Best credit card rewards scheme

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#2552905 31-Aug-2020 10:40

taneb1:

Batman:

wow the collateral damage of the pandemic!

For me it was the "You have to have an open account for 3 months, even if you don't use it" - I'm assuming its so they can check you still have income post COVID.

What does that achieve though if you don't have to use it? If you aren't using it (ie not getting your income there), how would they know either way? And surely payslips or bank statements would accomplish the same thing.

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sbiddle

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#2553030 31-Aug-2020 11:33

GSManiac:

sbiddle:

Why exactly? It's something 99% of customers would see zero value in, so I doubt it would raise any significant amounts of money.

because it would give you a 10% discount on your travel.

It would also give a 10% discount off every aspect of the Airpoints program (reward travel, upgrades and more importantly the Airpoints store) so simply can't happen. Most frequent flyers don't use Airpoints for buying flights so the appeal is pretty minimal.

billgates

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#2553055 31-Aug-2020 11:59

I have BNZ Visa Platinum cashback. It use to be $1 return for every $75 spend but they changed it to $90 spend couple of years ago. Still good value.

Do whatever you want to do man.

gz343

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#2554186 31-Aug-2020 15:35

The BNZ cash reward card does look good.

The Flight Centre Mastercard has no fees on overseas transactions. Not sure about the exchange rate, but saving 2.25% on a purchase can add up over time.

https://www.bnz.co.nz/support/credit-cards/travel/using-cards-overseas

https://www.flightcentremastercard.co.nz/

neb

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#2554205 31-Aug-2020 16:10

tardtasticx:

BNZ Platinum Visa - $1 cash back for every $90 spent. Not the best earn rate but pretty good.
I put most of my spending on this card where I can as most places take Visa now.
For annual fee its $90/year, so I would have to spend $8,100 on this card each year just to break even. I have a fee waiver with BNZ however so I don't pay a fee, which means I'm immediately on-top for this card.
Cash rewards can go to any account you have with BNZ or even into Kiwisaver/to the card itself. So they don't expire and can be used anywhere as it's cash at that point.

That card has other advantages as well, for example I got it for the free travel insurance, just one trip overseas made up for the yearly card fee and after that everything was free.

In terms of cash-back, something like Consumer did a comparison a year or two back, figuring out the equivalent cash value of all the various rewards schemes, and cash-back came out on top.

One thing that's worth bearing in mind, although it doesn't apply here but is very applicable in third-world countries like the US, is that a significant chunk of the population can't get credit there and so has to pay cash for everything. Since merchants have to raise prices to cover the 1% loss from cash-back, lower-socioeconimic-group people, who are forced to pay cash, end up subsidising the cash-back for better-off people, who get a 1% discount via their credit cards.

elpenguino

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#2554227 31-Aug-2020 16:40

Does purchasing using these schemes and cards still make sense when the shop e.g. PB Tech has a higher price for credit card purchases?

At retailers that have the same price no matter how you pay, we're all paying for these schemes with goods priced higher than they need to be.

neb

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#2554228 31-Aug-2020 16:41

elpenguino:
Does purchasing using these schemes and cards still make sense when the shop e.g. PB Tech has a higher price for credit card purchases?

No, because the credit card surcharge is much higher than any cash-back percentage.

nate

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#2554233 31-Aug-2020 16:51

neb: That card has other advantages as well, for example I got it for the free travel insurance, just one trip overseas made up for the yearly card fee and after that everything was free.

I've never been a fan of the free travel insurance. I subscribe to the @sbiddle theory that if you need the insurance, you don't want to be on the phone to the credit card company, trying to confirm that your flights were indeed purchased legitimately on their credit card. Not the best time to be arguing the point.

neb

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#2554243 31-Aug-2020 17:05

nate:
I've never been a fan of the free travel insurance. I subscribe to the @sbiddle theory that if you need the insurance, you don't want to be on the phone to the credit card company, trying to confirm that your flights were indeed purchased legitimately on their credit card. Not the best time to be arguing the point.

The reason why I switched to an insurance-included card was because a friend of mine had an ectopic pregnancy while in the UK and all of her (considerable) costs were covered, no questions asked. The only time I've had to deal with them they were incredibly laid back about it, although they've now made this a bit harder at the time the person I talked to said that even if you only paid for a taxi to the airport you were still covered for the travel, and that was a statement of policy, not the person making it up as they went along. Now I think the rule is that you need to put at least 50% of the cost on the card, but certainly the impression I got was that they weren't going to be difficult about whether you were covered or not.

Earbanean

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#2554299 31-Aug-2020 17:40

I use Westpac Hot Points (3 per $ spent) and can convert them into eVouchers on the fly with the Phone app at Glengary, Noel Leeming etc - even while in store. We haven't paid real money for booze in ages.

That was pretty convenient, but the vouchers were for a limited number of stores. However, they've now brought out:

https://hotpoints.co.nz/rewards/phoenix/Westpac_NZ_Rewards/ProgramInfo/hotpoints_pay

Haven't got into the details, but it seems to mean you can use your points on anything anywhere, where you pay by Mastercard. Just go to the app on your phone and tell it your next Mastercard purchase is coming off Hotpoints, rather than your credit card. Then buy it. Haven't looked into the fine print on the conversion rate for that though yet.

sbiddle

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#2554321 31-Aug-2020 18:16

neb:
nate:

I've never been a fan of the free travel insurance. I subscribe to the @sbiddle theory that if you need the insurance, you don't want to be on the phone to the credit card company, trying to confirm that your flights were indeed purchased legitimately on their credit card. Not the best time to be arguing the point.

The reason why I switched to an insurance-included card was because a friend of mine had an ectopic pregnancy while in the UK and all of her (considerable) costs were covered, no questions asked. The only time I've had to deal with them they were incredibly laid back about it, although they've now made this a bit harder at the time the person I talked to said that even if you only paid for a taxi to the airport you were still covered for the travel, and that was a statement of policy, not the person making it up as they went along. Now I think the rule is that you need to put at least 50% of the cost on the card, but certainly the impression I got was that they weren't going to be difficult about whether you were covered or not.

That's not the issue - the issue is that you in effect have nothing to show you're covered.

If you need to make an urgent claim on most credit card policies the first thing you'll need to do when you call is verify your cover by telling them when you purchased your flights or travel to be eligible for cover. If you're injured a hospital in the US where they won't admit you until you can prove you have insurance cover that's the last thing in the world you want to be doing!

At least with most other policies you'll get a policy document that may provide US coverage details so even if you've got something on you (and I always carry my policy details in my wallet while traveling) that may see me looked after quicker.

In terms of cover there typically isn't a big difference, and YMMY may vary between providers, but it's a sticking point that I'm not a great fan of.

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#2554343 31-Aug-2020 18:25

sbiddle:

If you need to make an urgent claim on most credit card policies the first thing you'll need to do when you call is verify your cover by telling them when you purchased your flights or travel to be eligible for cover. If you're injured a hospital in the US where they won't admit you until you can prove you have insurance cover that's the last thing in the world you want to be doing!

I think the OP needs to imagine his leg in 5 pieces dangling off the bone, or barely conscious and thinking it's 1954.

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

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#2554352 31-Aug-2020 18:40

sbiddle:

That's not the issue - the issue is that you in effect have nothing to show you're covered.

If you need to make an urgent claim on most credit card policies the first thing you'll need to do when you call is verify your cover by telling them when you purchased your flights or travel to be eligible for cover. If you're injured a hospital in the US where they won't admit you until you can prove you have insurance cover that's the last thing in the world you want to be doing!

At least with most other policies you'll get a policy document that may provide US coverage details so even if you've got something on you (and I always carry my policy details in my wallet while traveling) that may see me looked after quicker.

In terms of cover there typically isn't a big difference, and YMMY may vary between providers, but it's a sticking point that I'm not a great fan of.

When I used my credit card's travel insurance (ASB Platinum) I went to the travel insurance website entered my card and travel details and it told me whether I was eligible.

I was also emailed a Policy Summary letter which specifed a policy number, who the travellers were, cover start and end dates, region, premium ($0.00) and medical conditions. I took that on my travels along with a copy of the Policy Wording document.

Same thing when I travelled under my ANZ credit card's travel insurance as well.

neb

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#2554365 31-Aug-2020 19:11

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When I used my credit card's travel insurance (ASB Platinum) I went to the travel insurance website entered my card and travel details and it told me whether I was eligible.

I was also emailed a Policy Summary letter which specifed a policy number, who the travellers were, cover start and end dates, region, premium ($0.00) and medical conditions. I took that on my travels along with a copy of the Policy Wording document.

Same thing when I travelled under my ANZ credit card's travel insurance as well.

I got a credit-card-sized piece of card to put in my wallet next to the card itself saying I was covered. It was no different from standard travel insurance.

shk292

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#2554374 31-Aug-2020 19:20

Earbanean:

That was pretty convenient, but the vouchers were for a limited number of stores. However, they've now brought out:

https://hotpoints.co.nz/rewards/phoenix/Westpac_NZ_Rewards/ProgramInfo/hotpoints_pay

Haven't got into the details, but it seems to mean you can use your points on anything anywhere, where you pay by Mastercard. Just go to the app on your phone and tell it your next Mastercard purchase is coming off Hotpoints, rather than your credit card. Then buy it. Haven't looked into the fine print on the conversion rate for that though yet.

This new scheme doesn't seem very good value. As an example, I currently have 38,081 hotpoints, and that would give me $171.36 using hotpoints pay. Or, for 36,000 points I could get a $200 voucher to use in Noel Leeming, Bunnings etc. So it's more convenient and flexible but you're paying a 20% premium for that

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