Rewards Credit Card Comparisons (ING, ANZ Rewards Plat, Citibank Signature, CBA, HSBC, AMEX Plat Edge) Updated 3/9/14

lawyerz on 02/09/2014 - 23:48
Last edited 06/09/2014 - 01:47

Hi guys!

I've searched high and low and did not find a comparison of the reward cards from a purely financial perspective.

E.g. value of points, points earned per $ spent, and how much points does it take to redeem $100 gift card. This takes into account the current promotions (e.g. no annual fee for life, sign up bonuses) going on as at 2 Sep 2014.

I threw in ING direct as a comparison as well. In case I've made an error - please go easy on me! Just want to share.

Any card that I've missed and has really good value - share them :)

Updates:

  • ANZ Plat AMEX earns 3 points per $, not 2.
  • 55 days interest instead of 2 months. (except NAB Flybuys at 44 days)
  • Added Amex Plat Edge, added NAB Flybuys Card

Worth Noting:

  • As highlighted by Tizey, time value of money assumes all purchases are made on day 1 of interest free period.

Picture Link

Download Spreadsheet**

Current Promotions

  • Citibank Signature - No annual fee for life, expires 31 Oct 2014, min income $75,000, min credit limit $12,000
  • ANZ Rewards Platinum - No annual fee 1st year, 50,000 bonus points (worth $250-ish), expires 27 Oct 2014, min credit limit $6,000

Other Cards mentioned so far

  • By Peter05 - Amex Platinum Edge Link - $199 per annum 3 points per $ at supermarkets, 2 points per $ at petrol and 1 points per $ all other places, 1 free domestic flight p.a. with Virgin, min income $50,000, 13,500 points per $100 gift card. (added into spreadsheet)
  • By Soverign01 - CBA Diamonds Award Link- $425/$395 per annum - 3 points per $ on AMEX, 1.25 points per $ on Mastercard
Financial

Comments

  • jediedward007 on 03/09/2014 - 00:03

    I think the zero upfront cost of Citi Signature is awesome. Having to pay for annual fee (even if its 2nd year onwards) encourages spending. Citi Reward points will not expire so it will be suitable for small spenders. Too bad I'm not in the income bracket yet..

    Cash is king so
    <100 paywave - ING, >100 purchases/air tickets - Citi Signature (or comparable credit cards which provide similar insurance and buyer protection scheme).

    Just my 2c.

  • peter05 on 03/09/2014 - 00:25
    +3

    you can't beat the amex platinum edge, 3ppd at supermarkets, 2ppd at petrol and 1ppd all other places.

    depending on your spend you should be averaging close to 2.5-3ppd if not a lot of discretionary. also you get a free flight per year return for the $199 annual fee

    points are also transferred to virgin or singapore airlines increasing the $ value of the points significantly, which schemes from the banks usually convert at a 2:1 ratio

  • sovereign01 on 03/09/2014 - 08:42

    Nice work - Slight note on the CBA card

    My "diamond" Amex does 3points / $1 - Doubles the rate. (And has no annual fee)

  • Boshait on 03/09/2014 - 08:47
    +1

    Interesting that even at 2% ING is dominating the dojo. Pity there's no way to beat the $99.99 limit with bringing down the orange wrath. Then there's MEbank. A little bird tells me there's still a backdoor route into the 5% offer.

    You didn't consider any of the mass market flybuys or velocity points cards.

    • lawyerz on 03/09/2014 - 20:49

      Unfortunately after some adjustments and corrections to ANZ - it's no longer on top.

      Still the top fee-less card.

      I've added the NAB flybuys card in - coming in dead last, which was expected actually.

      • Boshait on 09/09/2014 - 08:46
        +1

        The stated time value of money is unrealistically high. Some people attempt to time their purchases to maximize it but no-one (not people spending enough to recoup the card fee anyway) makes every purchase on the first day of the interest fee period. The typical user's purchases would most likely be uniformly distributed. Moreover you don't calculate how much they have to spend to overtake the debit card. e.g. "AMEX Plat Edge - Supermarket Only" needs to spend $6,977.18 to recoup the annual fee. At that point it is $139.54 behind the ING card. The AMEX holder needs to spend a further $17,663.75 to overtake the debit card holder.

        If I substitute a more realistic value for TVM of 0.43% the incremental spending hurdles rise to $7,358.49 and $22,641.50.

        The ME Bank 5% is open to the masses again, so this is kind of moot.

  • G5 on 03/09/2014 - 09:15

    Good work for adding time value of money. Makes comparison with the ING card a bit fairer.

  • tanoshiiki on 03/09/2014 - 10:37

    If I could upvote this, I would.

    I'm curious to see your analysis on the Qantas Bankwest Transaction account, although it would be hard to make a similar comparison, since the points are earned on account balances, rather than expenditure and then you have to make a further conversion from cash to Qantas points to giftcard.

    There are also a few no annual reward AMEXes floating around too, but I don't know what they are at the moment.

  • Crazy Diamond on 03/09/2014 - 10:47

    Great work lawyerz - not too many lawyers I know think that financially (I'm an Accountant) :)

    • tanoshiiki on 03/09/2014 - 10:49

      But Com/Law is such a common combination!

      • Crazy Diamond on 03/09/2014 - 11:04
        +1

        Agree - but from my experience, even those with the combined/dual degree once they're practising law, and all the trickery that involves, they "forget" the numbers and leave it to the Accountants. Kidding - well sort of anyway

        • tanoshiiki on 03/09/2014 - 11:39
          +1

          Yes, I posted my comment slightly tongue in cheek as well. It's not like I use my other degree ever (Engineering)…

    • lawyerz on 03/09/2014 - 19:52
      +1

      I'm not a lawyer haha :) I'm an finance/accounting grad!

  • awesomedude on 03/09/2014 - 18:37

    You might want to revisit ANZ Platinum AMEX as it earns 3 points per dollar and not 2.

    • lawyerz on 03/09/2014 - 19:53

      You're right - mistake there. Updating.

  • donbot on 03/09/2014 - 19:53

    Is the time value of money overstated? By having it as two months, it's assuming you buy everything on day 1 of the interest free period of 2months. I'd suggest it's probably worthwhile to add in the interest free period of each card, and assume purchases evenly throughout the interest free period?

    Eg. Interest free period of 60 days - have 30 days of interest for the time value of money.

    Good work though, it's a comparison worthwhile to make to assess freebies on cards!

    • lawyerz on 03/09/2014 - 19:58
      +1

      Hmm. Valid point there. Though, this will only affect comparison with a debit card like ING, as all credit cards are assumed to be on the same terms.

  • woahxd on 03/09/2014 - 20:59

    ANZ reward plat is min $6k limit

    • lawyerz on 03/09/2014 - 21:02

      My bad - fixed.

    • lawyerz on 03/09/2014 - 23:13

      Update: Email from ANZ today: You have been approved for an ANZ Rewards with a limit of $3000.

  • Daniel Plainview on 04/09/2014 - 18:06
    +2

    Feel compelled to post just to say what a great post by the OP.

    Helluva lot of work and doing something like this does (as you implied) really put you out there for folks to critique so you deserve a lot of credit for the thankless effort. Well done!

    • lawyerz on 04/09/2014 - 19:07

      Thank you! Sharing is caring! :D

  • rewardscompared on 05/09/2014 - 13:09

    Hi lawyerz
    Would be interested in your feedback on our site at http://rewardscompared.com/cards
    It calculates expected returns (using gift vouchers) based on monthly or yearly spend but doesn't factor in once off signup promotions.

    • lawyerz on 06/09/2014 - 01:19
      +1

      It looks like I didn't have to do my spreadsheet after all :)

      Looks pretty solid actually! Maybe one more stat they could have is % of rewards against annual fee.

  • elegantegotist on 08/09/2014 - 12:28

    SORRY TO ask a silly question. But an anyone explain to me what Time value of money is ? Thankyou in advance. New to this. And thanks to the OP for such a great summary !!

    • lawyerz on 08/09/2014 - 12:55

      Hi!

      Thanks =) time value of money is basically the value of being able to pay 55 days later or whatever the credit period is on your card. I'm assuming it's 55 for all except nab flybuys.

      Basically if u took that money n put it in a bank account and earned interest (currently assuming 3.8% based on nab reward saver) instead for that 55 days as opposed to paying cash or debit upfront (like ING).

      Hope that clarifies!

  • elegantegotist on 08/09/2014 - 16:47

    Thanks lawyerz. so what's the percentage mean in the Time value for money section ?

    • lawyerz on 08/09/2014 - 18:08

      Basically its the interest you would earn.

      U can also see it as a discount on ur purchase.

      E.g.
      Cash: you buy $100 on cash. It costs $100.

      Credit: You buy $100 on 30 day credit. Because u can put that $100 in a bank account for 30 days before you need to pay it and earn 3.8% interest per annum (divide by 12 for 0.31% per month), your purchase is now 0.31% cheaper. You then pay $100 after 30 days but you also get back 0.31% interest from the bank as income.

  • drprox on 09/09/2014 - 09:08

    hi all, might be missing something here, but the citibank signature card appears to have an annual fee of $299 for life..
    http://www.citibank.com.au/aus/credit_cards/cards_signature.…

    I want it for free :(

    • melaco on 09/09/2014 - 09:47

      Last time that I rang to enquire about the card there was no mention of it being fee free for life on their website. But when I spoke to one of their customer service reps I just mentioned that I knew about that offer and they were more than happy to obey it.
      I'm still weighing up whether I should go ahead with Citibank Signature or Macquarie Visa Platinum. They'd both be fee free to me

      • drprox on 09/09/2014 - 09:55

        cheers melaco, sounds like I need to have a chat

    • marka on 09/09/2014 - 10:20

      The fee-free-for-life offer is available as a promotion.

      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/153092

    • lawyerz on 10/09/2014 - 23:04

      Over here :) http://www.citibank.com.au/familyandfriends/ I got mine already and yes, its 100% free for life as stated in the letter that comes with the card.

  • harrylovevee on 09/12/2014 - 11:28

    This is a great post!

    Just out of curiosity, for the purchase in supermarket, does that include the wish card purchase via entertainment book?

    • sagax on 24/10/2015 - 10:40

      with the amex platinum edge you get 3 points per $ on wish card purchases.

  • T-man on 20/10/2015 - 11:23

    Hi there,

    Could someone advise me if I use a credit card like Amex Plat Edge or Coles Reward card to pay for monthly expenses and pay the full balance earch month is better than using the ING card (2% cashback) to pay for the monthly expenses?

    So all the money I earned will be put in my homeloan offset account to reduce interests, and pay the full balance of the credit cards monthly. Thanks in advance.

    • Sweetnsour on 20/10/2015 - 22:41

      Depends how much u spend per month. The bigger the spend the more saving.

      Currently homeloan interest rates are at all time lows <5%. Spending $10,000 per year only saves $500 per year. But same $10,000 gets cashback of $200. But that cashback is after tax.

      However amex is not accepted everywhere and some charge extra 3%+ surcharge.

      But to be honest, if you want to save money, just downgrade ur purchases or rethink your purchase.

    • sagax on 24/10/2015 - 10:43

      with the amex platinum edge you get 3 points per dollar when you buy wish gift cards, which you can usually get at 5% discount. get the best of both worlds…. and you don't need to worry about being under $100 with ING!

  • cpho on 22/03/2016 - 20:44

    Rebumping this awesome post
    I just spent a good 15 mins digging for it, so hopefully someone else finds it useful

    • lawyerz on 22/03/2016 - 22:29
      +1

      There's been alot of changes to the rewards points recently and this spreadsheet is not up to date anymore unfortunately.

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