St.George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA have announced some minimally reduced earn rates on their range of Amplify credit cards effective 1st July 2017.
The changes will mainly affect overseas spend earn rates while the earn rates on domestic spend will remain the same, and the 10% annual birthday bonus is retained. This is a pretty good win for Amplify cardholders, with the cards continuing to earn either 0.75 Qantas Points per $, or if linked to Amplify Rewards, the equivalent of 0.75 Velocity Points, KrisFlyer Miles or Enrich Miles per $ spent.
Here’s the overview of the changes:
| Card | Old Earn Rates | Changes in Earn Rates | New Earn Rates / Points Caps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amplify Signature (Amplify Rewards) | 1.5 Amplify points per $ 3 Amplify points per $ overseas | -1.5 Amplify points per $ on overseas spend | 1.5 Amplify points per $ on all eligible spend |
| Amplify Signature (Qantas Points) | 0.75 Qantas Point per $ 1.5 Qantas point per $ overseas | -0.75 Qantas point per $ on overseas spend | 0.75 Qantas points per $ on all eligible spend |
| Amplify Platinum (Amplify Rewards) | 1 Amplify points per $ 2 Amplify points per $ overseas | -1 Amplify point per $ on overseas spend | 1 Amplify point per $ on all eligible spend |
| Amplify Platinum (Qantas Points) | 0.5 Qantas Point per $ 1 Qantas point per $ overseas | -0.5 Qantas point per $ on overseas spend | 0.5 Qantas points per $ on all eligible spend |
Effective Frequent Flyer Program earn rates from 1st July 2017:
The conversion rates to frequent flyer programs will remain the same for the time being at 2 Amplify points to 1 frequent flyer point. The table below shows the effective earn rate once the new earn rate takes effect.
| Card | Velocity points | KrisFlyer miles | Enrich Miles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amplify Rewards Signature | 0.75 point / $ | 0.75 point / $ | 0.75 point / $ |
| Amplify Rewards Platinum | 0.5 point / $ | 0.5 point / $ | 0.5 point / $ |
Summing Up
The retention of the birthday bonus, and no further cuts in points earn rates on domestic spend are good news (for the time being) for Amplify cardholders, now placing the card as one of the better points-earners out there. With access to Velocity and KrisFlyer as points transfer partners, this will be a card to keep watch on for (hopefully no) further changes.
Check out our overview table for detailed info on rewards credit cards in Australia here.
This is disappointing sleight of hand from St. George, especially when you consider that due to ‘fractional reserve lending’ (do your own research) 95% of the money your bank lends you is simply created out of ‘thin air’ as digits in their computer systems. If we created 95% of our own money In our garden shed (for example) we’d be locked up for a very long time on charges of counterfeiting. Ask yourself “What’s the difference?”