Re: "Enhancements" to Membership Rewards scheme for Platinum Card / Platinum Reserve
That was my thinking too.. obviously the types of charges which attract bonus points are different between Edge and (new) Plat charge / Plat Reserve, but for the majority of people I'd imagine the Edge points scheme is actually better. So that leaves the Plat charge and Plat Reserve trying to justify their higher annual fees through additional benefits, and that's quite a stretch to say the least.
It's the latter - 1 point + 1 bonus point on all transactions you make on your card in a currency other than AUD. Sorry for the confusion, the "foreign currency transactions" part of my OP was poor wording on my part - I typed out the summary of changes based on a conversation, the exact language was mine, not Amex's.
This round of "enhancements" definitely depends on your spending pattern, it's not universally negative. It sucks for us ATO-junkies though.
Sorry guys, I wish this were true, but I'm 99.9% sure that it ain't.
The details I posted were based on a conversation with my Amex account manager. She rang me specifically to talk about changes to my Platinum Charge Card - the fact that these same changes also affect the Platinum Reserve CC only came up because I asked her about that card too, later in the conversation. Additionally, after the call I e-mailed her a summary of what I understood the changes we'd discussed to be - pretty much exactly what I posted in my OP at the start of this thread - to confirm I'd understood everything correctly, and she re-confirmed that it was all correct.
EDIT: And for all of those reconsidering their card portfolio in light of these changes, I can hear the Citi Select card calling out your names...
I can't believe they got rid of the 1.5 points per $1. Now the EDGE card actually is better for me. 3 for supermarkets, 2 for petrol and 1 for everything else which is the same as the charge card??? and 0.5 for utilities.
That was my thinking too.. obviously the types of charges which attract bonus points are different between Edge and (new) Plat charge / Plat Reserve, but for the majority of people I'd imagine the Edge points scheme is actually better. So that leaves the Plat charge and Plat Reserve trying to justify their higher annual fees through additional benefits, and that's quite a stretch to say the least.
And when they say, "foreign currency transactions", does this mean transactions to buy foreign currency or does this mean transactions which you make in a currency other than AUD (i.e. you would normally pay a 3% fee on top of these)? If it is the latter...then that might be sort of good (if you can tolerate paying an extra 3%).
It's the latter - 1 point + 1 bonus point on all transactions you make on your card in a currency other than AUD. Sorry for the confusion, the "foreign currency transactions" part of my OP was poor wording on my part - I typed out the summary of changes based on a conversation, the exact language was mine, not Amex's.
My reading is not as negative as some others.
This round of "enhancements" definitely depends on your spending pattern, it's not universally negative. It sucks for us ATO-junkies though.
I don't think this applies to Platinum Charge
(and many other similar posts)
Sorry guys, I wish this were true, but I'm 99.9% sure that it ain't.
The details I posted were based on a conversation with my Amex account manager. She rang me specifically to talk about changes to my Platinum Charge Card - the fact that these same changes also affect the Platinum Reserve CC only came up because I asked her about that card too, later in the conversation. Additionally, after the call I e-mailed her a summary of what I understood the changes we'd discussed to be - pretty much exactly what I posted in my OP at the start of this thread - to confirm I'd understood everything correctly, and she re-confirmed that it was all correct.
EDIT: And for all of those reconsidering their card portfolio in light of these changes, I can hear the Citi Select card calling out your names...