Qantas frequent flyer credit cards: 490,000 points up for grabs this March
By Chris C., March 19 2015
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.
It’s 'March Madness' at Qantas' bank partners, with a large number of banks practically giving Qantas frequent flyer points away to customers who sign up for a new credit card.
Between them all there's almost half a million points on the table.
Of course, there’s no need to apply for every credit card that carries a sign-on bonus… we see this more a chance for self-reflection on your own credit card portfolio and a great opportunity to earn some extra points if your needs have changed and other options in the market are now a better fit.
(In fact, we’d outright suggest that readers don’t get greedy with these deals, as applying for too many credit cards in a short period makes you appear ‘desperate for credit’ in the eyes of the banks, and can make larger loans, such as for your house or car, much more difficult to attain.)
But if your wallet is due for a makeover or it’s time to add a new piece of plastic to join your stable, here are ten of the best credit card sign-up deals available this month, arranged alphabetically.
1. American Express Qantas credit cards
American Express’ own range of Qantas credit cards are serving up bonuses of between 7,500 points right through to a solid 50,000 frequent flyer points for new customers applying by June 30.
Opt for the fee-free Discovery card and spend just $300 over the first three months for an easy 5,000 points, or aim for the Premium card and its $249/year fee for 5,000 points right off the bat, and another 22,500 after spending at least $500 by the third month.
At the top is the $450/year Ultimate card, returning a greater 42,500-point bonus on that same $500 spend and also with the free welcome gift of 5,000 points. All three cards earn a further 2,500 when first spending directly with Qantas on flights or Qantas Club membership.
2. ANZ Frequent Flyer American Express + Visa
Look to ANZ for 50,000 bonus frequent flyer points across its range of Qantas Frequent Flyer cards – just apply by May 5 and use the card at least once within 30 days of being approved.
You’ll pay $95 for the basic Frequent Flyer card, $295 for the Platinum or $425 for the Black, so if you’re choosing a credit card for the long-haul, check out how many points you’ll earn on your everyday transactions and the cards’ other features before making a final call.
3. Bank of Melbourne/Bank SA/St. George Amplify
This Westpac-backed trio is offering 10,000 bonus points with new $79/year Amplify credit cards; 30,000 bonus points with the $99/year Amplify Platinum and 60,000 bonus points with Amplify Signature and its $279 annual fee.
Whichever bank you choose as the card issuer, simply apply by March 31 and spend at least once on your card before 30 April to pocket those easy points.
4. Bankwest Qantas MasterCards
Bankwest has its own tiered deal, with 20,000 points up for grabs with its basic ($100/year) and Gold MasterCards ($150/year), and 50,000 points on offer with the Platinum MasterCard at just $10 more per year than the Gold card.
This one’s a little harder to achieve – apply by May 31 and spend at least $2500 over the first three months, but that’s within reach if switching all of your everyday transactions to Bankwest.
5. Citibank Qantas Signature Visa & Citi Prestige
Temping with 50,000 frequent flyer points is the $348/year Citibank Signature Visa with the Qantas Rewards add-on, while the $749 Citi Prestige card with Qantas Rewards offers the highest bounty of them all – 70,000 bonus frequent flyer points.
This one isn’t as urgent as the others… to claim either prize, open your account by New Year’s Eve and use your new Citibank card at least once in the first three months.
6. David Jones American Express cards
Just $99 gets you 22,500 bonus points with the David Jones American Express Card, or you can round that up to 30,000 points for its $295 Platinum counterpart.
Just remember to choose Qantas as your preferred AMEX frequent flyer program, and then use your shiny new card three times or more with merchants other than David Jones within a month of approval to earn your points.
There’s no published expiry date for this one, but if these cards are right for you, we’d act sooner rather than later.
7. HSBC Qantas Platinum Visa
As one of the better points-earning credits cards for use on home soil and when travelling abroad, HSBC’s Qantas Platinum Visa delivers a cool 20,000 bonus points against a $199 annual fee.
Unlike the David Jones AMEX cards, HSBC only requires one purchase to trigger the bonus points – that can made at any time in the first three months – for new customers who apply before April 30.
8. NAB Qantas Rewards AMEX + Visa/MasterCard
With no annual fees in the first year, NAB’s Qantas Rewards cards could hit the spot with the same 20,000-point bonus, or aim for the Qantas Rewards Premium cards for twice that – again with no upfront annual fee.
Apply by April 19 and use either your NAB American Express or its companion Visa or MasterCard once and you’ll be swimming in points, then it’s a mere $65/year for the Rewards duo or $250/year for Rewards Premium.
Just to note: while NAB's own website lists these points promos at half the number of points, applying via the Qantas credit card selection tool delivers the full bonus.
9. Westpac Altitude AMEX + Visa/MasterCard
Grab 10,000 points with the $100/year Westpac Altitude Rewards combo, 30,000 points from Altitude Platinum ($150/year) or a whopping 60,000 points thanks to Altitude Black, yours with a $395 annual fee.
This deal’s on the cards until April 19, and like most Qantas-earning credit cards, points from your everyday transactions automatically appear in your frequent flyer account each month like clockwork.
10. Woolworths Money Qantas Platinum Visa
Last but certainly not least, the Macquarie-issued Woolworths Money Qantas Platinum Visa churns out 10,000 bonus frequent flyer points to new cardholders who are approved by May 31 and use their card at least once by July 31.
You’ll pay a reduced annual fee of $99 in the first year – climbing to $139 thereafter – and the chunk of bonus points on offer isn’t affected by Woolworths’ recent changes to reduce frequent flyer earning rates for high-spenders.
But wait, there’s more!
Not forgotten are the Jetstar MasterCards and the Qantas Credit Union Platinum Visa, but with slightly more complex requirements in exchange for their bonus points, they didn’t make our top ten.
Jetstar requires $3,000 of spend on the Platinum card by April 30 for its full 20,000-point deal – that’s just six weeks away, minus the time it takes to process your application and receive the card.
Over at QCU, there are up to 30,000 points on offer, but the credit union gives you only 5,000 points upfront and trickles the rest out over the following five months – and if you don’t happen to use your QCU card in one particular month, you’ve ended your chance at any further bonus points in those that follow.
Also read: Five credit card strategies to maximise your points
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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.
Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Jan 2013
Total posts 698
Glad you pointed out churn and burners chasing sign on offers (even if they don't take up their offers or are unsuccessful) can take a nasty hit to their credit score - like a serious drop in credit score. Your credit score rewards holding your cards long term so do be careful - better to go for one than five! VEDA give some guidance on this so you can check out their website for info.
In fact, we’d outright suggest that readers don’t get greedy with these deals, as applying for too many credit cards in a short period makes you appear ‘desperate for credit’ in the eyes of the banks, and can make larger loans, such as for your house or car, much more difficult to attain
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Jan 2013
Total posts 698
Credit enquiries last five years folks.
11 Mar 2012
Total posts 180
From 3 people I know, working at the same place (big name organisation), all pretty much on the same pay, around the same age, similar credit history (no home/car loans) and under 10k credit card limits. They all applied to ANZ, BW, NAB and AMEX under the current offers at the same time, all requested the lowest card limit (1k, 6k, 6k, 3k respectively).
Only 1 was able to get all 4. The other 2 got knocked back by BW, and one of them also by NAB.
The weird thing is, the one that only got 2 out 4 had the slimest credit file (last credit card they applied for was 4 years ago) and been employed by the same place for ages. Even weirder that the one that got all 4 had the lowest credit score.
I'll get flamed for this. But after a discussion among the group, we've determined from this small sample and limited experience that likelihood of being approved for more credit cards corelates with how Anglo Saxon the name is.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
07 Aug 2013
Total posts 248
I am not recommending to do this - but I did comment on a similar post last year and was warned from another reader about credit score. At one point I had 4 credit cards - CBA, NAB, AMEX, ANZ. All had 40,000 to 50,000 bonus points which all got allocated at varying times to my frequent flyer account - 3 weeks to 3 months after signing up. I had some points already, nothing significant but now have enough for 1 return trip to Europe in business each through QFF and velocity. I recently just settled a home loan through Aussie which will give me a bonus 50,000 velocity points. I was approved without any problems knowing that I had 4 short term credit cards last year! Not once did I ever pay interest so that's probably why credit score was not affected.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
07 Aug 2013
Total posts 248
That st George signature worth 60,000 points looks tempting. That's a return domestic business ticket worth only $279!! (And whatever else your buying that you would just purchase with own cash anyway)
03 Oct 2014
Total posts 15
Paying interest will have no affect on your credit score. The other Banks have no way of knowing that. You can also be late with every payment every month and except for your bank not other bank would know until the new credit reporting really takes place. Bascliy it comes down actual defaults (60 days or more) and applicaitons. Yes applicaions stay on your Credit report for 5 years however the banks are only interested in the last 6 months. Cram all your applicaitons into a few day period get bonuses and cancel then each 12 months rinse and repeat. Just make sure your don't need a Homeloan, Personal Loan or the like within 6 months of each cycle.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Jan 2013
Total posts 698
Eggsbenedict is right. Basically there are three sections of everyday relevance in your credit report - Consumer Credit Enquiries, Current Credit Providers, and Overdue Accounts.
Consumer Credit Enquiries are access requests by financial institutions to access your credit report, and generally give the name of the provider, the type of credit applied for, and sometimes but not always the amount of credit being sought. These credit enquiries stay on your credit for five years before dropping off. It is extremely unusual for a credit application not to end up listed here.
Now for Current Credit Providers, which is a reported list of active credit relationships using giving the name of provider and account number (note the amount of credit isn't listed), it is often the case that it under-reports your existing credit relationships. This is because most of the banks and some of the financial institutions don't share this information with the credit bureaus and keep this in-house.
Finally, Overdue Accounts list those credit defaults as explained by Eggsbenedict.
This means financial institutions tend to rely most on Consumer Credit Enquiries (and Overdue Accounts, which for most is empty) when reading credit reports (in conjunction with your credit score). Because it is known that Current Credit Providers is often inaccurate and under-reported, they treat any credit enquiry as if it may well have been approved (so lots of credit enquiries goes against you, even if you never took a single one up). The rest is determined by what in-house history the financial institution has on you and (with a large grain of salt) what you have told the financial institution is your financial position and current credit relationships. It's still more art than science.
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