Bankwest cuts Qantas Points on transaction accounts, debit cards

Bankwest’s Qantas Transaction Account will become less rewarding from April as the bank dials back the number of Qantas Points earned on savings and spending.

For transactions made from April 1 2020, the account’s Debit Mastercard will churn out just three Qantas Points per eligible purchase, down from five Qantas Points per transaction as are currently awarded.

Customers maintaining a balance in their account will also be rewarded with fewer points, with the current promise of 0.4 Qantas Points per day for every $100 in the account lowering to 0.3 Qantas Points per day per $100 of account balance.

For example, a customer with $10,000 in savings would currently earn 40 Qantas Points per day or 14,600 Qantas Points across a 365-day year. From April, that becomes 30 Qantas Points per day, or 10,950 Qantas Points every 365 days.

These changes – which reduce the rewards on savings balances by 25%, and on debit card purchases by 40% – follow similar cuts to the bank’s line-up of Qantas-earning credit cards in 2019, where the number of points earned on many transactions was also lowered by up to 40%, among some small wins for customers with higher-tiered cards.

Read: Bankwest cuts credit card Qantas Frequent Flyer points

Bankwest is unique in Australia in providing a fixed number of points on each transaction as opposed giving a flexible number of points based on dollars spent: an approach that benefits shoppers routinely making low-value purchases, but which doesn’t prove as rewarding on higher-priced shops.

With a sea of Australian credit cards offering one Qantas Point per dollar spent on everyday purchases, most shoppers would gain a significantly higher reward when using one of these credit cards versus the Bankwest Debit Mastercard, particularly after the April changes kick in.

Read: Building your portfolio of credit cards for 2020

Many points-earning credit cards also provide a bounty of bonus points as an extra incentive to get new clients on board.

At the time of writing, some credit card issuers are offering up to 150,000 bonus Qantas Points on with a new credit card, for eligible customers who apply, are approved and meet a card’s minimum spending criteria.

Read: Best Qantas Frequent Flyer credit card sign-up offers

Bankwest customers using their Debit Mastercard to withdraw cash from an international ATM will continue to receive five Qantas Points per withdrawal, albeit with a 2.95% foreign transaction fee attached.

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.