Review: St.George Amplify Platinum Visa card
Take home 90,000 bonus Amplify Points when you apply and spend $3,000 within 90 days.
By Staff Writers, February 19 2022
Disclaimer
Executive Traveller may receive a commission when you apply for these credit cards via our links.
The information provided on this page is purely factual and general in nature. You should seek independent advice and consider your own personal circumstances before applying for any financial product.
FF Program
Amplify Qantas, or Amplify Rewards (convert to Velocity, KrisFlyer, Enrich)
Sign Up Bonus
60,000 Qantas Points, or 90,000 Amplify Points
Annual Fee
$49 first year card fee ($99 annual fee thereafter))
Interest Rate
19.49% p.a. on purchases
21.49% p.a. on cash
Notes
The Good
- Low card fee
- Choose either Amplify Qantas or Amplify Rewards
The Bad
- Average frequent flyer earning rate
Added Value
- No points capping for Amplify Points
Introduction
Giving you a low annual fee and the equivalent of 0.5 airline frequent flyer points per dollar spent via Amplify Qantas Rewards or through the Amplify Rewards scheme, St.George's Amplify Platinum Visa credit card can be an affordable way to rack up rewards without breaking the bank.
Backed by Westpac but issued under the St.George banner, there's no limit to the number of points you can earn every month or year via the Amplify option (a $250k annual spend cap applies to Qantas Points) – and if you add an additional cardholder to your account at no charge, you could earn points even faster.
St.George Amplify Platinum card: fast facts
- Grade/tier: Platinum
- Card type: Visa
- Loyalty variants: Amplify Qantas (Qantas Points) or Amplify Rewards (Amplify Points).
- Qantas Points earned per A$1 spent (Amplify Qantas): 0.5 on eligible purchases.
- Amplify Points earned per A$1 spent (Amplify Rewards): 1.0 on eligible purchases.
- 1 Amplify Point ($1 spent) = 0.5 Velocity Points, 0.5 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles or 0.5 Malaysia Airlines Enrich miles via 2:1 conversion.
- Points capping/tiering: From 1 January 2022, earn 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 up to a maximum of $100,000 spent on eligible purchases annually. Bonus Qantas Bonus Qantas Points not included in the cap.
Bank disclaimer: Eligible purchases do not include interest, fees and charges, cash or ATM cash advances, cash equivalent transactions, gambling transactions, a purchase from or payment to a local, state or federal government or government related agency, BPAY or similar transactions (such as Post Billpay), refunds and balance transfers debited to the card account.
Amplify Platinum: fees, charges and interest
- Annual fee: $49 first year card fee for Qantas and Amplify ($99 annual fee from the 2nd year onwards)
- Additional/supplementary cardholder fee: $0
- Interest rate on purchases: 19.49% p.a.
- Interest-free days on purchases^: Up to 55
- Interest rate on cash advances: 21.49% p.a.
- International transaction fee: 3.0%
- Minimum income requirement: No defined minimum
- Minimum credit limit: $6,000
Earning points for free flights:
The Amplify Platinum card with Amplify Rewards can earn points that can be converted across to Virgin Australia Velocity, Malaysia Airlines Enrich or Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer.
Through the Amplify Rewards path, you could also earn 90,000 bonus Amplify Points when you apply and spend $3,000 within 90 days.
Signing up also gives you a $50 discount on your first year annual fee, bringing it down to only $49.
With Amplify Rewards, you'll also be rewarded with the equivalent of 0.5 frequent flyer points for every $1 spent on purchases, with no points capping.
This isn't an exceptionally high earn rate, but not the lowest in the market.
Choose to earn Qantas Points and your bounty will be automatically transferred to Qantas Frequent Flyer each month, while selecting the Amplify Points path gives you the ability to convert your credit card points across to the program's partner frequent flyer programs instead, whenever it's convenient to you. From 1 January 2022, there will be a cap of $100,000 spent on eligible purchases annually. Bonus Qantas Bonus Qantas Points not included in the cap.
Airport lounge access:
Access to airport lounges isn't a perk offered on this card.
Free insurance coverage:
You may be covered by complimentary QBE travel insurance on trips of three months or less, provided you charge at least $500 in pre-paid travel costs to the card before leaving Australia.
That could be something simple like your return flight, or if you've booked your trip using frequent flyer points instead, could be $500 of cash costs associated with that frequent flyer booking or even pre-paid hotel stays and other 'overseas itinerary items'.
Restrictions to this cover may apply during the COVID-19 pandemic. For further information or to confirm whether your intended journey is covered by this policy, speak directly with the card issuer or insurance underwriter.
St.George also includes free extended warranty cover of up to 12 months when purchasing selected new appliances using the card, plus transit accident insurance.
However, interstate flight inconvenience insurance, rental vehicle excess insurance, purchase guarantees and access to a 'guaranteed pricing scheme' as offered on some other Platinum cards are notably absent.
St.George Amplify Platinum: the verdict
With a card fee of just $49 in the first year ($99 thereafter), cardholders able to travel overseas even one or twice a year (once borders reopen) and who qualify for the inclusive travel insurance package could quickly find the St.George Amplify Platinum card paying for itself.
That's because you may no longer need to purchase your own travel insurance policies every time you fly: simply use your card to pay for the journey or related expenses and you could be all set.
While the frequent flyer earning rates on transactions are on the lower side, for the Amplify option they remain uncapped.
You also have access to several airline frequent flyer programs including Virgin Australia's Velocity Frequent Flyer, Singapore Airlines' KrisFlyer and Malaysia Airlines' Enrich schemes when earning Amplify Points – which gives you added flexibility.
Also read: St.George Amplify Signature Visa credit card review
Bank disclaimer: ^If your account has an interest free period for purchases, to be entitled to that interest free period, you need to pay off the “monthly payment balance” listed on your statement of account (not the full closing balance) by the relevant payment due date.
Bank disclaimer: New cards only. T&Cs apply.
Disclaimer
Executive Traveller may receive a commission when you apply for these credit cards via our links.
The information provided on this page is purely factual and general in nature. You should seek independent advice and consider your own personal circumstances before applying for any financial product.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
16 Jan 2015
Total posts 8
For the Victorians out there, this is done under "The Bank of Melbourne" brand here.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
20 Apr 2016
Total posts 1
confirmed DP, BoM for vic and BankSA for SA/NT
27 Jan 2017
Total posts 2
whats this like with government bpays and betting sites? no points awarded?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
16 Jan 2015
Total posts 8
depends on which part of the govt. Councils etc. yes, not sure about ATO
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