Hi All,
I'm trying to do a comparison between which card out of the AmEx Platinum Edge and Explorer to apply for. I'm aware there are a lot of people asking which is best for them and that each situation is different so I wanted to apply some sort of formula to help sway either way and one that others could use as well. I wanted to get some feedback on whether my thinking was correct or if I've missed some things to take into consideration for when looking at a card for the long term.
A bit of background: I've had an ANZ First since I was 18 (now 28), always paid off closing balance on the due date and can't believe I've been missing out on, effectively, cash back this whole time which is why I have decided to apply for one of these cards. I got on board the ANZ Travel Rewards card but even that I think is still leaving money on the table when spending with AmEx. I intend to keep it for the Visa alone (in situations where they don't take AmEx) and the free flight. My partner will be moving to Melbourne (I'm in Adelaide) soon so I envision myself flying at least once a month - I'm happy with Virgin as a service and am happy to stick with this airline rather than have to jump around for the sake of long term point rewards.
Between the two AmEx cards:
Annual Fees: given that both go towards travel credit, for me the point is moot. I understand for some an extra $200 roughly a year is a consideration.
Sign up bonus: the explorer obviously offers much greater here, but I'm looking at the card in the long term. Yet, this is definitely a tick in the Explorer box.
Points earning: this is where I'm trying to weigh each other out.
Both are on different rewards programs with the Platinum earning 1 MR = 1 VFF and the Explorer earning 1 MR = 0.75 VFF
However, on a per dollar spend basis:
Platinum: 3 VFF/$ at supermarkets, 2 VFF/$ at petrol, 1 VFF/$ elsewhere, 0.5 VFF/$ for bills
Explorer 1.5 VFF/$ for everything bar Government Charges.
The Government charges spending (I assume things like rego) cancels out as they both pay the same.
I was trying to come up with a formula to see whether, based on two month's spending whether one should go for the Platinum Edge or Explorer.
Simply speaking, I calculated my Woolworths spending (that is, 3 VFF/$) at approx 25%, my BP spending (2 VFF/$) at 4%, my bills (0.5 VFF/$) at 4% and therefore the rest of my spending (1 VFF/$) at 67%
Based on this, I averaged a VFF/$ return of (3x0.25)+(2*0.04)+(1x0.67)+(0.5x0.04)= 1.52 VFF/$ which just edges 1.5 VFF/$ that could be earned on the Explorer.
This is not the best sample being only over two months but I made sure to delete all visa spending (they come on the same statement with the ANZ cards) and deleted the annual fees which I got charged for a more accurate monthly spend.
I have yet to transfer over my Utilities (approx. $80 a month) and Telstra phone bill ($100 a month) over to the card as I'm still working out whether its worth it with the surcharge. Currently with AGL at 0.55% and telstra around 0.3% it may be worth it. I think it was anything over 1% where it's iffy.
I think for me the explorer may just get the edge in the long run with the additional sign up bonus and when adding the utilities into the equation, plus I don't see the grocery/fuel average increasing (I live by myself and cook bulk for the week, veggies I pay cash at market which are a small percentage of shopping anyway).
Any feedback on my train of thought would be much appreciated as I could be completely wrong. By the looks of the formula, if your a family who would easily have a much greater grocery spend, particularly at the major supermarkets, then the platinum would easily be the way to go. For me, where I forsee majority of spending on social activities and domestic flights to Melbourne, I think the Explorer would be the way to go. Again, this is only the conversion for points to Virgin VFF which is what I'm interested in, so different goals may vary choice.
Cheers for reading.
Tom
Get the explorer first, get the bonus points. Then sign up for the Edge and hope that your explorer points get linked to the ascent program then you can redeem them at the higher rate and any future earnings is also at the 2 ascent points per dollar on the explorer. Combine that with 15% Velocity transfer bonus and you are effectively getting 2.3 Velocity points per dollar spent.
As you mention the travel credits offset a lot of the annual fee so there's not much of a cost for having both. Use the Explorer as your main card, Edge as supermarkets and as a way for your explorer to earn ascent points.