Credit Card Reward Program study

I guess with FlyBuys it's hard to complain. Since the scheme costs nothing you're never going to end up any worse off other than the inconvience of bringing the card out all the time. Where is starts falling apart is if you start buying stuff you don't need and wouldn't have bought otherwise just to get the points. Then it quickly becomes a waste of money you could have put towards buying flights directly.

I wish there was somewhere to get the complete report of those credit cards and have a closer look in detail. I'm not really surprised by it though, just from what's said the The Age article. At least for most people here it's not hard to calculate which cards are better because the rewards are all in a common currency, (how many FF points do I get?) rather than trying to calculate the relative merits off that toaster.

 

Once again a bit of bad reporting.
The thing regarding Westpac Altitude Visa or Mastercard is true, same points whether Standard or Gold but you get the AMEX companion card the same spend is required as the AMEX QF card.
AMEX and Diners generally have better points conversion rates but the problem is that some merchant do not accpet them, hence Westpac Altitude combination can be better, or charge an additional fee for using AMEX or Diners.

 

The report is available from Cannex. Altitude is actually ranked as a superior product.

http://www.cannex.com.au/images/reward%20programs/rewards_au.pdf