First card

[nutwood]

Asking for help on this one as daughter approached me for advice on best CC to get. She's a uni student and a CBA customer. She has a NZ trip coming up so side benefits of travel insurance are significant. Problem is tricky as it's difficult to even figure which airline! In the big picture, Qantas points are more useful, but locally, VA are how we are flying at the moment.
Would be very grateful for advice. Monthly expenditure not high but can be boosted for a couple of months. CBA preferred but not essential.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

You want a card that is free from all foreign transaction fees. Not much use getting points if you’re paying a 3% surcharge on conversions!

Travel insurance… can be a benefit, but can be tied to all sorts of criteria in order to be eligible. If a card has a $500 spend to activate, this may be more than a cheap airfare (and so no cover).

Tick travel insurance is first cheap.. unlimited medical for like $30 a week, or less.

You might consider a debit card, which has no annual fee, and no foreign transaction fees.

 

[Cynicor]

Uni student might find it hard to get approved for much. Aim for the cheapest and simplest no foreign exchange fee credit card you can. Bankwest zero is probably the best. Otherwise 28 degrees/latitude.

 

[kileskus]

Card with travel insurance would be hard to get if she's young/working part-time. As others have said above probably a debit card or zero-fee credit card would be better to start off with.

If she really wants a points-earning card I would look into Qantas Pay as an entry-level travel money card. It's a pre-loaded debit card that has no foreign conversion fees and allows you to lock in conversion rates, 1.5 points for every $1AUD.

For domestic use, maybe Velocity Flyer credit card. They have a good introductory offer, fairly low income threshold, an annual fee that's almost completely offset by a flight voucher, and a decent points-for-spend rate given the fee. The High Flyer card comes with travel insurance but has a much higher income threshold.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Card with travel insurance would be hard to get if she's young/working part-time. As others have said above probably a debit card or zero-fee credit card would be better to start off with.

If she really wants a points-earning card I would look into Qantas Pay as an entry-level travel money card. It's a pre-loaded debit card that has no foreign conversion fees and allows you to lock in conversion rates, 1.5 points for every $1AUD.

For domestic use, maybe Velocity Flyer credit card. They have a good introductory offer, fairly low income threshold, an annual fee that's almost completely offset by a flight voucher, and a decent points-for-spend rate given the fee. The High Flyer card comes with travel insurance but has a much higher income threshold.

While pre-paid foreign travel cards may have no transaction fees on the day you use it, the profit is made on the initial load-up… this can be a huge difference between the bank rate and the rate they sell you the currency.

For example the current rate for qantas pay AUD1000 = USD642. A debit card with no foreign exchange fees would be closer to USD674. That’s a 4.8% difference!

 

[kileskus]

While pre-paid foreign travel cards may have no transaction fees on the day you use it, the profit is made on the initial load-up… this can be a huge difference between the bank rate and the rate they sell you the currency.

For example the current rate for qantas pay AUD1000 = USD642. A debit card with no foreign exchange fees would be closer to USD674. That’s a 4.8% difference!

I did add the caveat that it's if she really wants a points-earning card which I think was implied in the OP when they said Qantas points would be more useful. Loading $1000 would mean 1500 Qantas points which would could be upward of $28 in value depending on how you use those points.

 

[Cynicor]

no foreign conversion fees

It does though. It has terrible conversion rates and the points aren’t worth it.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I did add the caveat that it's if she really wants a points-earning card which I think was implied in the OP when they said Qantas points would be more useful. Loading $1000 would mean 1500 Qantas points which would could be upward of $28 in value depending on how you use those points.

Good point! (pardon the pun!)

(I think however the stated notional value of a point is just .6 of a cent, so closer to $9 for the 1500 points!)

 

[kileskus]

It costs $56 to buy 1,000 Qantas points outright. So depending on your target redemption (if you have such a goal) and your usual points-earning rate, it might be more worth it to essentially 'buy' 1,500 points with the $48 you would lose on the less favourable conversion rate. Obviously a lot less worth it if you spend thousands on overseas holidays or are able to buy 150k points at a time to achieve target redemption. For a younger person who sounds like is starting out in FF points and doesn't get a lot from flying, I don't think it's a bad idea as long as the pros and cons are weighed up in light of their circumstances/goals. The Velocity travel card got me my first taste of business when I was a near-broke uni student. YMMV.

 

[nutwood]

Many thanks for the replies. The Velocity card is one that she has been looking at and is high on the list. A debit card is a consideration but as I understand it, the intent is to break into the world of credit cards. She does have a steadily increasing points balance, both with Qantas and Velocity. The former via Woolworths and the latter from flying. The idea is to kick these along a bit, especially if there's a sign up bonus to be had.