After D-Day, Whats your new strategy?

[Revolutionary String]

Anyone else lost access to Local Champion? I can't see it in my Amex App anymore (and I wouldn't hit the points cap). My only thought could be because I'm on the old points redemption system until July. I do a fair bit of spend in dining, so local champion was a nice bonus!

 

[Moopere]

as many people say, the points game is a constantly changing one, with opportunites closing and opening,

the generous amex points is back down to Visa/MC levels, and the churning opportunitites seem to be reducing,

I hope there is a new way/opportunity but im a little skeptical to be honest

maybe the whole points game for those without business spend is a obsolete thing

Yes, this is where my mind is heading.

I used to spend some time tending to the 'business' of points and churn - but it seems now that any gains in so doing are so marginal as to no longer be worth my time.

I have suspicions as to how we all got here, along the lines of the market being saturated, as it has been for some years now. Cards are overwhelmingly the preferred payment method and there is really very little market gain for card providers to be generous ... The vast majority of the points earning public have no real idea of their value or how to use them, so there again, no reason for the loyalty schemes to be too generous here.

Because the margins are now in the very small percentiles, perhaps even less than 1% volume has to be huge to make this a worthwhile game. thus, big business spend on a card might still produce worthwhile results, otherwise, its becoming increasingly difficult to see the value of tending to ones card farm.

On retaining my Edge ... if I could ever convince Macquarie to to give me a HH Gold card I'd probably flick the rest, including Amex.

 

[daft009]

On retaining my Edge ... if I could ever convince Macquarie to to give me a HH Gold card I'd probably flick the rest, including Amex.

The Macq and HH partnership is dead

 

[Moopere]

The Macq and HH partnership is dead

Is it? I have not been paying attention.

The web site appears to still be up:

Hilton Honors Platinum Credit Card | Earn Points | Macquarie


[EDIT: mind you, I can't find any buttons on the page to actually apply .... argh!]

 

[daft009]

Is it? I have not been paying attention.

The web site appears to still be up:

Hilton Honors Platinum Credit Card | Earn Points | Macquarie


[EDIT: mind you, I can't find any buttons on the page to actually apply .... argh!]

there is a thread here, Hilton Honors Macquarie Platinum Card Discontinued

 

[tlam]

Have to convert some Woolies 5% off plastic gift cards into fuel cards for another 5% off over at Woolies Caltex with this months special deal.
Still paying ATO and Star Track bills.
Bankwest World finishing ATO on May 21st isn’t so good.

How do you pay Star Track bill by credit card? I got an account but always pay by bpay. Thanks.

 

[SeaWolf]

I've currently got the Edge + Explorer combo but I'm thinking about dropping the Edge. My understanding is that both the Ascent and Gateway programs will now convert at a 2:1 ratio for Velocity (and most other FF schemes) and the only difference I can see is that Gateway doesn't have Virgin Atlantic. So the Explorer will be 1 point per dollar for everything except Gov spend.

The only advantage of the Edge is the 3 points on supermarket spend and I don't think I'm turning over enough at the supermarket to make it worthwhile compared to just simplifying and having the one card.

 

[albyd]

I agree with WOW eGC having been shut down, if spend reduces back to groceries, then hard to see that many people will make a significant additional earn from supermarket category to bother with juggling 2 card accounts. As always, there are exceptions.

 

[Chicken]

I agree with WOW eGC having been shut down, if spend reduces back to groceries, then hard to see that many people will make a significant additional earn from supermarket category to bother with juggling 2 card accounts. As always, there are exceptions.

Am I missing something here? Edge gives 3 points at supermarket and servos, that means you can use it for not just grocery, but also for buying fuel, and topping up your Opal / myki / goCard / metro card? Surely you all need to travel one way or another?

 

[SOPOOR]

I agree with WOW eGC having been shut down, if spend reduces back to groceries, then hard to see that many people will make a significant additional earn from supermarket category to bother with juggling 2 card accounts. As always, there are exceptions.

My average monthly spend has gone from 5 figures down to $63 across two cards

And those we're direct debits that j forgot about.

Would be interesting if amex will notice or have predicted this or dont care.
Time will tell

 

[SOPOOR]

Am I missing something here? Edge gives 3 points at supermarket and servos, that means you can use it for not just grocery, but also for buying fuel, and topping up your Opal / myki / goCard / metro card? Surely you all need to travel one way or another?

this is true however if you had prepaid a heap of cards and wish gift cards then the need for the edge diminishes further

 

[albyd]

My perspective is I've used the MR changes to consolidate to just my charge card. Whilst Edge earns 3ppd, it's effectively 1.5 - whilst better than 1.125 on charge, for my personal situation, I don't feel the difference is with juggling an extra statement. Putting everything through on one card should help me keep better track of where I'm spending my money. Everyone's situation is different though. I agree, putting what you can on Edge leads to an optimal MR points haul. Difference between 1 and 3 points in the old days and leveraging the WOW eGC link meant it was worth the extra 'effort' in juggling multiple accounts - for me anyway.

 

[SuperSaeen]

Am I missing something here? Edge gives 3 points at supermarket and servos, that means you can use it for not just grocery, but also for buying fuel, and topping up your Opal / myki / goCard / metro card? Surely you all need to travel one way or another?

I am in the same boat as albyd and Seawolf. Fuel/myki and groceries (from big chains) don't hold a big enough share of my wallet to bother with having an extra card for the additional 0.5 ffp per dollar.
If you are spending big bucks on it, it might be worth while, but if it's lets say $1000 per month for fuel & grocery, that's only an additional 6000 frequent flyer points per annum... I would rather not worry about using the right card each time and keep my budgets simple instead.

 

[coriander]

I have a $20k account coming up, Visa no surcharge, Amex 1.5%.
If I use Amex Explorer (linked to Ascent) I pay $20300 for 20,300 KF points.
If I use Amplify I pay $20,000 for 16,400 KF points (0.82pts / $)
Thus, if my maths is correct it costs me $300 for an extra 3900 KF points.
Guess I'll be using Amplify.
Amex needs to get merchant fees down if they want to maintain their turnover.

 

[SOPOOR]

I have a $20k account coming up, Visa no surcharge, Amex 1.5%.
If I use Amex Explorer (linked to Ascent) I pay $20300 for 20,300 KF points.
If I use Amplify I pay $20,000 for 16,400 KF points (0.82pts / $)
Thus, if my maths is correct it costs me $300 for an extra 3900 KF points.
Guess I'll be using Amplify.
Amex needs to get merchant fees down if they want to maintain their turnover.

Absolutely no brainer for me

 

[andye]

Not that it will happen, but it would be very interesting to see the metrics around the devaluation
E.g
Points redeemed
Cards cancelled
Spend in month before
Spend in month after

Would be a fascinating study of loyalty engagement

 

[MathNerd]

Not that it will happen, but it would be very interesting to see the metrics around the devaluation
E.g
Points redeemed
Cards cancelled
Spend in month before
Spend in month after

Would be a fascinating study of loyalty engagement

Indeed. Especially the proportion of AmEx AU customers that didn't do anything with their points, and just let them devalue.
Of course nobody on here, but a lot of the general populace.

 

[SOPOOR]

Not that it will happen, but it would be very interesting to see the metrics around the devaluation
E.g
Points redeemed
Cards cancelled
Spend in month before
Spend in month after

Would be a fascinating study of loyalty engagement

that would be interesting, hpwever I doubt we will ever ever know

 

[Chicken]

it would be very interesting to see the metrics around the devaluation
E.g
Points redeemed
Cards cancelled
Spend in month before
Spend in month after

Also
- how much was the provision for MR redemption
- how they calculated the financial risk of SQ increasing their price for KF miles with people who warehouse their MR points (from donkey years ago)
- how they use the point above / point 2 to catagorise customers who are at risk of going from profitable to loss making customers
- how they made the call, between market share and profit (the last bit of market share is always the most expensive to get / keep)

I am sure the people in AmEx ANZ, being a US company, would be very relieved that all the MR points have been cashed out by us, before their bu$$s get kicked by America.

 

[FL360]

so now I have 200,000 amex points, should I convert it to asiamiles, or krisflyer ?
this is after the deadline,

what do you think ?