"Credit cards not accepted"

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › "Credit cards not accepted"

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#1398206 1-Oct-2015 18:21

On the topic of rewards, I use to have a Cashback card that returned 1% spend

I changed to an Airpoints card that returned 1 airpoint for $75 spend - possibly a 1.33% return. I say possibly as I've always been a bit dubious about whether 1 airpoint = $1 value.

I'm entering the Hawkes Bay Marathon next year. Normal price is $149 but I can use 189 airpoints and get a running shirt.

To earn 189 airpoints I need to spend $14,175. Under my old cashback rewards it's really only cost me $141.75 (1% return) which is a good deal considering I get the shirt and it doesn't impact my cashflow as the airpoints are just sitting in my account.

So which is it - did the marathon entry cost me $189 (if 1 airpoint = $1) or $141.75?

The same applies for movie tickets - 10 x adult hoyts tickets for 140 Airpoints which is a $10,500 spend so is that only $105?

jonathan18

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#1398438 2-Oct-2015 08:22

The following data's from Consumer's online tool, that looks at the total return after two years and taking into account card membership fees (assuming the bill's paid off in full each month, of course). Given the recent competition to lure people to sign up for new cards (Westpac's still waiving the first year of fees for their Platinum Airpoints card) and/or other discounts, the actual return can be substantially more. I've given figures for $20k and $40k spend per annum.

Assumption of $20k PA spend:
Flight rewards
American Express Air New Zealand          $400 ANZ
Qantas Visa Platinum            $367
Diners Club Golf Credit Card with Double Points                $356
ANZ Qantas Visa               $267
Westpac Airpoints Platinum MasterCard               $243
Diners Club Golf Credit Card        $238
ANZ Airpoints Visa Platinum        $233
Kiwibank Air New Zealand Airpoints MasterCard Platinum            $233
Westpac Airpoints MasterCard $223 ANZ Airpoints Visa           $203
Kiwibank Air New Zealand Airpoints MasterCard Standard            $203
Kiwibank Air New Zealand Airpoints Low Fee MasterCard             $200
BNZ American Express Classic     $189
ASB Visa               $179
Westpac Hotpoints Platinum MasterCard             $150
BNZ HomeAdvantage MasterCard           $125
American Express Platinum Edge Credit Card      $112
Westpac Hotpoints MasterCard                $112
ASB Visa Gold    $108 ASB Visa Platinum            $100
BNZ Visa/MasterCard Classic      $65
Diners Club Personal Credit Card               $42
BNZ Visa Platinum           -$38
Westpac Airpoints World MasterCard     -$165
Westpac Hotpoints World MasterCard   -$180
American Express Air New Zealand Platinum       -$257

Shopping rewards
Diners Club Golf Credit Card with Double Points                $329
Farmers Finance Card    $260
Countdown Onecard Visa            $251
BNZ American Express Classic     $239
Diners Club Golf Credit Card        $225
The Warehouse MasterCard       $218
Westpac Hotpoints Platinum MasterCard             $194
ASB Visa               $179
BNZ HomeAdvantage MasterCard           $149
Westpac Hotpoints MasterCard                $134
American Express Platinum Edge Credit Card      $112
ASB Visa Gold    $108 ASB Visa Platinum            $100
BNZ Visa/MasterCard Classic      $89
ANZ Qantas Visa               $29
Diners Club Personal Credit Card               $29
BNZ Visa Platinum           $23
ANZ Qantas Visa Platinum            -$14
Westpac Hotpoints World MasterCard   -$113
Information accurate as at 13 July 2015.

Assumption of $40k PA spend

Flight rewards
Diners Club Golf Credit Card with Double Points                $832
American Express Air New Zealand          $800
Westpac Airpoints Platinum MasterCard               $777
ANZ Airpoints Visa Platinum        $767
Kiwibank Air New Zealand Airpoints MasterCard Platinum            $767 ANZ
Qantas Visa Platinum            $700
ANZ Qantas Visa               $600
Westpac Airpoints MasterCard $557
Westpac Hotpoints Platinum MasterCard             $550
ANZ Airpoints Visa           $537
Kiwibank Air New Zealand Airpoints MasterCard Standard            $537
American Express Platinum Edge Credit Card      $522
ASB Visa Platinum            $500
Diners Club Golf Credit Card        $476
Westpac Airpoints World MasterCard     $451
Kiwibank Air New Zealand Airpoints Low Fee MasterCard             $450
ASB Visa               $445
BNZ American Express Classic     $438
Westpac Hotpoints World MasterCard   $420
ASB Visa Gold    $415
Westpac Hotpoints MasterCard                $312
Diners Club Personal Credit Card               $280
American Express Air New Zealand Platinum       $277
BNZ Visa Platinum           $273
BNZ HomeAdvantage MasterCard           $249
BNZ Visa/MasterCard Classic      $189

Shopping rewards
Diners Club Golf Credit Card with Double Points                $779
Westpac Hotpoints Platinum MasterCard             $639
Countdown Onecard Visa            $632
Farmers Finance Card    $580
Westpac Hotpoints World MasterCard   $553
BNZ American Express Classic     $537
American Express Platinum Edge Credit Card      $522
The Warehouse MasterCard       $503
ASB Visa Platinum            $500
Diners Club Golf Credit Card        $449
ASB Visa               $445
ASB Visa Gold    $415
BNZ Visa Platinum           $396
Westpac Hotpoints MasterCard                $356
BNZ HomeAdvantage MasterCard           $299
Diners Club Personal Credit Card               $253
BNZ Visa/MasterCard Classic      $239
ANZ Qantas Visa               $171
ANZ Qantas Visa Platinum            $129
Information accurate as at 13 July 2015.

(Edited for formatting)

Jase2985

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#1398459 2-Oct-2015 09:11

and just remember thats not all the credit cards available either, there dont seem to be many cashback ones on there at all

jonathan18

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#1398466 2-Oct-2015 09:20

Jase2985: and just remember thats not all the credit cards available either, there dont seem to be many cashback ones on there at all

Good point - that's a real weekness of that tool if it ignores what are (in my opinion) one of the better options for rewards schemes.

Actual cash back in the hand, where we could choose exactly what we wanted to spend it on, was a significant advantage over having to spend it on flights from one airline or purchase over-priced items from particular retailers. The reason we moved to an Airpoints-based card was the return was .3% better (1% for cash back versus 1.3%) and the waiver of fees for the first year and half-price from then on...

Do any cashback cards offer better than 1% return?

Detruire

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#1398509 2-Oct-2015 10:12

How does one determine the dollar value of the rewards given by the non-cashback cards?

rm *

shk292

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#1398587 2-Oct-2015 11:25

Detruire: How does one determine the dollar value of the rewards given by the non-cashback cards?

Pricespy? Easy enough to look up the products on offer. You can work out a rough points per dollar value

One addition to the table above - the kiwibank airpoints card also gives Air NZ status points. Hard to put a dollar value on those though

khull

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#1398599 2-Oct-2015 11:30

The sweet spot is 1$ return for approximately 65-66$ burn rate at the moment, status points earn is negligible towards any status tier - unless you are prepared put through a lot of charges on the card >40k PA

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jonathan18

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#1398602 2-Oct-2015 11:36

shk292: ... One addition to the table above - the kiwibank airpoints card also gives Air NZ status points. Hard to put a dollar value on those though

... and two passes to the Koru Lounge per $20k spend! For those of us that aren't fortunate to have Koru Club membership, this is a nice cherry on the top... (It also gives a discount on annual membership and waives the joining fee for the Koru Club).

hamish225

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#1399168 2-Oct-2015 23:21

we have a surcharge for credit cards and also have had paywave disabled on our terminals.

but the eftpos machine annoyingly doesn't do this automatically so we have to ask the customer and sometimes they dont know, so it would just be really handy if they would decline if we pressed eftpos and they tried to use a credit card.

*Insert big spe*dtest result here*

shk292

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#1399215 3-Oct-2015 09:18

khull: The sweet spot is 1$ return for approximately 65-66$ burn rate at the moment, status points earn is negligible towards any status tier - unless you are prepared put through a lot of charges on the card >40k PA

It made the difference between Silver and Gold for me this year, so I'm happy

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646 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#1399244 3-Oct-2015 10:45

shk292:
Detruire: How does one determine the dollar value of the rewards given by the non-cashback cards?

Pricespy? Easy enough to look up the products on offer. You can work out a rough points per dollar value

One addition to the table above - the kiwibank airpoints card also gives Air NZ status points. Hard to put a dollar value on those though

So in my example earlier....

$10,500 spend gets me 140 airpoints which I can use to buy 10 Hoyts movie vouchers which Hoyts sells for $150

So that makes my return? Up to 1.42% if compared to the RRP$150 or 1.33% on airpoints

I tend to use movie vouchers as a good baseline as you generally can't get discounts off them (unlike DVD's, kitchen scales, etc...) and they make good gifts or can be sold or traded relatively easy

Kyanar

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#1399249 3-Oct-2015 10:59

hamish225: we have a surcharge for credit cards and also have had paywave disabled on our terminals.

but the eftpos machine annoyingly doesn't do this automatically so we have to ask the customer and sometimes they dont know, so it would just be really handy if they would decline if we pressed eftpos and they tried to use a credit card.

The dairy I used to go to in West Auckland did that - their credit processing facility had a different merchant number so if you wanted to use credit you had to let them know first because they had to switch merchant on the terminal. They didn't impose a surcharge, though you did get puppy dog eyes if the purchase was less than $15 - and you couldn't process Lotto purchases.

Personally I see a surcharge and see ya later - my business goes elsewhere.

hamish225

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#1399358 3-Oct-2015 14:32

Kyanar:
hamish225: we have a surcharge for credit cards and also have had paywave disabled on our terminals.

but the eftpos machine annoyingly doesn't do this automatically so we have to ask the customer and sometimes they dont know, so it would just be really handy if they would decline if we pressed eftpos and they tried to use a credit card.

The dairy I used to go to in West Auckland did that - their credit processing facility had a different merchant number so if you wanted to use credit you had to let them know first because they had to switch merchant on the terminal. They didn't impose a surcharge, though you did get puppy dog eyes if the purchase was less than $15 - and you couldn't process Lotto purchases.

Personally I see a surcharge and see ya later - my business goes elsewhere.

Indeed but when 90% of the food outlets in the airport do have credit surcharges your options are rather limited :p

*Insert big spe*dtest result here*

richms

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#1399387 3-Oct-2015 15:03

I just factor the surcharge in when comparison shopping at the likes of PB. They havent let me down but the added sting of a chargeback has saved me when buying from a less legit outfit with expert in its name. That alone can be worth the surcharge since you get nothing when paying with money or eftpos to pull them back in line when they forget about the CGA.

Richard rich.ms

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