What credit card do you use as a sidekick to your AMEX?

[dein_gesicht]

I use St George Dragon - 0.75 KF per $1 spent. It is that good

I also got the ANZ Black card but more for the bonus points

 

[SYD]

How does the conversion look on that?

NAB VISA Signature is 1 QF point / $1 (capped at $5k then 0.5 thereafter (up to $20k)

Earn up to 120,000 bonus Qantas Points

Earn up to 120,000 bonus Qantas Points. Apply today for the NAB Qantas Rewards Signature credit card. Complimentary insurance and 24/7 concierge included.

www.nab.com.au

Coles Rewards MC is 2 FBs / $1.

Coles Mastercard Credit Cards – Compare and Apply Online | Finder

Compare Coles Mastercard credit cards that offer you Flybuys points for your spending, as well as low rate or no annual fee options.

www.finder.com.au

 

[andytheturtle]

I only apply for black Visa/Mastercards the lower cards have poor sign-on bonuses and poor earn rates.

Agreed the earning rates, when compared to AMEX, is often abysmal.
Which black CC did you pick?
Made the connection with the earlier post !

 

[AIRwin]

Citibank Premier fee free for life with Priority Pass membership

 

[albyd]

I use St George Amplify. Use Amex for everything else. Have a US Citi MC for foreign transactions so avoid the FX fee that way and the bonus categories currently work in AU.

 

[SeaWolf]

I'm using the Coles Rewards Mastercard. For me, the big advantages are:

• Earns 2 Flybuys per $1, which is 1 Velocity point per $1
• Low annual fee ($99)
• No foreign currency fees, so it's my primary card while travelling internationally
• Had a big sign-on bonus (100,000) which offset the annual fee for a few years

The big downside is no travel insurance, but I'm getting that from my AmEx anyway. Also, they call me every month to offer me a low-interest payment plan for my balance, even though I'm never interested in that.

Otherwise, it's a great card and it's simple. I'm even comfortable recommending it to friends as they have the option of getting flyer points (tempting) but if they don't get enough for a decent flight they can just get money off groceries instead (practical).

 

[dein_gesicht]

I'm using the Coles Rewards Mastercard. For me, the big advantages are:

• Earns 2 Flybuys per $1, which is 1 Velocity point per $1
• Low annual fee ($99)
• No foreign currency fees, so it's my primary card while travelling internationally
• Had a big sign-on bonus (100,000) which offset the annual fee for a few years

The big downside is no travel insurance, but I'm getting that from my AmEx anyway. Also, they call me every month to offer me a low-interest payment plan for my balance, even though I'm never interested in that.

Otherwise, it's a great card and it's simple. I'm even comfortable recommending it to friends as they have the option of getting flyer points (tempting) but if they don't get enough for a decent flight they can just get money off groceries instead (practical).

That's actually better than I thought. However, it is limited to $3k per month. I find it hard enough to juggle busines spend, personal spend and all the sign up bonuses to then track how much I've spent that month.

For me, I have ANZ black (just for sign bonus), Citi free card (for citi payall), CBA diamond (from a sign on bonus), Macquarie Black (its free so I don't want to cancel it) and then the workhorse is the St George Dragon where Amex is not accepted

 

[Lynda2475]

ANZ Black has a better points earn that SGB, so maybe consider making that the workhorse Visa instead.

 

[_TheTraveller_]

ANZ Black has a better points earn that SGB, so maybe consider making that the workhorse Visa instead.

For KF? Besides the Star Alliance card I don't think there is another card that provides 0.825/$ (standard rate + birthday bonus).

There is no cap/reduced earn either.

 

[Lynda2475]

For KF? Besides the Star Alliance card I don't think there is another card that provides 0.825/$ (standard rate + birthday bonus).

There is no cap/reduced earn either.

Sorry missed the KF bit. I don't like that KF miles expire so quickly and cant be extended so never consider KF.

 

[andytheturtle]

As a prospective customer, I find the StG website (same with Bank of Melbourne given the same rewards in essence) very hard to navigate in terms of seeing what airlines programs or other programs can the rewards points be converted to.
Granted there's the summary table shared earlier.

 

[_TheTraveller_]

As a prospective customer, I find the StG website (same with Bank of Melbourne given the same rewards in essence) very hard to navigate in terms of seeing what airlines programs or other programs can the rewards points be converted to.
Granted there's the summary table shared earlier.

KF is the only one worthwhile I would say. VA has better earn elsewhere.

But I do agree StG website is awful.

 

[Lynda2475]

SGB, BOM and BSA are all one and the same - supported by the same back end engine separate from their parent company WBC. Always a churner for me as QF points earn superior on NAB and ANZ Black.

 

[andytheturtle]

I’m amazed by the many different types of points you’re all collecting!
Say how do you keep up with the frequent flyer status while also collecting the likes of KF miles and Flybuys. Amazing

 

[Brucetiki]

I've opted for the bare bones CommBank Awards CC. Earn rate is average (0.4 points/$1 spent) but the annual fee is waived for me as I have my mortgage with CommBank. The earn rate was the same for each tier of credit card that I could obtain with the annual fee, so I opted for the basic one so my limit on the secondary card could be as small as possible (I opted for a $1000 limit).

The few hundred points I get each month from this card is better than nothing.

 

[twiningb]

I use St George Dragon - 0.75 KF per $1 spent. It is that good

I also got the ANZ Black card but more for the bonus points

If you want something to hold long-term, Dragon is 0.825 KF/VFF per dollar, once you count the birthday bonus.

 

[twiningb]

That's actually better than I thought. However, it is limited to $3k per month. I find it hard enough to juggle busines spend, personal spend and all the sign up bonuses to then track how much I've spent that month.

For me, I have ANZ black (just for sign bonus), Citi free card (for citi payall), CBA diamond (from a sign on bonus), Macquarie Black (its free so I don't want to cancel it) and then the workhorse is the St George Dragon where Amex is not accepted

Is Coles Rewards MasterCard capped? I wasn't aware and I don't think I've ever hit it.

And yes, it's 0% forex fee, and 2 Flybuys per dollar means 1% cashback (good as cash at Coles etc) or 1.00 VFF per dollar (which can be worth substantially more than $0.01, deployed to long-haul premium cabins).

Big domestic nonAmex spend goes to Dragon Amplify Sig, and foreign spend goes to Coles MasterCard.

 

[dein_gesicht]

StG website is the worst! I only use for KF and I will only transfer the points from StG to KF when I need them.

I was looking at the HSBC card today and that might be a better option, however, the points are capped at 3k per month and then it reduces down. As I said, it's way too hard to keep track of when they expire. At least ANZ is $7.5k per month and I can somewhat MS this if I need to

Post automatically merged: Jun 20, 2023

I

If you want something to hold long-term, Dragon is 0.825 KF/VFF per dollar, once you count the birthday bonus.

Forgot about the birthday bonus - thanks for the reminder!

 

[andytheturtle]

although capping is annoying and hard to keep track of, I think with more places taking Amex, it is becoming less of an issue.
how much non-amex spending do you make per month?

 

[slowbro]

I use HSBC Premier Card as its the only card that earns point without any annual fees but as it have foreign currency fee I also have BankWest Platinum for foreign currency transactions