SIA1A
Member
- Joined
- May 23, 2007
- Posts
- 218
I have had an ANZ Rewards card for many years but rarely use it due to the poor earn rate (not helped by last year's illusion, where ANZ increased the earn rate and my balance but also proportionately increased the reward redemption pricing).
My 'old' card currently earns 1 rewards point per dollar charged. I value these points by checking the ANZ redemption pricing: Cashback costs 20,620 points for a $100 credit to my card account. Singapore Airlines Kris Flyer points cost 3 ANZ points for 1 Kris Flyer mile, Virgin Velocity Points cost 2.25 ANZ points for 1 Velocity point.
After last year's changes the annual fee for the regular (ie not Gold) ANZ Rewards Visa card was $22 plus a rewards program fee of $26, total charge $48/year. Additional (family member) cards could be added to the same account for no additional charge. This year the fees appear to have risen very substantially. ANZ's website-available document "ANZ Personal Banking Account Fees and Charges" dated 03.10 indicates an annual fee of $34 plus rewards program fee of $55, total charge $89/year. Additional cards cost $10 + $55 = $65/year (previously free).
On the positive side, "Rewards" is apparently now a dual-card account. Current customers can request an Amex card (and retain their Visa card) for no extra charge. After accepting this offer, the Visa card apparently earns points at a rate of 1.5 points per $1 spent while the Amex earns points at a rate of 2 points per $1 spent (3 points for "Gold" cards). It seems that if customers do not accept the offer, the rapacious new pricing ($89/year) stays in place but the earn rate remains at 1 point accrued per $1 spent and no Amex is issued.
New ANZ Rewards customers, according to the ANZ website, earn double the above "new scheme" points earn rate for the first 3 months.
The new 2010 points conversion rates appear to offer ANZ Rewards members a conversion method for acquiring Kris Flyer and Velocity miles as follows:
Kris Flyer
* Visa spending, after conversion to KF miles, accrues 1 KF mile for each $2 spent; while
* Amex spending accrues 1 KF mile for each $1.50 spent.
Velocity Rewards
* Visa spending accrues 1 Velocity point for each $1.50 spent; while
* Amex spending accrues 1 Velocity point for each $1.125 spent.
A downside is that this scheme does not involve Qantas Frequent Flyer..
However, a plus is that Cashback can be grabbed at a new rate of, in effect, 0.727% for Visa spending and 0.97% for Amex spending and the cash then used for purchasing flight tickets on any airline.
Some examples using the Cashback option for flights:
* A discount QF flight Adelaide-Sydney typically costs about $115. Purchase using this method would require spending on ANZ Rewards cards (assume 50:50 Visa:Amex usage) of $13,530 (earning 23,677 ANZ points, then converted to Cashback). Those 23,677 points could also be converted to 10,523 Velocity points - not quite enough for a discount flight to Sydney, for which Virgin typically levies 11,600 points including fees. This domestic flight example suggest that taking Cashback rather than converting tho airline points is a viable, possibly preferable, option.
* A discount SQ return flight Adelaide-Singapore typically costs about $1,100. Purchase using ANZ Rewards converted to cash as above would require spending of $129,400 (earning 226,500 ANZ points). The 226,500 ANZ points could also be converted to 75,500 Kris Flyer miles. Given in this international example that SQ charges 55,000 KF miles for ADL-SIN return + $310 (or 21,000 KF miles) for surcharges = 76,000 KF miles total, an ANZ points conversion to KF miles vs using Cashbback is lineball. However, I think in this situation I would take the Cashback - and keep the flexibility. However, SQ Business Class would probably look quite attractive using points conversion, given that Biz rewards cost twice the points of economy whereas cash J costs many times more than cash Y.
Another alternative for spending your hard-earned: The rate for buying shop vouchers such as Myer/Bunings/Caltex etc debit cards is slightly more attractive than the Cashback rate. I notice that prominent retail groups such as David Jones and Woolworths Group (Supermarkets, DSE, Dan Murphy etc) are not part of the redemption scheme.
My 'old' card currently earns 1 rewards point per dollar charged. I value these points by checking the ANZ redemption pricing: Cashback costs 20,620 points for a $100 credit to my card account. Singapore Airlines Kris Flyer points cost 3 ANZ points for 1 Kris Flyer mile, Virgin Velocity Points cost 2.25 ANZ points for 1 Velocity point.
After last year's changes the annual fee for the regular (ie not Gold) ANZ Rewards Visa card was $22 plus a rewards program fee of $26, total charge $48/year. Additional (family member) cards could be added to the same account for no additional charge. This year the fees appear to have risen very substantially. ANZ's website-available document "ANZ Personal Banking Account Fees and Charges" dated 03.10 indicates an annual fee of $34 plus rewards program fee of $55, total charge $89/year. Additional cards cost $10 + $55 = $65/year (previously free).
On the positive side, "Rewards" is apparently now a dual-card account. Current customers can request an Amex card (and retain their Visa card) for no extra charge. After accepting this offer, the Visa card apparently earns points at a rate of 1.5 points per $1 spent while the Amex earns points at a rate of 2 points per $1 spent (3 points for "Gold" cards). It seems that if customers do not accept the offer, the rapacious new pricing ($89/year) stays in place but the earn rate remains at 1 point accrued per $1 spent and no Amex is issued.
New ANZ Rewards customers, according to the ANZ website, earn double the above "new scheme" points earn rate for the first 3 months.
The new 2010 points conversion rates appear to offer ANZ Rewards members a conversion method for acquiring Kris Flyer and Velocity miles as follows:
Kris Flyer
* Visa spending, after conversion to KF miles, accrues 1 KF mile for each $2 spent; while
* Amex spending accrues 1 KF mile for each $1.50 spent.
Velocity Rewards
* Visa spending accrues 1 Velocity point for each $1.50 spent; while
* Amex spending accrues 1 Velocity point for each $1.125 spent.
A downside is that this scheme does not involve Qantas Frequent Flyer..
However, a plus is that Cashback can be grabbed at a new rate of, in effect, 0.727% for Visa spending and 0.97% for Amex spending and the cash then used for purchasing flight tickets on any airline.
Some examples using the Cashback option for flights:
* A discount QF flight Adelaide-Sydney typically costs about $115. Purchase using this method would require spending on ANZ Rewards cards (assume 50:50 Visa:Amex usage) of $13,530 (earning 23,677 ANZ points, then converted to Cashback). Those 23,677 points could also be converted to 10,523 Velocity points - not quite enough for a discount flight to Sydney, for which Virgin typically levies 11,600 points including fees. This domestic flight example suggest that taking Cashback rather than converting tho airline points is a viable, possibly preferable, option.
* A discount SQ return flight Adelaide-Singapore typically costs about $1,100. Purchase using ANZ Rewards converted to cash as above would require spending of $129,400 (earning 226,500 ANZ points). The 226,500 ANZ points could also be converted to 75,500 Kris Flyer miles. Given in this international example that SQ charges 55,000 KF miles for ADL-SIN return + $310 (or 21,000 KF miles) for surcharges = 76,000 KF miles total, an ANZ points conversion to KF miles vs using Cashbback is lineball. However, I think in this situation I would take the Cashback - and keep the flexibility. However, SQ Business Class would probably look quite attractive using points conversion, given that Biz rewards cost twice the points of economy whereas cash J costs many times more than cash Y.
Another alternative for spending your hard-earned: The rate for buying shop vouchers such as Myer/Bunings/Caltex etc debit cards is slightly more attractive than the Cashback rate. I notice that prominent retail groups such as David Jones and Woolworths Group (Supermarkets, DSE, Dan Murphy etc) are not part of the redemption scheme.
