Best FF rewards card

[o40ity]

Hi Guys,

I got rid of my Amex Platinum Card last year after the change in Travel Insurance terms and conditions, and the most recent change to earn rates. I am looking for a new card.

I was thinking about the Citi Bank Select Card with the bonus points offer of 60K points for $700 Annual Fee per year. Also the Amex Platinum Virgin Card for $349 with a bonus of 25K virgin points, even going back to the Platinum charge card for $900 and 45k Amex points.

I would like some opinions and various cards... i currently earn mostly Qantas FF points but I would like to add to my Velocity account or my Kris Flyer account.

Generally I would spend about $150K per year on a card.

Cheers
Richard

 

[stewiejp]

Spending that kind of money on the card you are sure to rack the points up quick smart. I'm pretty happy with my HSBC Qantas card. $199 annual fee, 20k points sign up bonus and free travel insurance which I am assured is a "good" travel insurance policy. Not sure what you get for the 349-900 fee but it'd have to be something pretty good for me to pay that kind of figure.

 

[Beta4Me]

Absolutely go with the Citi Select. 1.33ppd to SQ is fantastic. Wouldn't hurt to top that off with the Westpac KrisFlyer Amex/Visa pair (1.5ppd on Amex + double points on SQ purchases) and an Amex Plat Edge (for the juicy 3ppd/2ppd on supermarkets/petrol plus a free domestic return economy flight on VA which 'pays' for the annual fee).

This is obviously all totally SQ-focused...but they are just so good!

 

[thehound]

Absolutely go with the Citi Select. 1.33ppd to SQ is fantastic. Wouldn't hurt to top that off with the Westpac KrisFlyer Amex/Visa pair (1.5ppd on Amex + double points on SQ purchases) and an Amex Plat Edge (for the juicy 3ppd/2ppd on supermarkets/petrol plus a free domestic return economy flight on VA which 'pays' for the annual fee).

I don't see the utility of getting the Select, and then paying an additional $250 for the Westpac Platinum Amex. The OP indicated annual spend of ~ $150k. Even if ALL of that could be put on Amex, which is highly unlikely given the reduced acceptance of Amex compared with Visa, he would only earn an additional 25,500 pts (0.17 pts extra per dollar) compared with all that spend going on the Select. Depending on where he spends, a better guess would be that $75k can go through Amex, which will result in 12750 extra points being earned compared with Select - and that's at the price of a $250 fee (~2c/point cost). These numbers also don't take into account the higher merchant fees that many places now charge for Amex.

If you value a Krisflyer mile as worth about 1c, then for the Westpac card to be a good investment you need to be spending more than $150k per annum on Amex alone, with no surcharges over and above what you'd pay with Visa on the same expenditure. Plus you've got to be using those points regularly since they're direct sweep.

Having said all that, $700 for Select is still a good-going fee. My decision to make that the primary card for (almost) everything was the absolute acceptance everywhere for Visa, the lower or non-existent merchant fees for Visa, the ability to warehouse the points in the Citi account until required, and the other perks of the Select like free hotel night.

 

[legroom]

I don't see the utility of getting the Select, and then paying an additional $250 for the Westpac Platinum Amex. The OP indicated annual spend of ~ $150k. Even if ALL of that could be put on Amex, which is highly unlikely given the reduced acceptance of Amex compared with Visa, he would only earn an additional 25,500 pts (0.17 pts extra per dollar) compared with all that spend going on the Select. Depending on where he spends, a better guess would be that $75k can go through Amex, which will result in 12750 extra points being earned compared with Select - and that's at the price of a $250 fee (~2c/point cost). These numbers also don't take into account the higher merchant fees that many places now charge for Amex.

If you value a Krisflyer mile as worth about 1c, then for the Westpac card to be a good investment you need to be spending more than $150k per annum on Amex alone, with no surcharges over and above what you'd pay with Visa on the same expenditure. Plus you've got to be using those points regularly since they're direct sweep.

Having said all that, $700 for Select is still a good-going fee. My decision to make that the primary card for (almost) everything was the absolute acceptance everywhere for Visa, the lower or non-existent merchant fees for Visa, the ability to warehouse the points in the Citi account until required, and the other perks of the Select like free hotel night.

Excellent arguments

From a Select Card holder !

 

[Beta4Me]

You miss the 10K sign-on bonus of the card in your calcs. And, I can't imagine valuing SQ points at 1c!

With the sign-on it's worth it in the first year (and the double SQ points on SQ purchases is useful) and then one can evaluate the usefulness/viability of the duo for years 2+.

Lastly it NEVER hurts having a backup card (or two).

 

[legroom]

You miss the 10K sign-on bonus of the card in your calcs. And, I can't imagine valuing SQ points at 1c!

With the sign-on it's worth it in the first year (and the double SQ points on SQ purchases is useful) and then one can evaluate the usefulness/viability of the duo for years 2+.

Lastly it NEVER hurts having a backup card (or two).

It is not a straightforward choice really.

Recently I applied for the Altitude Plat Plus instead of the Krysflyer Plus on the basis of (1) no direct monthly KF point sweep and (2) choice of Velocity / Asia Miles as well as KF.

Like you said, a back up plan is a nice thing to have (non-SQ flights).

The double SQ point is the sticky point that kept me thinking for a few days.

In the end, I decided to leave that.

BTW, I also use Select for ALL non-AMEX things.

 

[burmans]

I can't imagine valuing SQ points at 1c!

I don't think it's just a question of what you value them at it's what you are prepared to spend to get them that counts. In my recent comparison of whether to keep using my WBC Krysflyer Amex or use CitiBusiness Gold I decided to keep using my Amex because it just came under that mark (note I was comaring the incremental cost of the Amex vs the incremental benefit). At more than 1c I probably wouldnt have done it. THere are other opportunities to get point cheap around so I am comparing to these, sure I can get more "value" than 1c but this value is only there if you have enough need.

If I can satisfy all my needs at less than 1c per point there is no need and it's hard for me to really put some of those higher values on a flight I don't really need or want no matter what the cost price is.

 

[GCC]

I always get a bit lost with these discussions. I have just cancelled our Amex Platinum card so have also been going through the process of looking at replacements.

The Amex plat annual fee was $900. We received 75 k bonus points for signing up, and the travel insurance and the free flight on the Reserve CC made it well worth the $900. The 1.5 ppd earn and the ability to warehouse points and redeem to either QFF, Velocity or EK was a real benefit too.

We now have the Qantas SCU Platinum Visa and I'll take out the CBA platinum card which comes for free with my mortgage wealth package.

So for zero fee this year I have:

• "Platinum" AMEX earning either 3 CBA reward points per or 1.5 QFF PER $ spent.
• Plat Visa with 1 QFF point per $1 (or 2 QFF ppd if the spend is on Qantas and we will probably spend 10-20k on QF or EK)

Choice rated the CBA platinum card insurance as one of the best CC insurance offers, but if necessary I can buy an annual policy for the family.

The biggest loss is that we'll have to credit direct to QFF. It was nice to have options with the Amex plat, and a few times we did redeem to velocity. Generally though we fly Qantas or EK so should be fine. The earning cap on the CBA Platinum card is a bit woeful but I have a big mortgage so will hope for an upgrade to diamond.

Am I missing something here with regards to a good CC combo? I cant see how various card with annual fees, (citi select for example) justify the fees compared to the scenario above .

 

[legroom]

I always get a bit lost with these discussions. I have just cancelled our Amex Platinum card so have also been going through the process of looking at replacements.

The Amex plat annual fee was $900. We received 75 k bonus points for signing up, and the travel insurance and the free flight on the Reserve CC made it well worth the $900. The 1.5 ppd earn and the ability to warehouse points and redeem to either QFF, Velocity or EK was a real benefit too.

We now have the Qantas SCU Platinum Visa and I'll take out the CBA platinum card which comes for free with my mortgage wealth package.

So for zero fee this year I have:

• "Platinum" AMEX earning either 3 CBA reward points per or 1.5 QFF PER $ spent.
• Plat Visa with 1 QFF point per $1 (or 2 QFF ppd if the spend is on Qantas and we will probably spend 10-20k on QF or EK)

Choice rated the CBA platinum card insurance as one of the best CC insurance offers, but if necessary I can buy an annual policy for the family.

The biggest loss is that we'll have to credit direct to QFF. It was nice to have options with the Amex plat, and a few times we did redeem to velocity. Generally though we fly Qantas or EK so should be fine. The earning cap on the CBA Platinum card is a bit woeful but I have a big mortgage so will hope for an upgrade to diamond.

Am I missing something here with regards to a good CC combo? I cant see how various card with annual fees, (citi select for example) justify the fees compared to the scenario above .

CBA Plat card:

* 1.5:1 only for the first $40K, after that it drops off to 0.5:1 and it has an annual cap which is rather low (cf to the CBA Diamond)

QF Plat Visa

* What's the annual fee again ?

* If free, yes, it would be a good card.

* Any annual cap ?

* If there is a fee, check out the $89 p.a. EDR CC (1:1 earn rate, no cap, 16K point bonus)

 

[GCC]

Ah thanks - I missed the cap on the CBA Platinum card, but still works to channel some spend. My strategy is really to get the CBA diamond, so will probably spend up to cap ASAP then talk to our branch manager.

There is no cap on the QCSU Visa and for those of us who signed up in time for last year's promo offer no annual fee for first year (usually $190) and 30k bonus QFF points.

Originally I had planned to cancel the QSCU card and take our the EDR CC when the first year ends. But their customer service is so good (especially given what I've read here about EDR) and $100 is not much in the scheme of things so I'll be seriously considering just hanging on to it.