Credit Cards - am I doing it wrong?

[sjtaylor]

HI AFFers,
A penny for your thoughts please.
Currently running two credit cards, combined monthly spend on average around $5000.00.
1) Jetstar Platinum mastercard. 1 QFF point per $. Ongoing negotiated annual fee $65.00. Family members occasionally use Jetstar and appreciate the $0.00 surcharge that comes with the Jetstar MC.
2. Velocity Escape Amex - 1 pt per $, but 2 pts for any spend on VA in Australia. Annual fee: $0.00.
I travel dom only at this point. I hardly use Qantas for travel and have around 52000 qffpts (Bronze).
I take between 1-3 return VA dom flights each month (all East Australia departing Bne). About to re-qualify as VA Gold.
I have researched my options fairly extensively, but any clues as to what i should be doing to maximise my points would be much appreciated. Should I turf the JQ card and attempt to seek a QF card which offers more than 1 for 1? Not all institutions accept or like Amex so I'd like to keep a non-Amex alive.
Any suggestions appreciated.
Thanks

 

[sergeyvzn]

Credit Card Reward Star Ratings

this may help a bit

 

[Alanslegal]

For an ordinary family who's main weekly expenses are groceries, fuel, household items, insurance etc then I would suggest one of the 3/2/1/0.5 earn American Express credit cards such as a Platinum Edge card. You earn 3 points per $1 at major supermarkets, 2 points per $1 at petrol stations, 1 point per $1 on everything else except a few exceptions which only earn 0.5 points per $1. Although the annual fee is $149? or $199? the Edge also gives you an annual complimentary VA return flight eg. BNE to all the major cities on the East Coast and ADL. If you put through $2,000/month at supermarkets, that 6,000 AX MR points. Then spend $500/m on fuel and that's an additional 1,000 points. Shop at Woolworths and double dip with your Everyday Rewards Card to earn QF points as well. You could accumulate it quite fast. For merchants who do not accept Amex, maybe one of those Citibank Free For Life credit cards which they offer from time to time. No annual fees mean you can earn points and not need to spend zillions to just cover the cost of the annual fees.

 

[sjtaylor]

Thanks for the responses; very much appreciated.

 

[Pinkmoose]

Hi Sjtaylor,
I agree with the other posters here that an Amex and either a Master card or Visa card would work well for you. Just ensure that you wait for a big promotion to get some free FF points. Qantas cards give up to 40K points routinely (or more) and I'm sure virgin cards would also provide something to sign up.
Good Luck.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

If are a QF ff bronze you should have received your new bronze card with the chip in it which should also be the Qantas Card Card which earns frequent flyer points when spending your own money so it's really a MasterCard debit card where you earn points. Not sure what the earn rate is though. For a limited time IIRC you got 1 for 1 but it may be back to 0.50 point earned per dollar spent.

When buying JQ airfares if you Google "Jetstar mobile app" on your tablet or desktop device you can avoid paying the AUD8.50 cc surchange by using your QF Cash Card when you select 'MasterCard debit card' as your form of payment. You don't want to use any Master or Visa debit card when checking in at a hotel or hiring a car as it takes them a lot longer to release the hold on your funds but you can still use your Amex card as a guarantee then use the MC or VI debit to settle the account.

Some credit cards include travel insurance for you and your immediate family which could save you having to purchase a separate travel insurance policy which could cost more than the annual fee for a credit card that also gives you a free flight.

A lot of people like credit cards that allow you to 'warehouse' the points eg Citibank that don't have an automatic sweep to a particular frequent flyer program so you can decide how many points to transfer to QF/VA/SQ as needed.