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Credit card sign-up bonus points are one of the easiest ways to earn large quantities of frequent flyer points for relatively minimal outlay. During special promotions, many banks offer tens or even hundreds of thousands of bonus points to new customers that sign up for credit cards.
With so many points on offer, it’s easy to see why many points collectors take credit card churning seriously. This is the art of applying for a card, collecting the bonus points and then cancelling it. But there are a few catches.
Applying for too many credit cards within a short space of time could harm your credit rating. Most banks also only offer the sign-up bonus points to new customers. This means that if you already have a credit card with that bank, you won’t earn any bonus points by applying for a second card.
In addition, most banks won’t award sign-up bonus points to customers that have recently cancelled their card/s with that bank. This is fair enough, as the offers are there to entice new customers to the bank – and not to encourage credit card churning. The amount of time that you need to wait after cancelling the card, before you’re eligible for another sign-up bonus, is known as the exclusion period.
Credit card exclusion periods
When banks run promotions offering bonus points to new credit card applicants, the exclusion period for previous customers is usually stated in the offer terms & conditions. It’s typically 12-18 months, but this varies by bank. Previous customers can still apply for a credit card during their “exclusion period” – they just won’t earn the bonus points.
Customers will generally be excluded from earning bonus points on a new credit card if they’ve been a previous customer with that bank – even if the credit card previously held is different to the one being applied for. This also means that customers upgrading to a higher-value credit card with the same bank will almost never earn bonus points as they’re an existing customer.
Recent change to NAB’s exclusion period
Like most of the major Australian banks, National Australia Bank (NAB) previously excluded customers who’d held a credit card with that bank within the previous 12 months from earning bonus points again.
But in November 2022, NAB extended this period to 18 months. This means former NAB customers will now need to wait longer before applying for a new card if they want to earn another sign-up bonus.
Amex exclusion period
American Express also has a longer offer exclusion period of 18 months for past customers. There was an exception for David Jones American Express cardholders, who would still be eligible to earn bonus points when applying for a different type of American Express card. But American Express no longer offers David Jones cards.
If you already have an American Express card, you can still earn bonus points if a new cardholder signs up using your referral link. In addition, there is nothing stopping your spouse or partner from applying for their own Amex card and earning their own bonus points, even if they’re listed as an additional cardholder on your own Amex card.
Citibank credit cards
Credit cards issued by Citibank (including Citibank, Qantas Premier and Virgin Money products) don’t typically have advertised exclusion periods.
However, this could change in the future as NAB has acquired Citibank’s retail banking business in Australia.
In the past, Citibank has been known to reject applications from customers that already have (or recently applied for) another credit card issued by Citibank. There is some discussion about Citibank applications and exclusion periods in this AFF thread.
ANZ credit cards
It’s also worth noting that ANZ will anecdotally allow existing or recent ANZ Frequent Flyer (Qantas points-earning) credit card holders to apply for a new ANZ Rewards card, and still receive the sign-up bonus. This also applies in the opposite direction.
What are the exclusion periods for each bank?
Here are the current credit card exclusion periods for the major Australian banks:
- American Express – 18 months
- ANZ – 12 months
- Bankwest – 24 months
- CommBank – 12 months
- G&C Mutual Bank – 24 months
- HSBC – 12 months
- NAB – 18 months
- St George/Bank of Melbourne/Bank SA – 12 months
- Westpac – 12 months
