St George have sweetened their offering on the Amplify Platinum card with a reduced first year annual fee (halved).
The Amplify family of cards includes cards offered by St.George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA.
60,000 Qantas Points, when you spend a minimum of $2,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months of approval
Annual fee $49 in the first year.
Check Ozb for good deals. Apply, use, get points, churn. 2-3 per year is probably ok without having much impact on your ability to get credit.
Do you cancel each before applying for the next?
No, I cancel when I get the points.
@gimme: Maybe.. I overlap them as required. Never had an issue with credit rating / never been declined a card.
Varies but ideally yes with a 4 week wait to clear from my credit history but that's my ocd and i have a perm card during the changeover. It depends on your specific circumstances and bank's credit requirements/criterea whuch is a mystery for most
Does sending money/buying stuff via paypal count as eligible purchases?
As gimme said.
I also time my application for new CC when anticipated upcoming big purchases/spending like insurances/fees/travels etc. This would make your purchases easily qualify for the CC requirements to get the bonus points.
Some companies allowed you to pay ahead as well - insurances, council , water etc. Just pay attention to the CC T&C on which ones wouldn't qualify to earn points.
Good advice
Does timing also need to consider a maximum number of cards in one financial year?
That's more of a yes/no/maybe question.
Minimum salary?
Can't see it specified…?
Usually Platinum cards are around the ~$30-$35k mark. This is just what I have noticed with other CC providers in the past (eg. ANZ - when it was published the equivalent card was a $35k income).
Is this post tax or pre tax income?
Pre Tax
St George is basically Westpac, and the Altitude Platinum is $35k so I'd say that's a safe guess.
As I saw elsewhere, buy Coles / Woolies gift cards if you need a boost to get over the line.
I've been looking to start earning Qantas points through credit cards but as a single person I've always been worried I won't meet the minimum required spend. Would this card be a good way to start? And what sort of salary requirements would I need?
I think this is one of the lower spend requirements. I think $2000 in 3 months is very do-able for a single person, but depends on your situation.
I've slso seen an AMEX on recently with no annual fee, that requires only $750 spend in 90 days. Only 10,000 QFF points though.
The citi offer which was also posted recently has better QFF points for the same annual fee (100,000? for $49) but need to spend $5000. If you're planning some big purchases, its worth considering.
Only you would know how much you going to spend / month.
Work out how much and where you can pay with CC then decide if you can meet the requirement amount.
If you shop regular at supermarkets like WW or Coles, get the giftcards with CC.
Pay rent and other big bills using EasyBillPay https://www.easybillpay.com.au/
Not worth it usually for normal points gain, but worth it to reach bonus.
Do they provide a BSB and Acc number for direct debit?
Slightly OT, but can anyone recommend a CC that provides price protection? Preferably with no/low minimum fee. Both the 28 degrees and Coles cards no longer offer it for new signups :(
Those are the only 2 Australian credit cards that I'm aware of that had that feature. I'm not surprised they got rid of it, because it you keep a card with a small limit ($1000 or $2000) with that feature and with no annual fee, it's ideal for purchasing items like TVs, phones, whitegoods, luggage, bedding, etc - basically any physical & non-grocery item, costing say more than $50, that has a store web page with the price, and which the store will stock for 1 or 2 years. I have thus far claimed back 13.9% of what I have spent on mine, and I think that's likely to be around the long run average. If I remove the items with no claims at all, that rises to 24.4% (e.g. in one case it was a Dyson vacuum that was superseded and the store stopped carrying it, and in another case it was a fridge that never went below the price I paid). But it can be quite hard to predict what will or won't pay out (besides mobile phones and TVs, they're easy money, non-trivial electronics in general where the price fluctuates is usually a reasonably safe bet).
interesting stats to have kept track of.
But yes, i dont see how price protection especially over 1-2 years is tenable. And sure enough, its no longer being offered. Annoying that i missed out though :(
Thanks for your insight.
Yeah, I never understood how it was cost effective to offer it either. I certainly wouldn't insure the prices of my purchases for nothing :-) But there is admin involved in tracking prices, admin involved in paying off balance before the statement is issued, time involved in claiming (their claims website is broken for me so I have to phone them every flipping time), and it's quite restricted in the purchases that it's useful for (must be an Australian store, must drop more than $10, etc). So if you've got an established household with most of your main purchases already made, then sure it would be nicer to have than not, but it's not as totally slam-dunk awesome as it sounds at first (because of the above + the restrictions, you have to buy from a retailer that you think will still be around in a while, you have to buy an item that will still be sold in a 1 or 2 years, etc), so it does make purchasing decisions a little bit more difficult.
@nickj: Just checked my price protect stats. Claimed back 19% on claimed items.
I assume you're using 28D or Coles for your price protect? The Latitude website screws up from time to time but opening up a new incognito tab and executing it there seems to do the trick. Also for these 2 cards, it doesn't need to drop by more than $10. I've claimed $1 before.
@spiff: Yes, through Coles MC with "Account Cover Plus". The old PDS specifically excluded "a price reduction of less than $10", but the PDS has changed, and now this exclusion no longer applies - thank you, good to know!
St George belongs to Westpac. I hope Westpac customers can still apply and get the points because the terms didn't exclude Westpac customers:
Existing customers who currently hold an Amplify, Amplify Platinum or Amplify Signature card issued by St.George, Bank of Melbourne or BankSA, or who have held one in the last 12 months, are not eligible for this offer.
I have given them a call and they confirmed Westpac are not excluded
Anybody been approved yet? I've been conditionally approved, uploaded docs and has taken weeks for any progress.
Got approved within 2 days
Approved the next day, got card within a week.
What docs they want to upload?
Don't have paylips, still can apply if ony have banks statements?
Thanks!
Need payslips + bank statements to show proof of employment and paper trail
Can anyone still apply for this card? After clicking on apply button, filling out name and email etc the drop down button to select the credit card is just stuck on select..
Same boat as you
Seems to hang as soon as I click on Apply Now, can't even make it to the application forms now.
Can't select credit card type from the drop down menu on Step 1 …. If this is the state of their IT then some of the bad reviews from the previous deals are starting to make sense.
Anyone tried calling them to let them know of the issue? Was working a couple of weeks ago…
The fees for the Amplify Platinum on this page seem to be state it's only $49 if you choose the Amplify Rewards program but still $99 for Qantas?
Half price annual fee in first year of $49 is only available if you apply via link in this deal (which you can also get if clicking from qantas website). Otherwise, annual fee is $99.
That's a pity since it appears that clicking through the normal page link still has a working dropdown credit card type menu.
Yes, it is a shame. Best to let the bank know of the issue so they can fix it. I suspect it’s just a bug on their website given the offer runs till mid Feb.
@kelea: Ended up applying over the phone after giving them a call earlier. Sounds like this is their workaround and won't be fixing it online.
@vawiyoci: Looks like your call may have prompted them to fix the site. Just checked and looks to be working again
I clicked the link above however upon receiving the card I called to double check and they've told me the same as vawiyoci - annual fee is 99 for qantas & 49 for amplify rewards.
I've lodged a complaint as the above link states 49 for qantas in the t&c's (**)
Will update with progress.
I'm about to activate my card next week but am unsure if I should if this is the case…
There is NO mention of a $99 if Qantas on the page
I'm going to call them tomorrow as well. That's absurd
@sssbp: I tried calling and got mixed responses, then got told I needed the card to investigate further.
@Major: I picked up my card today.
I confirmed once with the teller who also kindly activated my card.
I confirmed again after calling through. Confirmed it was Qantas rewards, Amplify, $49 for first year.
Any ideas as to whether Westpac customers are exempt from the bonus? Was looking to cancel before my current one hits 12 months and jump on this one.
What am I missing here? This deal seems as good as the ANZ black card deal (https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/503431). The St George card doesn't come with most of the extra perks (lounge passes etc.), but from a purely FF points to annual fee ratio, this seems decent? Thanks in advance.
St George is better = $49 for 60k points.
from a purely FF points to annual fee ratio, this seems decent?
ANZ is $150 for 120k points. How is ANZ even comparable or decent with the above statement?
That's exactly what I mean. The ANZ deal has received considerably more upvotes than this deal, but this deal actually seems better.
Not missing anything, it's a good deal. If I had to guess, people value the perks and the ability to gain more points in a shorter time period even if the point to cost ratio isn't as great?
@Major: Yeah, it's interesting. I was approved for the ANZ black card a week ago, it's probably too soon to apply for this one. Damn it!
Thought I would get approved but didn’t. Earn well over the 35k someone mentioned. Have great credit history but never had a credit card before. Could this be why? Had various car loans.
Don't think it's just you, if you read through the comments on the older St George deals it seems like Citibank they must have their own weird approval criteria and a lot of people that expect to get through, don't.
I tried to get both of my parents on to this as well since it's one of the few that has a 50k+ QFF bonus without the 75k income req, and they both got declined but was approved without issues for the ANZ platinum one afterwards.
Any issues paying water bills or council rates using the credit card payment method on bills? So long as I don't pay via BPay this would be an eligible spend?
Would council rates not be considered 'government fees'?
Technically they should not count the council rates. And it's a bit unclear about the water bill -
e.g. in Sydney, water bills are from Sydney Water Corporation, which is a New South Wales Government–owned statutory corporation; so is that government (because they own it), or a bill from a corporation - no different from say a power bill from a private company - (because it's a standard charge from a company)? So the water bill seems a bit of a grey area.
However, there's what the terms & conditions say, and there's what a bank actually does. Although a bank could enforce the strictest T&Cs if they wished to, most of the time what they actually do is more lenient. For example, in a previous deal, I've had Citibank gave points & count towards the min spend local government charges (for parking permits), even though the T&Cs said they wouldn't. Another card, I've had utility bills paid through Australia Post be counted. Another card, govt school fees were counted. My overall interpretation is that provided you make a variety of organic transactions (e.g. my min spend is normally made up of around 50 transactions just incurred in the process of living life), they really don't care too much if a few of them are government charges. But if you tried to make the entire min spend with a small number of large payments to government, I would not be too surprised if the bank pinged you and said "actually, that does not count".
There's also what's easy for them to detect. ATO bill for a few grand? They must see thousands of those and find them very easy to detect and have a strong incentive to not count them. Pay $20 to a small underfunded primary school of 100 students? That's gotta be much much much smaller volume, and with very little incentive to bother about, and if they did exclude a customer because of it the optics just seem rather mean and petty.
I have reached min. spend. First statement received and have been credited QFF to my account immediately. Waiting for my payment to clear and I'll be cancelling to reset my 1 year timer
First time applying for one of these - if I cancel the card after receiving the points and prior to the card anniversary, will I also need to pay the annual fee when I cancel?
You will pay for the 1st year which is charged shortly after card activation. If you cancel before the anniversary there will be no second charge.
Anyone having trouble adding the card into Google Pay in Android?
Kept getting "Double-check your card detail" error
How long do they reply after sending the payslips? Do I still get the promo if I'm still at conditionally approved after the promo? 3rd day now and still no word from them.
I'm getting an error after clicking on apply, anyone else? If i go via st george web site the annual fee is $99.
anyone get charged $99 instead of $49?
Bunch of incompetent individuals. Applied in Feb, have only received card yesterday. Multiple times chasing up. It's like they write a note on your file on a piece of paper then when you hang up they throw it in the bin.
Does anyone know if afterpay instalments count towards the minimum spend?
It was for me, yes.
Has anyone received their 60k points? I signed up at the end of Feb and meet the spend requirements in March but have not received the bonus. Any idea when they issue?
I met the spend requirement and received points within 1st statement.
Are you sure your transactions were all eligible?
similar situation. Applied in Feb, met the spend in 1st statement generated in March.
2nd Statement came though but no points…
Same with me. Yet to receive any points even after meeting the spend in between first and second statement. Have you received yet?
nope didn't get in the 2nd statement. Going to call them to see what's going on. I am sure I have met the requirements, hoping to get the usual response that it can take upto 90 days from meeting the eligible spend.
Seems decent! Any extra fees or tricks/problems we should be aware of?
Can someone please point us in the right direction for a basic strategy to collect points / card churn ?