Bank Australia cuts credit card Qantas frequent flyer points

Bank Australia is finally showing its hand following the RBA’s cuts to credit card interchange fees, with the bank's Qantas Platinum Rewards Visa credit card users to earn fewer Qantas Points as of October.

Currently, the card provides one Qantas Point per dollar spent, uncapped: but as of October 1 2017, that’s slashed by 25% to 0.75 Qantas Points for every one dollar spent.

There’s also a new earning cap to contend with from the same date, being 20,000 Qantas Points per month – reached after spending $26,667 – after which, no points will be earned on any further transactions.

For most cardholders, particularly those who use a Visa or Mastercard as a back-up to their higher-earning American Express card, other products in the market may prove more rewarding, such as the Qantas Premier Mastercard and the ANZ Frequent Flyer Black Visa.

On a monthly spend of $8,000 within Australia, Qantas Premier cardholders would fetch 8,000 Qantas Points at an earn rate of one Qantas Point per dollar spent (up to $10,000 per month, lowering to 0.5 Qantas Points per dollar spent thereafter, uncapped).

ANZ Frequent Flyer Black Visa users would instead collect 7,750 Qantas Points on the same spend – being one Qantas Point per dollar spent up to $7,500 per month and 0.5 Qantas Points per dollar spent thereafter, compared to a reduced 6,000 Qantas Points under the Bank Australia card’s new earning rates.

Of course, if you shop where American Express cards are accepted, spending $8,000 per month can yield a higher 12,000 Qantas Points via the Qantas American Express Ultimate credit card, reeling in 1.5 Qantas Points per dollar spent on most charges, uncapped.

Bank Australia is one of the last credit card issuers to update its products in light of the RBA changes which came into effect from July 1, with ANZ, Citibank, Commonwealth Bank, NAB, St. George, Westpac and most other providers having announced or implemented changes prior to that date.

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.