250,000 points - easy to use?

[Bakks]

I'm looking at a NAB mortgage deal which is either 250kt points or $1,500 cash back.

I'm more familiar with the Qantas FF program, so have some questions around the Virgin offer.

I'm travelling to the US and Europe next year, and have booked the flights there with Qantas. Flights from the US to Europe and Europe home are not yet booked, hence my interest in the 250kt points.

Can VFF points be used for travel that doesn't have Australia as the origin or destination?
How much would 250kt points buy (the Virgin website doesn't seem to have a good calculator for this)?
How easy is it for to use if you aren't a high level Virgin FF?

Thanks!

 

[Buzzard]

250K Velocity will get you ~185K Kris Flyer (SQ) miles.
I don't see why you could not fly on any SQ route even if it means going via Singapore.
As an example I know one AFFer that flew SQ from Singapore to New York, about 110K in Suites IIRC.

The points are worth way more than $1,500 so take the points.

 

[Mattg]

I have little doubt you'd get some good value out of the 250,000 VA points. That's at least a return business class flight to the USA, or return business class on Singapore Airlines to Europe if you transfer to KrisFlyer.

However, I do suggest you work out how much extra you'll be paying by taking out a mortgage with NAB, compared to the lowest cost option in the market. Just a 0.25% difference in the interest rate can add up to many thousands of dollars over the years!

As they say, there's no such thing as a free lunch...

 

[Dr Ralph]

250,000 points is a good amount and should get you to most places on the planet. But is it worth it given the poor interest rate that ANZ charges?

Better to go with a much lower rate from somewhere like U Bank and keep the money in your own pocket. ANZ rates are not competitive. It shouldn't take too much effort to find rates MUCH lower.

 

[froggerADL]

In the last 12 months or so I've scored ~300,000 VFF points through credit card bonuses for around $500 including free flights, so I don't think it's the best deal around. I wouldn't be signing up to a mortgage based on the points as the main criteria.

 

[clipped_wings]

I was an active participant in a thread on this very subject. The general consensus was that the effort/paperwork/interest rate imposed by the NAB, made this a very unattractive exercise for many of us. There was not one person in the thread who experienced a seamless migration to the NAB and by the time they got their points, the lustre had long worn off.

We ditched the home loan idea, but grabbed a NAB Platinum card for husband, myself and two daughters and gained an incredible 225k points or so. Then we told our existing bank that we were thinking of moving to the NAB and they immediately offered to reduce our interest rate anyway. Win win.

PS - I got my card in March and still haven't seen my 60,000 points but I'm told it will be sometime in August...........so if you're going to take up this offer, do it now and plan way ahead.

Happy travels!

 

[Bakks]

Luckily the NAB deal stacks up irregardless of any points - so the 250k points are a bonus. I am doing it through a broker so the effort/paperwork will be managed by him.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Ausbt]

Luckily the NAB deal stacks up irregardless of any points - so the 250k points are a bonus. I am doing it through a broker so the effort/paperwork will be managed by him.

Thanks for the advice.

I'm also doing a new mortgage and I know the funding is coming from NAB, however the mortgage is retailed by a different provider. Seemingly no points for me. Does your mortgage docs contain NAB branding? I'd love to find a way to snaggle those points. In terms of value, I recently redeemed some Krisflyer J flights at 3.7 cents per Velocity point. That's pretty good value I reckon.

 

[JohnK]

In reality I would value those points only after they are converted to SQ KrisFlyer. Should be enough for 2 business class one-ways from Europe back to Australia.

I have over 150,000 Velocity points and still struggling to use them efficiently to/from BKK. Unfortunately I cannot plan 12 months in advance which makes it harder.

 

[Lemon_Party]

PS - I got my card in March and still haven't seen my 60,000 points but I'm told it will be sometime in August...........so if you're going to take up this offer, do it now and plan way ahead.

Happy travels!

A bit OT, but mine just posted from taking out around a similar time. 4 months after min spend met I'd read in another thread which seems about right.

I just took out a card for the missus now it's up to 75k bonus. $150 for 75k points is a pretty good deal.

 

[straitman]

Something I haven't seen mentioned here is I find VA points very useful for points and pay on a few routes. As an example we travel to Fiji a couple of times per year and find that is often the best deal by a long way.

 

[NoName]

What are the fees for changing a mortgage FROM the NAB to someone else? Could you potentially switch to NAB and then go somewhere else as soon as the points credit in the same way as we do with credit cards? If so then it also opens the question of whether there is an exclusion period after which time you could go back to NAB and get the points again?

 

[Buzzard]

I read somewhere that it costs about $1,000 to switch a variable mortgage.

 

[Dr Ralph]

I read somewhere that it costs about $1,000 to switch a variable mortgage.

I switched from Cth Bank to U Bank in Oct last year. Fees for discharge and registration of mortgage were well under $500.

 

[Buzzard]

I switched from Cth Bank to U Bank in Oct last year. Fees for discharge and registration of mortgage were well under $500.

A very good rate. And a plus one for U Bank from me although I don't have a mortgage with them.