's case, the interchange fee earned on a Platinum Visa is 1.023% (Visa Australia | About Visa | Interchange | Interchange), so for every dollar charged to the card they make 1.023 cents. If QFF charges 1 cent for a point, they have to run the rest of the costs of their operation on 0.023 cents. I suspect we'll see other Platinum card issuers reduce their QFF earn, leaving only Visa Signature and Mastercard World cards (which earn interchange fees closer to 2%) as the only non-Amex cards earning 1 point per dollar.

 

[opusman]

I suspect we'll see other Platinum card issuers reduce their QFF earn, leaving only Visa Signature and Mastercard World cards (which earn interchange fees closer to 2%) as the only non-Amex cards earning 1 point per dollar.

Surely if most of the card products drastically reduce the number of QFF points they are buying, QFF will be forced to drop the price?

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

Surely if most of the card products drastically reduce the number of QFF points they are buying, QFF will be forced to drop the price?

Doubt it:

- first of all, it's not "most of the card products", most Visa and MC cards with forced-earn to QFF already only earn 0.5 cents per dollar. This only seems to be affecting non-Super premium Visa and MC cards earning 1 point per dollar.
- QFF (or QF Loyalty) is the most profitable division QF has. Reducing the price would impact their reported earnings. They're more focussed on finding new avenues to sell points at the current expensive prices, hence Red Planet Surveys and QFF Movies just in the last few months.

 

[coles525]

Recieved letter to householder today: annual fee free for life.

 

[Isochronous]

Recieved letter to householder today: annual fee free for life.

Any reason given?

 

[coles525]

Any reason given?

Nope, just an un-addressed junkmail letter on behalf of the local postie.

Legal: Reason I know it's junk = I'm also a postie worker, one who actually sorts at a delivery centre.

 

[Scr77]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it the non-Qantas card? Think it has been fee free for a while.