This may not be the most competitive offering, however the waived foreign exchange fee is attractive.
Platinum Bankwest Qantas MasterCard
$160 Annual Fee
50,000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points after $2,500 on eligible purchases within 3 months from account opening
earn 1 Qantas Point per $2 spent on eligible purchases
Foreign Transaction Fee waived for Platinum cardholders
New Bankwest Qantas Platinum MasterCard credit card customers only
Going by my Bankwest Zero Platinum card, it follows whatever MasterCard's published rates are, so I'd assume this would be the same.
Bit annoyed about this offer, just took out a home loan with Bankwest, and was thinking about getting this card (as this card can be included for 'free' as part of the package), yet the bonus points aren't applicable for it. Pretty dodgy really, but not surprising as banks always pull that sort of crap.
The exchange rate is identical between coles rewards mastercard, bankwest platinum/world mastercard and 28 degrees. I've tested this before with an identical transaction on all 3 cards simultaneously.
Bankwest doesn't determine the exchange rates. MasterCard does. The rates are the same. I asked Bankwest when I got the Zero Fee Platinum MasterCard.
Thank you
IME, they are the same exchange rates, as well as the Citi Plus. The main difference is that for $160 pa, the BW will give .5 QF point per $.
Think Bankwest rates are higher as it follows Mastercard and Citibank follows Visa. You might want to check the two out.
Even though it says that foreign exchange fees are waived? It would good to get the comparison fees between the cards. And, the travel insurance included on this one.
Better? Are you sure? I think they're about on par, but different.
Annual fee not waived (although extra 20k pts for $150 is reasonable if you have a specific use for it), but you get lounge access, better rewards earn rate, and higher income requirement.
The annual fee isn't waived on the Bankwest deal in OP, just the foreign exchange fees.
Oh whoops. Thanks.
My friend and I both read this as both the forex fees and annual fee are waived with this.. Surely I'm not the only one that interprets it this way?
@illumination: Yeah, I can see how it can be read that way. He does clarify within the post but the title could use a rephrase.
Thanks for the reminder. I'll opt for this option.
Would be nice to find one of these card deals where the annual fee is waived, at least in the first year….
$0 1st Year for Westpac Customer
If you aren't a customer, you could just open an savings account beforehand.
You can open a Westpac Rewards Saver online just beforehand. That's what I did with a similar Westpac deal.
I wouldn't recommend BankWest. When you have troubles with MasterCard about a wrong credit booking, they will not help you and take money from your account.
I would highly recommend them. Best customer service of any bank I have ever dealt with.
Opposite for me. Had issues with cc once and my business account as well they helped as much as they can. Their customer service is good and still in Aus too.
At least 2 happy customers for BankWest, Hurray!!
YMMV, but I found BankWest to have higher standards/requirements for applications - have had no issues getting NAB platinum or ANZ Black (amongst others), but BankWest would only give me gold.
I found it is easier than other banks. I went to the branch, one of their specialists helped me to apply for this card within 10' and I got an approval of $12,000. Once I've got all the pts, I just called them to upgrade my card to World master card which you can earn 0.66 pts per $. (used to be 1 pt per $)
Any way to waive the fee for the first year?
You could try negotiating. How successful you are will depend on how good you are at that.
how good you are at that
;)
I applied for this the last time the points deal was on.
I decided to call it a day and shut the account. Back then, the points promotion definitely felt like a bait and switch type marketing exercise. Grab as many people as possible, before significantly reducing the earn rate.
TBH, I found BW great to work with while things were good, but stubborn and pig headed whenever there was an issue (There were a few other minor things that happened in my short time with them).
I found my citibank signature card was ~3% more expensive for foreign transactions after testing a few purchases in multiple currencies. Considering that card was acquired under the 'fee free for life' promo, I would need to spend ~$7.5k in foreign transaction every year to just cover the BW annual fee. Spending this amount on the BW card, would net me a little under 5,000 QF points.
For my situation, I elected to ditch the BW card (probably mostly due to their attitude on the phone). I'm now back to using my 28 degrees card for foreign transactions, citibank for everything else. I do spend a fair bit on overseas items (thanks to ozbargain), but I doubt I get close to $7,500 in a standard year (Depending on where i book travel and accommodation for holidays).
If you are just chasing QF points, this is an OK deal (definitely not the best), but if you are considering it as your primary card, have a look to see if it really does work out in your favour after they crippled the earn rate a couple of months ago, which it may be for frequent travellers.
The current citi offer is decent too. 37,500 Velocity or krisflyer points for $199 first year annual fee. The velocity and krisflyer points are worth more, as they are significantly cheaper to redeem for flights (EG Qantas requires 128k points to fly business return to Italy, Krisflyer only requires ~80k points)
Slightly more bonus points per $ annual fee for Macquarie Black/Platinum (40K/$99) and Jetstar MasterCard (20K/$29).
That said, Jetstar declined my application, so they can shove it.
I applied for this the last time they had a promotion. IIRC when you apply, you don't get to select if you want the platinum, gold or normal (orange) card, and though I've gotten platinum cards from other banks with no problem, BW decided to send me the orange card with none of the benefits so I cancelled it upon getting it.
Can anyone tell me when do banks charge the annual fee? Is it possible to cancel the card once you acquire the Qantas points before they hit you with the annual fees?
$160 annual fee
Earn 1 Qantas Point per $2 spent on eligible purchases
In my view, it is best to spend $2500 and cancel card!
Westpac seems to be better with no fees for 1st year
Does anyone have any experience with how long it takes BankWest to:
A) Send the card out after you apply?
B) credit the Qantas FF points to your Qantas FF account after you spend the minimum spend?
Does Bpay purchases included for points/spend
Bankwest is owned by CBA and CBA credit cards doesnt get points fro Bpay
The best way to get value here is to choose their "Complete Home Loan Package" which includes this credit card and the offset account fees for the year.
Works out the $15 per month (waived account fee) pays for itself though the .5 point per dollar spent on the card is laughable compared to whats out there.
Of course this is probably only helpful to those who are existing BW home loan customers but its not something they will tell you unless you ask..
No, I mentioned this in an earlier comment, if you get this card based on it being included in the 'Complete Home Loan Package' you don't get the bonus points, only the existing 8000 points for it. It's in the T&C of the offer, it's bullshit, but that's banks for you!
That's rather shifty of them to lower the points.. I applied for the said card as a separate product so I was rewarded the full 50k. Was only later they mentioned to me that to get the lower rate on the home loan I had to combine the products and pay the annual fee.
Yeah it was pretty disappointing that, the annual fee is basically still being paid in the $395 a year fee for the loan. But most banks always try and do these sort of things, but at least now I have my loan I can take advantage of all these other credit card deals for points!
Thanks…>Was looking for something like this.
Not bad! Thanks OP. Waiting for the anz black frequent flyer card to waive the 1st year fee… Usually happens around aug/sept
Still waiting for another QF points offer when you open a new Qantas Transaction account - thinking to open an account at Bankwest
Would the rates be better than 28 degrees for overseas purchases?