With changes to ANZ Rewards points earning rates, what other rewards programs should I consider?

Credit Cards & Credit Card Programs
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Hey all,

With the recently announced changes to earning rates for ANZ Rewards I’m tempted to go elsewhere but my question is where??

I currently use the Amex Platinum Edge card for my everyday spend earning me 3 x points at supermarkets and 2 x points on fuel but need another credit card (either visa or Amex/visa combo) so I can use the Visa where my Amex Platinum Edge is not accepted.

Ideally I would like a flexible currency so I’m thinking either Westpac or Citi?

Velocity is predominately where I will redeem points but I still value to the ability to redeem elsewhere.

Any help will be appreciated!

Thanks

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Hi Nick - we can’t give specific card recommendations here on Point Hacks, but can talk more generally about the credit card rewards programs.

My take right now is to wait. Citi and Virgin Money have moved with their changes, and so have ANZ. Westpac are yet to do anything.

Amex should not be impacted by the RBA interchange fee changes which are causing all of this, so should stay the same.

I think holding off on making any decision at this point until more banks have shown their hand is the wise option.

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As Keith has said, the only wise move is to wait for every card issuer to respond to the RBA’s unjustified changes.

There are threads on AFF asking the same sort of questions, and the most important thing to understand here is that all card issuers other than American Express and (partially) Diners Club will be impacted. The Citibank-issued cards that are branded anything other than Citi or Virgin Money have been hit hard (Suncorp, Bank of Queensland and others aren’t worth owning thanks to these changes) and the cards from smaller issuers with less other retail banking business in Australia will likely be hit hardest (HSBC comes to mind in particular here).

The cards issued by ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac will most likely end up being a better deal compared to their competitors than they are now once all changes are done given they all have sizable acquiring businesses that they can use to offset some of the Interchange Rate reduction that the RBA is blindly mandating. I suspect that we’ll see Citibank have the highest earn rate per dollar on non-American Express cards with the Prestige product thanks to the high annual fee and benefit reductions with the cards issued by the major banks maintaining their relative positions in terms of value.

 

 

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