Hi, wonder if anyone else has looked into this. I have a 7y car loan through my bank at comparison rate 5.97%, balance is $48K, fortnightly repayments $337. Qantas FF partners with Qudos Bank who have a car loan at 8.8% comparison rate, so dearer, but you get 1000 QFF points p.a. for every $1000 of your loan balance. That means that in the first year I would earn say 45 000 points roughly, and then diminishing each year as I pay down the loan (less good over time). According to their calculator (Car Loan Calculator | Qudos Bank) if I refinanced I would pay $354/ftnt, total interest for remainder $16,371, as opposed to $10,780 under current loan. So $5,591 extra over 7 years (~$800/year). According to the points calculator I would get 167,413 points for this. By my calculation this would cost 3.3c/point (ie 5,591/167,413) - is this worth it? Doesn’t seem so when I could just get the same or more points from two credit card bonus offers for much less…
I wouldn’t pay 3.3c / Qantas point as their redemption cost is far higher than a number of other point currencies. But if you do want to pay for points, and you and your family like wine, I would recommend looking at the Epiqure wine specials each week, as you can often pick up a dozen of very nice wine for less than $300 with a bonus of 10,000 Qantas points. so to get 160,000 points your expenditure might be $4,800 and you would also have picked up 16 dozen bottles of quite good wine for your cellar. If you become a premium Epiqure member you actually get some discount, more points on the purchase, and free courier.
In my opinion, 3.3cpp is too high for me. Unless you are desperate for the points. Credit card signup bonuses are great for boosting point balances. Take care of your credit score.