With a number of banks continuing to adjust their rewards credit card offerings in the market, I thought it worth republishing this summary of what’s happened so far.
A reminder: these changes are being triggered by the changes in credit card benefits that have started to work their way through to consumers.
This is our round up of banks that have made changes so far, and becomes a watchlist for cards or rewards programs which haven’t yet made any changes but might do so in future.
| Card Issuer / Rewards Program | Change Announced? | Date proposed changes | Commentary |
|---|---|---|---|
| ANZ Rewards | Yes | March 22nd | Earn rates on ANZ Rewards cards cut. Existing points balances left unaffected. |
| ANZ Qantas | No | No changes announced to date. | |
| CBA Awards | Yes | May 1st | Qantas Point earn rates cut. Annual fees raised. Point Hacks guide coming soon. |
| Westpac Altitude Rewards | No | Transfer rates to KrisFlyer & Asia Miles cut from 2 Altitude Rewards points :1 frequent flyer point to 2.5:1 | |
| Amplify Rewards | No | No changes announced to date. | |
| Citi Rewards | Yes | March 18th | Transfer rates to KrisFlyer and Velocity cut. Earn rates on international spend cut. Points caps imposed. |
| Westpac Altitude Qantas | Yes | September 28th | No changes announced to date. |
| American Express & Membership Rewards | No | No changes announced to date. | |
| NAB Qantas & Velocity | No | No changes announced to date. | |
| Virgin Money | Yes | April 1st | Points earn rates cut. Flight benefits rejigged. Points caps added. |
| Bankwest (Qantas) | Yes | June 20th | Points earn rates cut. |
| Macquarie Bank | Yes | May 11 | No points earn on BPAY or ATO Payments. Points caps added for new customers from June 20. |
| Jetstar Mastercards | Yes | October 24th | Points cap added, removal of ATO and BPAY point earn |
| HSBC Qantas | Yes | Change was made in August 2015, prior to RBA review. Cap imposed, earn rates on international spend cut. Hard to say if further cuts are likely or not. | |
| Woolworths Qantas MasterCard | Yes | May 11 | No points earn on BPAY or ATO Payments. |
For most of the announced credit card changes you can click through to read about the tweaks that banks have coming up, or find out more about the product benefits.
I haven’t included every card in Australia on here, just the most popular options, so apologies if yours has been missed off.
The changes as a result of the new legislation coming through are extensive. The Reserve Bank’s regulatory changes on interchange fees could affect many Australian credit cards, however cards issued directly by American Express will not be impacted by the legislation.
As a result it is likely that cards issued directly by American Express will offer a stronger rewards offering than competitors in the future – or at least maintain their existing set of benefits relative to other banks.
I’ll continue to update this summary over time as new changes are announced.
Any changes ahead for Westpac Singapore Airlines Platinum?
Cheers,
Rich
Westpac are yet to make any changes though this year so you could well see something come through.
What’s your thoughts on either of the David Jones Amex cards being affected? They already have their own albeit limited ‘program’ under the Amex umbrella.
CBA charge $30/pa to have your points turned into QF points and they transfer them on a monthly basis. The basic awards card will give 1 QF point for every 2.5 CBA points.
Looking forward to the guide. I’m writing my own one for the family budget but keen to share notes.
Transferred all my Citi points to KF ahead of the devaluation later this week!