There is certainly plenty of churn in the credit card market place at the moment, thanks to our "friends" at the RBA. A number of issues have made recent "enhancements" to their programs - ANZ and Citi being some of the most recent and there will be more to come I'm sure as we approach the middle of the year deadline.
If you are able to put the a good portion of your spend on AMEX, then their are still some excellent offers - direct AMEX issued cards. The AMEX stable has different points earn rates depending on your spend patterns. The standout cards for me would have to be (others might find other cards suit their needs better):
AMEX Platinum Edge:
- 3 pts per $ earn at supermarkets
- 2 pts per $ earn on petrol
- 1 pt per $ for everything else (except Govt charges - eg ATO etc)
- $195 annual fee (free at the moment via a referral link)
- $200 annual travel credit to use on travel booked through the AMEX website
- 1:1 pts transfer to major airlines eg VA, SQ, CX (no Qantas unless you have a Platinum Charge Card)
- Easily the best card around if you spend money at the supermarket or on petrol
- 15k point signup bonus at the moment via a referral link
AMEX Platinum Charge (not for everyone this one!):
- 3 pts $ earn at restaurants, pubs, cafe's etc
- 2 pts $ earn on travel, foreign currency transactions etc
- 1 pt per $ for everything else (except Govt charges - eg ATO etc)
- $1200 annual fee
- $300 annual travel credit to use on travel booked through the AMEX website - add an additional $400 travel credit ($700 total) if you apply for the free companion plat reserve card
- 1:1 pts transfer to major airlines eg QF, VA, SQ, CX (if you have this card pts earn via an Edge or Explorer (if it is linked to Ascent Premium) can be transferred to Qantas too)
- 110,000 point signup bonus at the moment via a referral link
AMEX Explorer:
- 2 pts $ earn everywhere except for Govt charges
- $395 annual fee
- $400 annual travel credit to use on travel booked through the AMEX website
- 4:3 pts transfer to major airlines eg VA, SQ, CX (no Qantas) - unless you have it linked to an AMEX Ascent Membership Rewards account (ie you have an Edge or Plat Charge card too) in which case it becomes 1:1
- 110,000 point signup bonus at the moment via a referral link
The best signup deals for AMEX cards are usually via referral links. AFF has a referral forum
here where you can find the relevant links from AFF members (including myself)
If you want a Visa / Mastercard as well then things aren't as clear. For me the best value is probably to churn cards relatively frequently moving between the best signon bonus point options. Good ones at the moment would be NAB and ANZ (although you'd probably be excluded from the latter).
If you want a "keeper" card, I'd be cautious as other players are probably still to make their moves yet. For me though the best value cards would be the Coles Flybuys Rewards cards (for transfer to VA and EY) and the Bankwest World card.
Hope some of this helps, I'm sure others will have some good ideas too.
Good luck in your hunt!
Edit: There a couple of other similar threads running at the moment, for people in a similar position. This one included:
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....options-following-impending-demise-82176.html
