Hi All,
I’m getting a credit card ONLY for international travel and not sure which card is better the Bankwest or the 28degrees. I won’t need the card for anything local since I have a different one for that with rewards.
Any advice or comments would be helpful
Also balance would be paid off end of each statement.
Thanks
Read the T & C's for each card and decide for yourself which suits best
Ive had the BW Zero Platinum card for over 15 years
Always check against the latest offers and never beaten.
Nothing even comes close!
yes, it with 28 degrees card too
And a great all-round credit card.
Not just for overseas
There is your answer
Another option is the Coles Rewards Mastercard which has a $99 annual fee but gives 50,000 flybuys. Could keep for a year then ditch it.
Also you will earn some flybuys on international spend
This. I use this as my main credit card for overseas trip. The flybuy points (converted into flybuy dollars) you earn (both domestically and overseas) helps cover some, if not most, of the $99 annual fee.
I personally like 28 degree card. There are 2 main reasons:
1-There is absolutely no hidden charges. Currency conversion rates are sometime better that rate on google
2- You can activate pre flight insurances, if your flight is delayed over 2 hrs you will get complimentary lounge.
FYI- used the card for travel to India and Thailand.
Also free international esim with data each year…
2- You can activate pre flight insurances, if your flight is delayed over 2 hrs you will get complimentary lounge.
Has anyone used this? How was getting access. And what lounges do they give you access to?
It would Priority Pass lounge in the airport of your departure.
I have had the benefit of this several times.
It's LoungeKey Only been delayed once, flight delayed 2 hours and a few minutes so got the passes except was Qantas from Melbourne airport. No LoungeKey participating venues in that terminal so was useless.
You either get entry to the lounge or $36 off per guest at the bar/cafes.
Can't comment on 28 degrees, but can say have used the platinum zero for about 10 years worth of frequent overseas travel and overseas online purchases without any issues. Can't think of a time it was declined or has been a hassle. Used in EU, US, all over Asia and UAE…
Can't think of a time it was declined or has been a hassle
not many 28deg users could say this.
They are notorious for declining transactions and blocking cards.
Also look at the Bendigo ready credit card.
That's an interesting card, with the added advantage of no data leak….
For most people, it'll be a better BW Zero Platinum.
When I compared the two about a year ago, Bendigo had 90 days consecutive international travel insurance rather than 1 month, has COVID coverage and the extended warranty was potentially up to 2yrs rather than the 1yr cap BW has. Minimum card limit is also lower and you have an option other than SMS for authentication.
I can't see 28D's travel esim being much use if you do more than one trip per year but each person does have different needs.
Bankwest Platinum Zero, because 28 Degrees made payments difficult. With Bankwest, I open a Bankwest Transaction account and can instantly PayID into it and then pay the credit card down, very handy if I get close to my credit limit while traveling.
Didn’t think of that. Will need to look into opening a link transaction account then. More to think about
It's one click on the Latitude app to pay the 28 degrees. Not exactly difficult.
It has been well known that 28 degrees is the only credit card that charges you a fee if you pay manually. No fee for direct debit.
Not exactly. You can pay online without fees in the Service Centre.You need to set up an account for them to withdraw the funds from but unlike direct debit to pay off your account in full each month, you can choose when and how much. They also removed the restriction it used to have of only being able to use it once every 5 days, though they still offline it overnight which can be a PITA.
There is a fee to pay via BPay.
It's not that bad, but then again I've got the grandfathered price protection insurance so I'm happy enough to put up with the very minor issues for that benefit.
@bamzero: Online Service Centre is closing soon so you might get the $0.95 online payment if done manually which is what I do. $1 is nothing compared to the benefits I get.
@giveback: The Latitude Service Centre replaces it, same same. Still have the option to pay manually by drawing from an account (though might need to set it up again, requiring verification by some transaction amounts they make and can take a couple of days to appear so don't leave it to last minute.)
@bamzero: I also have grandfathered price protection and it's the only reason I still have the card.
I don't use it for travel anymore. It's pretty much useless for international travel these days when there are so many cards with no international transaction fees, e.g. UBank
As I have to pay a 1% premium on the balance each month for price protection, I want my card paid off before the statement is issued. However, there's a lag with transactions clearing on the card and also payments going through, so when there's a high volume of transactions it's difficult to manage.
I've been paying manually for nearly 6 years and never paid a fee.
@bdl: If you have setup account to pay online and initiate the payment from their portal then that's free of charge. If pay the credit card from a saving/trans account via BPay then it's $0.95 / transaction - not sure if they have increased since 2016.
What so difficult about it? I set to direct debit?
yes, 28C is a pain with their payment restrictions.
28 Degree degree card has better benefits..
Neither.
Bendigo Ready ftw!
I have zero platinum and never had an issue overseas over multiple holidays.
I haven’t claimed on travel insurance though.
I had a very bad experience with both the staff and the manager of BankWest in Victoria. I cancelled my credit card with them instantly. Very bad service provided.
I've got the Bankwest Zero and use it for Travel Insurance as it has minimal condition on eligibility for the cover (compared with my Citi card). However you need to read the PDS in detail and understand it, as the Cover under platinum is limited to the basic health cover and a couple of other items. For complete coverage, cancellation, hire car, baggage and so on you need to upgrade via the Bankwest App for full cover. As an example a recent trip in September it was $99 for a family of four to upgrade to full cover for a 10 day international trip. Insurance is issued by Covermore. A number of people wont use credit card insurance because they believe it's not somehow less than getting direct from an insurance company, reality is it's issued/underwritten by the same companies, the problems arise from people not reading and understanding the conditions of eligibility in the PDS.
Yep, read the PDS so you know what you're getting. I've always used my Commbank cards travel insurance, initially because I can activate even if I purchased tickets another way and after reading the PDS it was the same or better than other travel insurance I looked in to.
Have only had to claim once but they paid out without any problems.
Get both, always good to have backup.