Westpac New American Express Black Card - Is it good?

Lbenny1man on 29/01/2018 - 22:41

With the cancellation of Amex/Visa duo Credit Cards soon I was sent this targeted offer from Westpac. Currently on Altitude Platinum.

https://www.westpac.com.au/personal-banking/credit-cards/alt…

Waived first year fee ($199) will prob cancel after that anyway
Bonus 30k Points on 3k spend
3 Points for Australian Purchases
1 Point for Government Bodies (Post Office/ATO)
4 Points for Foreign Spending - I probably won't be doing foreign currency spending as I use travel cards for better exchange rates (or am I wrong?)
Could the 3 points alone scale and be worth using my Debit for Non-Amex purcahses as oppose to the 1 point visa?

Do you guys this it's a good upgrade or are there other amex cards out there that are more advantageous? What are your guys thoughts about Westpac heading in this direction?

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Comments

  • djkelly69 on 29/01/2018 - 23:20

    My understanding is that this card will stand alone from other Amex cards (kind of like the David Jones card/s), so you shouldnt need to choose this or another Amex, you should be able to have both.

    Assuming I get the offer (as I have Altitude Black), I will likely just take the free points and cancel after a year.

    • Thrawn on 30/01/2018 - 09:44

      I wonder if having the new card would prevent getting future sign-up bonus with regular Amex cards.. I don't think there's any clarity on this yet

      • djkelly69 on 30/01/2018 - 10:13

        I believe DJs Amex cards don't prevent you getting regular Amex signups, so hopefully this is the same. But agree there is not enough information to know for sure at this stage.

  • kipps on 29/01/2018 - 23:23

    I would be surprised if WBC could offer an AMEX with a decent points system after the RBA card reforms. The points required for redemptions are probably heavily watered down.

    • djkelly69 on 29/01/2018 - 23:30
      +1

      Looks like the points stay under the existing WBC Altitude program according to the page linked above, so 2:1 conversion for Velocity, 2.5:1 for Asia Miles or Singapore.

      1.5 Velocity ppd is not bad at all IMO.

  • Tjoobie on 29/01/2018 - 23:24
    +2

    Its an altitude card with 3 points per dollar spent. I don't feel there is ever a reason to participate in a rewards system offered by the Big 4.

    If you are going to get an Amex go straight through amex and get an Explorer card. Have a mastercard/visa with whichever bank will give you the best deal (i.e fee free or low fee) with points on your preferred airline (Qantas/Virgin). Use Amex everywhere there isn't a surcharge and MasterCard/visa everywhere there is.

  • T-man on 29/01/2018 - 23:46

    5pts on OS spend, so the Qantas Attitude is no longer available even with Amex issued card.

  • Chochkee on 30/01/2018 - 14:47

    I'm currently on the altitude platinum, and have been for about 2.5 years now. And got this black amex altitude offer sent to me (15k qantas points), but make <75k, with quite a good credit score.

    Not sure if I should apply and possibly get rejected (taking the hit to my credit), or apply for platinum where I am fairly certain of approval. Just miss the extra points (.25/per dollar) and lounge passes.

    I will be cancelling my normal altitude account and getting a new visa/mastercard once I get this card.

  • madpig83 on 31/01/2018 - 11:02

    I did the analysis on this for my own situation, and concluded that I won't be going through with the offer for the following reasons:

    My situation
    - Currently using 1. Westpac Black Amex (free) wherever I can without massive surcharge; 2. CBA Diamond MasterCard (free) wherever I can't use the Amex; 3. Bankwest Zero MasterCard for foreign currency or travel
    - Given the shutdown of the Westpac Amex, I was offered the Amex-issued Altitude Black Amex (offer is similar to yours, except with higher points structure

    My conclusions were
    - New Amex-issued "Westpac" card has poorer rewards per $ spent than the Amex Explorer, but better than the Amex Platinum Edge Amex cards (it sat in the middle, given my spending habits)
    - Both the Platinum Edge and Explorer can be considered "free" if you use the travel credit; the Amex-issued "Westpac" card will have a fee after the 1st year
    - News from yesterday: Amex is doubling the sign-up points for the Amex Explorer, which equates to ~$750 of gift cards; there is no similar offer for the Platinum Edge ; the Amex-issued "Westpac" card of 30k points (my offer) is ~$130 of gift cards
    - Both the Amex-issued "Westpac" card and pure Amex cards require me to reapply anyway, and requires me to carry a new card in place of the existing; so if I was to go through all that effort, I might as well get the better card
    - Hence I went with the Explorer last night

    Other considerations
    - I really don't want to carry more cards than I do already
    - My Westpac and CBA cards are "free" due to home loan packages; there are probably better MasterCard/Visa cards, but I prefer to use CBA as my primary bank and carrying that one MasterCard to access both credit and my bank accounts is easier

  • happy bargain fox on 08/02/2018 - 15:43

    I've got the same offer - but Westpac is offering me 15K QFF points for the Westpac Black Altitude Amex instead.
    (https://www.westpac.com.au/personal-banking/credit-cards/alt…)

    Looking at just the gift card redemption rate - seems like 30K Altitude = ~$126 (@~.42 per Altitude point) vs 15K QFF = ~$78 (@~.52 per QFF pt)

    …or am I missing something?

    Also, looking at the ongoing spend seems like:
    $1 spent using the QFF card = 1.25 QFF points = ~.65 cents
    vs
    $1 spent using Altitude card = 3 Altitude points = ~1.26 cents

    Wondering if I'd be eligible to sign up for the Altitude card instead of the QFF one.
    I would totally get the Amex Explorer - but because I currently hold the Amex Plat Edge, i'm not eligible for the 100K bonus amex points.

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