Also mulling over the offer. Looking to travel OS on holiday from late May to early July
. Previously put off Qantas Cash by the howls of outrage here over the forex rates. I was thinking of taking money parked in the bank now, and putting it on a card. About 40% of my expected spend.
My aim for using it is to pay for some of my CC spend. Not hold it and speculate on forex gain. That's not for me. Zero sum gain less fees and (i'f I'm lucky) taxes. Mind you, I'm enough of a punter not to be excited by the lock-in feature. Again could win or lose. C'est la vie.
The rates on Qantas Cash don't look outrageously bad to me, in relative terms. If I purchase €, the OANDA mid rate right now is 0.6857. On my 3% fee visa card (yes I know I could do better), VISA suggests an indicative rate of 0.6630 and OANDA reckons much the same factoring in a 3% fee, and Qantas Cash reckons a rate of 0.6524. The rate differential, about a 5% fee equivalent according to OANDA, doesn't strike me as awful for two points per dollar. The net-of-tax interest foregone by not leaving the money in the bank for a few months is about 0.23% of the load, neither here nor there really.
Non-financial positive for me of having QC are having a third card; a couple of occasions OS for some reason I've been able to use the MC, but not my Visa or Amex card. Strange things happen sometimes with foreign POS machines.
However I'm still not certain (better make up my mind soon). The big downsides for me are the small sums leftover in forex when you return (I have HKD 93 and AED 16 laughing at me in my QC wallet), and the alternative of truly awful cross rates when drawing from another currency to make up a last transaction in say €. Probably no more awful than having some € change in my pocket when I get home though.
One question though. The offer is 1 point to load $1, and 1 more point as usual to spend $1. The
previously announced changes suggest that my spend from May onwards would yield me 1.5 points per $1 equivalent spent, and total 2.5 points per dollar loaded tips the scales a bit in favour of QC. However I smell a rat in any and all claimed QF
enhancements, and the current offer has me thinking that the 1.5 points per dollar spend might only apply to money loaded after 1 May. Anyone have fine print, goss or a punt on this proposition?
Cheers skip.