BNZ advantage classic credit card no longer available new customers.

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › BNZ advantage classic credit card no longer available new customers.

rugrat

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#323066 21-Oct-2025 14:47

Looks like they stopped issuing classic advantage cards for new customers 5th October.

Seems to be well hidden as cannot seem to find a link on the banks web site stating it, but on the BNZ’s web site can only see the premium card for rewards.

Looks like they no longer wish to give rewards to people that wouldn’t be able to get the higher credit limit that is needed for premium or wouldn’t spend enough to warrant yearly $90 fee.

Found in the A.I summary in google search. Clicking links though I couldn’t see the information, maybe buried in web page somewhere.

Also the A.I summary had that existing customers can keep the classic and it is for indefinite period, or until card canceled or expired.

Not sure if that means no new card issued on normal expiry date as mine expired recently, but think new card was sent before October.

If they take away the classic advantage off me and if unable to get higher card or don’t think maths works then will look at free credit card offers with other places. Don’t travel much so the travel benefits of the more expensive one do not appeal to me.

Only found by accident so seems to be something they’re not publicising much.

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Smpl Mnmlst
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#3427063 21-Oct-2025 19:35

BNZ ran a promotion on these cards a few months ago. I wondered whether they were trying to breathe some life into the product.

Maybe it didn’t work.

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alasta

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#3427124 22-Oct-2025 08:55

Interesting. I have a classic card and hadn't previously considered a platinum card until you mentioned this.

The platinum card has a rewards earning ratio of 1.67 compared to 1 on the classic card, and it turns out that I spend enough for the extra rewards value to more than offset the additional annual fee. As an added bonus the platinum card covers travel insurance and domestic rental car insurance excess, although I would want to have a very close look at the terms & conditions before relying on this.

Gordy7

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#3427127 22-Oct-2025 09:21

I was tossing up whether to switch from BNZ Classic to Lite.

The cash rewards I get only just cover the higher fee of Classic.

My Classic credit limit may not transfer to Lite.

Gordy

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eracode

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#3427133 22-Oct-2025 09:42

The BNZ Rewards system is slightly complicated. The earning ratio is 1.67 which gives you Reward Points. One option for redemption is Cash Back - which I use.

The points can be converted at a rate that on the Platinum card gives you $1.07 cash for every $100 spent on the card. Might not sound much but IMO it’s worth having when you put decent volume through the card.

The Platinum card gives not only car rental excess cover on domestic car rentals, but also on overseas car rentals - up to $5,000. You often see car rentals offering substantially lower hire rates if you’re prepared to accept a much higher excess. We have taken advantage of this a couple of times recently.

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wellygary

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#3427137 22-Oct-2025 10:02

eracode:

The points can be converted at a rate that on the Platinum card gives you $1.07 cash for every $100 spent on the card. Might not sound much but IMO it’s worth having when you put decent volume through the card.

It also makes you cringe a bit less when they wheel out the eftpos machine with the hand scrawled, folded over post-it note with "2% surcharge"

richms

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#3427142 22-Oct-2025 11:01

eracode:

The Platinum card gives not only car rental excess cover on domestic car rentals, but also on overseas car rentals - up to $5,000. You often see car rentals offering substantially lower rates if you’re prepared to accept a much higher premium. We have taken advantage of this a couple of times recently.

Check that there are not stupid conditions that make it worthless cover to have before counting on it. One I saw required that you took all coverage available from the rental place and then would cover the excess, and as one of the offerings was a no excess insurance, that made the card coverage have nothing to cover.

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alasta

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#3427145 22-Oct-2025 11:17

I had a look at the T&C for the rental car coverage and it seems okay. It essentially says that they will cover excess up to $5k as long as the rental company has some sort of valid insurance policy against the vehicle.

The travel insurance is a bit more fraught as it excludes airlines going bust, along with cyber attack and terrorist related disruptions. I'd like to have a look at some other travel insurance policies as I wouldn't have thought these exclusions would be common practice.

eracode

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#3427416 23-Oct-2025 11:29

richms:

eracode:

The Platinum card gives not only car rental excess cover on domestic car rentals, but also on overseas car rentals - up to $5,000. You often see car rentals offering substantially lower rates if you’re prepared to accept a much higher premium. We have taken advantage of this a couple of times recently.

Check that there are not stupid conditions that make it worthless cover to have before counting on it. One I saw required that you took all coverage available from the rental place and then would cover the excess, and as one of the offerings was a no excess insurance, that made the card coverage have nothing to cover.

Are you talking about rental conditions that you saw - or a travel insurance policy that you saw?

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Wheelbarrow01

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#3427459 23-Oct-2025 14:21

richms:

eracode:

The Platinum card gives not only car rental excess cover on domestic car rentals, but also on overseas car rentals - up to $5,000. You often see car rentals offering substantially lower rates if you’re prepared to accept a much higher premium. We have taken advantage of this a couple of times recently.

Check that there are not stupid conditions that make it worthless cover to have before counting on it. One I saw required that you took all coverage available from the rental place and then would cover the excess, and as one of the offerings was a no excess insurance, that made the card coverage have nothing to cover.

Yes from memory the ANZ Platinum card used to have that useless rental car excess coverage but that was some time ago, and it's now much more reasonable. I think it's now $5k excess coverage with no requirement to take up any excess reduction offer from the rental company.

rugrat

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#3427563 23-Oct-2025 17:44

I’ve had the card for 20 years plus so was surprised it doesn’t seem to be doing that well, if the reason for not making it available to new customers any more.

I currently have about 24000 points over two years so I’d be better off on the platinum one by about $3 after taking fees off, so the maths does work for the higher one with average monthly spend $1000.

I may give the Dosh card a go as it now has Apple Pay, no fees, and a 1% cash back up to $10 a month, so no point spending over $1000 a month on that one.

My concern there is the 1% may be just introductory offer and hassle transferring money to it, time delays etc.

Asteros

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#3427564 23-Oct-2025 17:59

I suggest you keep your Advantage Classic card at BNZ. If you close it, it is very hard to re-open a Credit Card it as you will be subjected to the current Credit Assessment process which is difficult and intrusive. This goes for any Credit Card at all the other banks. Instead Product change to the BNZ Lite or the Advantage Platinum.

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rugrat

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#3427738 24-Oct-2025 14:58

Thanks. I have no plans to close it, if I try Dosh will run them together.

With debit card always have to be aware of money in account, where with credit card it just monthly check when bill comes in to make sure enough money available to cover payment in the payment account. Have direct debit set up to cover payment. Also as a $10 limit on the cash back monthly, for Dosh would put larger purchases on the BNZ one.

Have a few years before new card expires, hopefully they keep issuing them, if not will look at options. Will know by then the spend break down between Dosh and BNZ to know if worth upgrading or going lite.

Last time I got a credit card at a different bank they matched credit limit on BNZ one, from comments sounds like that has changed now.

kiwi_64

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#3427759 24-Oct-2025 15:29

It's kind of interesting. When this thread started, I was looking on the BNZ website and indeed there was no mention of the Classic Visa.

There was however, a reference to their new Pay App (allowing you to (theoretically) pay at certain vendors by scanning a QR code and thereby avoiding fees.) Out of curiosity, I downloaded and configured that without issue hoping to find a vendor that supported it.

Rechecking today, there is now a reference to the Visa Classic "(No longer sold)" but there appears to be no reference to Pay App

Timing, huh

Asteros

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#3427778 24-Oct-2025 16:13

rugrat:

Thanks. I have no plans to close it, if I try Dosh will run them together.

With debit card always have to be aware of money in account, where with credit card it just monthly check when bill comes in to make sure enough money available to cover payment in the payment account. Have direct debit set up to cover payment. Also as a $10 limit on the cash back monthly, for Dosh would put larger purchases on the BNZ one.

Have a few years before new card expires, hopefully they keep issuing them, if not will look at options. Will know by then the spend break down between Dosh and BNZ to know if worth upgrading or going lite.

Last time I got a credit card at a different bank they matched credit limit on BNZ one, from comments sounds like that has changed now.

In your situation, I would ask for an annual fee waiver to upgrade to the BNZ Advantage Visa Platinum. It sounds like you wouldn't lose out without a fee waiver due to the higher points earn rate. I don't like the idea of Visa/Mastercard Debit Cards and I think it would be better to stay with a BNZ credit card.

With the impending regulation of interchange fees in NZ, Banks are increasingly likely to close less profitable card products to new clients.

eracode

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#3452146 12-Jan-2026 07:58

eracode:

The BNZ Rewards system is slightly complicated. The earning ratio is 1.67 which gives you Reward Points. One option for redemption is Cash Back - which I use.

The points can be converted at a rate that on the Platinum card gives you $1.07 cash for every $100 spent on the card. Might not sound much but IMO it’s worth having when you put decent volume through the card.

The Platinum card gives not only car rental excess cover on domestic car rentals, but also on overseas car rentals - up to $5,000. You often see car rentals offering substantially lower hire rates if you’re prepared to accept a much higher excess. We have taken advantage of this a couple of times recently.

A few weeks ago we received advice from BNZ that a lot of things were changing on their Platinum card - from 3 February:

the Cash Back effective rate is changing from 1.07% to 0.79% of card spend
redeem existing points for cash at the current rate prior to 3 February because it will be at the lower rate after that
interest free period on the card is reducing from a max of 55 days to 44 days - i.e. monthly card payments will be due 11 days earlier than previously
with respect to travel insurance, excess on claims is increasing from $200 to $300
the $5,000 car rental excess cover on domestic hires is being dropped - but still available on overseas hires.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

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