Shonky awards - C'Wealth Bank Amex wins a prize.

[BAM1748]

THe Choice Magazine Shonky awards are out, Commonwealth Bank wins one for it's rewards scheme.

"Yet year after year we're continually amazed by marketers' efforts to take Australians for a ride."
Commonwealth Bank got a place for the "poor" awards offered under its Commonwealth Bank Awards Program.
Under the standard program, spending $12,000 a year will give a consumer only $20 in flights rewards, assuming they use an American Express card.
The value drops for Visa or MasterCard users, Choice said.
"But the way the awards points are converted to Qantas Frequent Flyer points is a low-flying jest," Choice said.
"One point only equals half of one Frequent Flyer and that salient fact is hidden away in some mighty small print."

www.choice.com.au

 

[Stephen65]

Yes I thought this was particularly sleazy when they brought it in. They trumpeted the fact that you were now going to get up to 3 rewards points per dollar spent but buried as best they could that:

- the conversion rate now be 2 Reward Points per QFF point instead of 1:1

- the headline reward rates were subject to absurdly low caps before your earn rates halved or ceased entirely

- the caps would be even lower if you elected to convert to QFF points

The net result of their shenanigans is that instead of doing all my spend on CBA cards (several hundred thousand dollars) I now only spend up to the first cap and Amex and Citibank get the benefit of the rest. If I wasn't otherwise happy with my CBA banking I would have abandoned the CBA entirely.

 

[MAX_1]

If I wasn't otherwise happy with my CBA banking I would have abandoned the CBA entirely.

Same here.
Its fortunate that I get my CBA Plat Card fee free otherwise I would have dropped that as well.

 

[Paddy55]

Same here.
Its fortunate that I get my CBA Plat Card fee free otherwise I would have dropped that as well.

+1 re being happy with CBA banking

How do you get your card free BTW?

Paddy

 

[MAX_1]

How do you get your card free BTW?

Paddy

Part of the total package.
Several loans. I do pay for it in the end, amount of interest that I pay each month.

The capping of the Platinum card annoys me especially when Westpac and NAB Plat cards are uncapped.

 

[Stephen65]

Likewise I have always banked through the CBA and have a relatively complex structure of business and personal loans and accounts that I wouldn't want to have to transfer elsewhere without good reason. Aside from this latest credit card nonsense I have always been very happy with my CBA banking.

The effective capping of a platinum card's reward scheme at a $40,000 spend is absurd. All it means is that CBA now misses out on making money out of all my spend over that. I get my CBA plat fee free so I spent the first $40,000 on that this year and then took it out of my wallet. I'll start using it again on 1 January.

Indirectly they did me a favour because without these caps I wouldn't have investigated other options like Amex and discovered how advantageous they can be for earning QFF points and travel insurance. It doesn't seem to be good business practice to encourage your best customers to investigate your competitors offers.

 

[Stephen65]

Seems I spoke too soon about being otherwise happy with my CBA banking. After today's events I'm going to be contacting other banks to see what they can do for me.

 

[straitman]

Likewise I have always banked through the CBA and have a relatively complex structure of business and personal loans and accounts that I wouldn't want to have to transfer elsewhere without good reason. Aside from this latest credit card nonsense I have always been very happy with my CBA banking.

As have I in a general sense. Todays .45% interest rate rise versus the Reserve Banks .25% rate rise does little toward keeping people thinking like this though :!:

 

[oz_mark]

Wait and see what the others have up their sleeves first (although one of the others bit the bullet in an earlier round).

 

[Walter_Plinge]

Indirectly they did me a favour because without these caps I wouldn't have investigated other options like Amex and discovered how advantageous they can be for earning QFF points and travel insurance. It doesn't seem to be good business practice to encourage your best customers to investigate your competitors offers.

If you're transferring points to QFF it's unlikely you'll qualify for travel insurance. you have to buy the fare with the card to trigger the cover. If you get the trip on points - no cover.

I feel I was mislead with the low points capping but I needed a Mastercard to supplement my Visa which capped out at $60,000 spend in September. I also have Amex Platinum direct. I think that has a $100,000 spend cap which yield 62,500 QFF points. I'll revert to that when I reach the CBA limit.

 

[MAX_1]

Seems I spoke too soon about being otherwise happy with my CBA banking. After today's events I'm going to be contacting other banks to see what they can do for me.

Of course there is no collusion between banks when it comes to interest rates. It will just be a co-incidence that the others may increase their rates.

 

[Stephen65]

If you're transferring points to QFF it's unlikely you'll qualify for travel insurance. you have to buy the fare with the card to trigger the cover. If you get the trip on points - no cover.

The Amex plat charge insurance covers you whether you buy the travel using the card or not. So trips on points are covered. The only requirement to use the card is that claims for incidentals (e.g. buying clothing when your baggage is delayed) must be done using the card.

This automatic cover is a major advantage of the plat charge card over the Amex credit cards and other credit card travel insurance.