Is Credit Card Churning Dead in Australia?
Credit cards are one of the easiest ways to earn lots of frequent flyer points in Australia, and some of the best deals come from sign-up bonuses.
For example, at the time of writing, there are several Australian banks offering up to 150,000 Qantas Points as a bonus if you apply for a new credit card and spend a minimum amount on it.
Given how lucrative these offers can be, some people try to maximise them by applying for several new credit cards each year. Frequent credit applications can impact your credit rating, so it’s not without risk. Still, for people able to manage that, the rewards speak for themselves. 150,000 Qantas Points (plus the taxes & charges) is almost enough to fly around the world.
But in recent years, banks have progressively made it harder to maximise credit card sign-up bonuses. And that was before the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced a further reduction to interchange fees in October 2026. Is the “free lunch” coming to an end?
Credit card sign-up offers have changed
A decade ago, a typical credit card sign-up bonus would look something like this:
Apply for this card by 31 May and spend $4,000 within the first 3 months to earn 100,000 points, with a waived annual fee in the first year. Offer not available to customers who’ve held a card with this bank in the past 12 months.
Nowadays, offers look more like this:
Apply for this card and spend $4,000 within 90 days to get an initial 70,000 points. Renew and spend another $4,000 within 90 days of the card anniversary date to get another 30,000 points in the second year. Offer not available to customers who’ve held a card with this bank in the past 24 months. This offer may be withdrawn or varied at any time.
Spot the difference?
Many offers now require you to keep the card open for a second year to get the full sign-up bonus.
Many banks have also increased the amount of time you need to wait after cancelling a card before you’re eligible for a new sign-up bonus – generally from 12 to 24 months. And at least one card issuer, anecdotally, seems to have started rejecting applications from people with a credit history that matches the profile of a card churner.
Offers these days are less likely to have a specific expiry date listed, too. That’s neither here nor there, but it does make the offers less predictable.
More patience is now required
Combined, these changes simply make it harder to churn through credit card sign-up bonus offers as quickly. To get the full bonus, you now need to keep your card open for over a year – rather than just a few months. And then, after cancelling, you need to wait longer before you can be eligible for a new offer.
To be honest, I can’t really blame the banks for making these changes! After all, sign-up offers are designed to attract new long-term customers. They’re not supposed to be a loss-making exercise that gives away free points. Still, the trend is a tad disappointing if you’re used to earning most of your points by churning credit cards.
What impact will the RBA changes have?
The October 2026 RBA changes will effectively reduce the pool of interchange fee revenue that Australian banks collect by around $910 million per year. Major banks have already flagged that they plan to increase card fees and reduce rewards to maintain their profitability.
Whether the reductions in points will impact sign-up bonuses, everyday earn rates, or both, remains to be seen. However, it’s worth noting that the RBA has effectively matched the interchange fee caps that already exist in the UK and Europe. In those markets, the sign-up bonuses available are significantly worse than what you can currently get in Australia.
The RBA changes won’t impact business credit cards, nor will they directly affect American Express. So, there might still be some superior offers to be found after these changes take effect.
Are the best days of points behind us?
When you also consider that credit card earn rates have come down, frequent flyer programs have increased redemption costs, and award availability has become more scarce over time, it would be easy to conclude that the “golden days” of points are in the past.
Personally, I don’t think it’s that simple. The opportunities and the optimal strategies are simply changing. When one door closes, another opens!
Yes, it might be harder to earn points through credit cards going forward. But you can now earn enough points for a flight to Asia by buying a case of wine – something that would have been unthinkable two decades ago. It’s now easier to find reward seats to Asia too, because new tools exist like Seats.aero or even the new Qantas Flight Reward Finder. Programs like Qantas Frequent Flyer are even introducing new ways to earn status credits without flying.
Banks – and the airlines that sell points to them – make a lot of money from financial products. I have little doubt that they’ll adapt to the changing interchange fees to offer new opportunities for Aussies to earn points. After all, airlines nowadays rely on the revenue they get from selling points to third parties! They must adapt because, in a way, their survival actually does depend on it.
This topic was discussed at length on the AFF forum last year, and I think it’s still just as relevant as ever. Visit the thread to read the diverse range of opinions from other AFF members, and share your own:
