• expired

Smart Awards Card: 12.5k QFF Points Monthly with $1.5k Spend for 4 Months, Fees: $60/Year + $19/Month($0 w/$2k) @ Commbank Yello

2490

Fees: $60 per year for Qantas Points earning option (free for CommBank Awards Points earning option). $19 per month credit card fee, or spend at least $2,000 on your Smart Awards credit card in your statement period to qualify for no monthly fee for that month.

edit: DISCLAIMER: a few people are getting their knickers in a knot over this card in particular not being exceptional value which I do tend to agree with so I do encourage you to consider the table comparing various credit cards below to see best option for your circumstances. This card does require to be open for 4 months and spend $2k per month in everyday spending to avoid fees. There are better options available but this was best suited to me and my circumstances and is the best points to fee ratio but does require a large $$ spend and require the card to remain open for 4 months

To get the best value out of this card you need to spend $2,000 per month on everyday transactions to receive 12,500 Qantas Frequent Flyer Points each month for four months totaling 50,000 Qantas Points and also to avoid the monthly fee of $19. You will only pay $60 per year to opt-in to earn Qantas Points, meaning you can get 833 points per dollar spent in fees.

What can 50,000 Qantas Points get you? You can get a Classic Rewards Economy Flight from Sydney to Los Angeles one way for 41,900 points. That same flight in cash would cost $1,500. Not bad for only $60 in CommBank fees and 8,100 points leftover to play with…

Alternatively, you can go with 90,000 CommBank Awards points over Qantas points which will cost you NOTHING monthly if you spend over $2k per month and you can convert your points into $425 in digital Coles, K-Mart, Target or Myer vouchers.

Earn up to 50,000 Qantas Points (or 90,000 CommBank Awards points)

  • Earn 12,500 Qantas Points (or 22,500 CommBank Awards points) each month when you spend $1,500 or more per month for the first four months.
  • $60 per year to opt-in to earn Qantas Points. No monthly fee if you spend at least $2,000 during your statement period. Otherwise the monthly fee is $19
  • Offer commenced 23 July 2024 and is only available to customers in CommBank Yello when applying for the credit card. Terms and conditions apply.
  • Earn up to 0.6 Qantas Points for every $1 spent up to and including $5,000 in a statement period on eligible purchase.
  • Points Boost: Earn up to 0.8 Qantas Points per $1 spent on your highest eligible purchase made in a statement period up to 400 Qantas Points
  • Pay no international transaction fees for purchases you make overseas or online
  • Access to international travel insurance when you spend at least $500 in a single transaction on prepaid travel using your card and activate before you travel
  • 20.99% p.a. purchase interest rate. Minimum credit limit of $3,000. Up to 44 days interest-free on purchases. Pay no additional cardholder fee.
  • Enjoy access to over 1,300 airport lounges worldwide for a fee with Mastercard Travel Pass provided by DragonPass with your Smart Awards credit card

I've gone looking across all the banks because I'm due for a new Qantas Points earning credit card. I know this isn't a proper churning card as you need to keep it open for four months, but I've done NAB, Suncorp, St George, Westpac, ANZ & Bankwest all in the last 12 months so this is the one which is most suitable for me, and also one of the best Qantas Points earning cards per dollar paid in fees.

Off memory, I think they've just reintroduced the bonus points offer which was not available for a lot of this year. Not necessarily too many benefits outside the bonus points, but it is one of the few cards though which offers 0% international transaction fees (most are 3%).

CommBank (Yello) also have an offer on their Ultimate Awards card which works out better value in fees than this one, if and only if you spend $4k per month to not attract a monthly fee of $35. This one is much more achievable of $2k per month to not get the $19 fee.

Disclaimer: everything applies below if you haven't held any of these banks specific cards in the last 12 or 18 months (depending on the bank). Some of these cards have additional bonus point offers if you keep them open for 12 or 18 months, but who'd do that, meet spend criteria, receive bonus points & cancel… just keep churnin'. I dare say there might be one or two errors, but it'll point you in the right direction based on your monthly everyday spending to what offer you can best take advantage of. I've put some weird 60 day spend criteria or exuberant total spend amounts in bold to highlight potential shortfalls in making the bonus spend criteria. Really depends what you want from your card, a lot of the ones towards the bottom of the list offer better perks, but if you're purely after points, aim for the ones towards the top.

Credit Card Annual Fee Sign-Up Qantas Bonus Points Bonus Criteria Qantas Points per $ in fees
CommBank Ultimate Awards (Yello) $60 (+$35/m under $4k spend) 15,000/m for 4 months $3.5k spend each month 1000 (if you spend $4k p/month)
CommBank Smart Awards (Yello) $60 (+$19/m under $2k spend) 12,000/m for 4 months $1.5k spend each month 833 (if you spend $2k p/month)
Westpac Altitude Qantas Platinum $124 (reduced) 60,000 points $4k spend in 90 days 483
St George Amplify Platinum $124 (reduced) 50,000 points $3k spend in 90 days 403
Westpac Altitude Qantas Black $225 (reduced) 90,000 points $6k spend in 120 days 400
ANZ Frequent Flyer Black $425-$200 cashback = $225 90,000 points & $200 cashback $5k spend in 90 days 400 (after cashback)
ANZ Frequent Flyer Platinum $295-$100 cashback = $195 75,000 points & $100 cashback $2.5k spend in 90 days 384 (after cashback)
St George Amplify Signature $214 (reduced) 80,000 points $6k spend in 90 days 373
NAB Rewards Premium $195 (existing customer) 60,000 points $2k spend in 60 days 307
CitiBank Premier Qantas $350 100,000 $6k spend in 90 days 295
Bankwest Platinum Qantas $160 40,000 points $3k spend in 90 days 250
Suncorp Clear Options Platinum $178 40,000 points $4.5k spend in 90 days 224
CitiBank Prestige Qantas $749 150,000 points $7.5k spend in 60 days 200
Qantas Premier Platinum $349 70,000 points $3k spend in 90 days 200
NAB Rewards Signature $320 (existing customer) 90,000 points $3k spend in 60 days 281
Qantas Premier Titanium $1,200 150,000 points $5k spend in 90 days 125
Amex Qantas Amex Ultimate $450 50,000 points $3k spend in 90 days 111
Amex Qantas Amex Premium $249 20,000 points $3k spend in 90 days 80

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Comments

  • +37

    Because of the cucks who take these crappy deals, banks think they can keep feeding us this rubbish. Much better deals out there. Vote with your wallets.

    • +11

      Much better deals out there.

      Such as?

      • +2

        NAB Rewards premium? for the points you are getting for this CBA deal, the spend isn't worth it

        • +10

          Yeah there was context around that.. ANZ Frequent Flyer Black & Westpac Altitude Black I feel are the best mix of number of points, fees and spend criteria…
          I’ve never understood those who say the spend isn’t worth it, so long as the spend falls within your everyday spending and you pay the card off each month, what’s the issue?

          • +5

            @OpulentLace: I suspect it is your point around if it falls within everyday spending - for someone young and single, making $4k of spend monthly may be a challenge. For those of us with young families, sadly it is not much of an effort at all

            • @trotsky: Wow, how is spending 1k a week on everyday items almost normal for family or not. That's premium spending.

          • +3

            @OpulentLace: Those cards are a completely different tier and much harder to get approved for. However, the main thing I am comparing is the amount of months you need to spend that amount for, Nab for example needs 2k in 60 days, for the offer above, you need to spend 8k in 4 months? But then whynot get the black cards which give more points if we are spending that much? I hope that makes sense.

            Everyone has their own circumstances at the end of the day and it may or may not work for everyone

            • +3

              @hmac:

              I know this isn't a proper churning card as you need to keep it open for four months, but I've done NAB, Suncorp, St George, Westpac, ANZ & Bankwest all in the last 12 months so this is the one which is most suitable for me, and also one of the best Qantas Points earning cards per dollar paid in fees.

        • But if you're already spending the money, this gives you a good deal with lower otherwise costs? I think each deal is targeted to different people. In reality, the issue is card flippers lose the banks money. That's why many moved to giving the points over 13 months and trying to draw customers into getting used to the annual fee.

      • Practically all of em. This card and deal is awful. Take special note of the 'up to' condition on earning rate as well.

    • +3

      Whilst I agree voting with our wallet is the way, there's additional context here in that, for CBA, this is a pretty decent deal.

      That may or may not matter to you but I think it is notable that you can pick up 60k points (the other deal) for $60 with CBA, they have never offered the 6 figure bonus offers we are used to seeing, and it's a low fee option compared to the wider market.

      • +1

        Tbh, given the billions CBA is making in profits every quarter, I expect to see six or closer to six figure bonus offers we are used to seeing.

        • Lol, you realise the other banks offering those deals often just lose money on them? They make about 1% per dollar spent after direct external fees, then take into their internal costs it's more like 0.3-0.5%. If they're giving away deals that are 5-10% costs out the door and customers are stopping spending after that and churning, why would they offer the deal? It just goes to show how desperate some banks are for market share and will do these big point deals that appeal to us churners at the expense of their ongoing customers.

    • +1

      commbank have never offered a churn worthy deal, noob

    • +8

      Yeah I agree.

      $8000 spend with monthly checkins for 50k points? Absolute rubbish. If it was $3k spend for 50k points I'd consider it, but even that is pretty low value.

    • So many cards has $5-6K spend criteria, not feasible for many. The days to get 100K QFF points with just $3K spend seems to be over now.

    • +1

      What abou ANZ Black?

    • Only a racist sees race in everything.

  • All the CBA cards are fee free if you hold a home loan with them iirc.

    • Smart Awards (their mid-Awards card) is not included in the Wealth Package for some weird reason.

    • Yeah not quite right unfortunately. If referring to the fee-free credit card if you hold a home loan with the Wealth Package, then specific credit cards apply. Ref: https://www.commbank.com.au/content/dam/commbank/personal/ho…

      • +1

        Ultimate Awards Credit Card
        Awards Credit Card
        Low Fee Credit Card
        Low Rate Credit Card
        Business Platinum Awards Credit Card

    • +1

      Think I’d rather just hand them my kidney than hold a home loan with them

    • you forget the 395ish per year fee for the deal which includes the offset account

      ANZ NAB for example ditched the CC stuff and only charges $10/month

      • Most banks have that deal. Depends what you want. A lot of banks got in trouble because people didn't pick up parts of the deal, so it became a fee for no service situation.

        It's easier to just charge for the products separately then meet the regulatory requirements as you can't control your customers not following through with the credit card or another part of the package.

        • no CBA Westpac St George (if i remembering right, been a year ago) didnt offer me that deal, their one was that high yearly fee for offset.

          ANZ and NAB did the $10 monthly

  • +36

    Have a + for the fabulous table at the bottom!

    • +4

      Agreed! Credit to OP for such a detailed analysis!

  • +1

    Take my + for the post!

  • +1

    The BankWest one is good value for travelling. No foreign transaction fee and I managed to get 50% refund on the $160 annual fee when the 40k bonus points was allocated to my Qantas account.

    • +1

      Agreed. I literally cancelled my Bankwest card today after taking it around America last month and the bonus points landed in my Qantas account earlier this week. Did you get the annual fee refund through online chat or phone call? I was going to give it a go through the week…

      • I called up, they were initially reluctant to give the refund but asked to escalate to manager and they came back shortly after with 50% refund which I accepted

        • +1

          So basically be an annoying customer and they’ll give you some money to go away.

    • +1

      For travelling card, I did the comparison with Bankwest and decided to get a Macquarie transaction account instead.

      Macquarie has 4.75% interest earning and also free international fee/ atm fee which I reckon is a very good option as a travel card.

    • what card is this?

    • does this card have FX rates as good as the platinum debit card

  • Just the details of the post worth a +
    Thanks OP!

  • +3

    You could convert the 90k cba points to 45k velocity points and avoid the $60 Qantas fee for those looking for Velocity points.

    Free if you meet the monthly minimum spend criteria to waive the fee.

    • Though that is poor in terms of bonus sign up points, it is pretty good value in terms of the fee. Not a bad thought..

  • +2

    I’ve been keeping this card as a permanent because of the no international fees :)

  • +1

    Did anyone try to apply for this card and fail? 220k p/a, listed my normal expenses. Didn't see anywhere that it asked for investments/assets. Listed my existing credit cards. And got rejected and now can't open another application.

    • +1

      That's CBA for you, you are not their customer, they probably use a milking score rather than a credit score

    • I applied back in May, got approved and have received 90,000 points.

      • I'm assuming that's 90K CBA reward points?

    • I got applied for this CC (my first ever CC) few weeks ago. Approved within hours and I only have a casual job earning 1k p/w. The online application didn’t ask for payslips or anything, no proof of anything was required.

      Opted for the 50k Qantas points.

      • Did you have to open a CBA account?

      • Did you have a commonwealth bank account?

    • what's the total of your existing credit card limits?

    • +1

      So, figured out the reason why it was rejected.

      After getting the rejection, I went into the branch and asked if they could look into my denied application. They did, and although they won't ever know the exact reason, they did see it had been conditionally approved and then rejected at stage 2 for 'unable to service loan'. Upon looking into it further, CBA somehow had some error in my home loan stating that I paid 300k monthly. The system saw that and failed me then and there.

      To anyone that does get rejected for any CBA application: it doesn't hurt to go into a branch and have someone help you get it checked out.

  • +2

    Heads up: CommBank is a pain in the ass.

    I've applied twice over the past few years and they rejected me both times because I don't have a transaction account with them.

    I've had no problems getting cards from literally every other bank, and I have CommSec One.

  • That sounds like work, no thanks, plus CBA's application process is hit and miss, pass

  • +1

    +1 for detailed card list

  • +2

    Keen to see a similar table for Velocity cards too!

  • +1

    I have + you for the detailed table at the end. Thanks.
    For St George Amplify Platinum, the fee is $49 for the first year, or even $0 if you are a current customer (e.g. open a free transaction account with them first).

  • Thanks OP. Had those cards on my radar. Decided to apply for Ultimate Awards and got conditionally approved.

  • Bonus Awards Points or Qantas Points offers are only available to new Awards customers. By switching to Ultimate Awards you are not eligible.

  • +2

    Didn’t realise this hasn’t been posted before. Opened this card month and a half ago, met spend criteria for first statement but didn’t receive any bonus points. Reading the fine print, it appears the sign up bonus points do not post monthly. Something to be aware of. This is the fine print extract:

    Total eligible bonus points will be credited within 90 days of the end of the final month of the offer campaign period <…> The total bonus awards owed will be based on the number of months where the monthly spend criteria has been met.

    • +1

      I recently churned a similar Smart Awards bonus offer based on three monthly spends.

      There were no bonus points for meeting the monthly spend requirement on either the first statement (which was for a period barely longer than a fortnight) or second statement, then two of the three lots of bonus points came through on the third statement. But no bonus points were awarded on the fourth statement, which confused me.

      I re-read the T&Cs and noted the monthly spend criteria is (supposedly) based on successive 30 day periods, commencing from the day your account is opened. I'd seen this previously but wasn't consciously thinking about it after I got the card.

      I discovered I actually hadn't met the spend requirement by this criteria, based on their account opening date a few days after my application. If it was based on 30 day periods from the time the card was received I would have met the requirement, but not based on the earlier opening date.

      Closed the card very late into the fourth statement period and then to my surprise the third lot of bonus points was awarded on the final closure statement. Can't complain :)

      • Seriously… keeping track of this thing sounds like a complete admin clusterf#@k

        • +1

          Na its not that bad, I use to think that, but when I flew business class return to LA in July for 300k points and $200. And all it cost me is 5 minutes once a month dicking around with where you're at when you pay the balance off your card it's totally worth it.

          • @OpulentLace: I know the feeling, just returned home from Europe in business last week. This card received a good workout. Actually thinking of keeping it long term as it’s one of the few awards with zero forex fees.

  • +3

    No use opting for Qantas points anymore unless you are a points slut to get an upgrade on a short haul flights.

    Get 90k CommBank Awards and convert to Accor points when the bonus 50% is on. Converted to 27,000 points which is worth 540 Eur which was almost worth $900 AUD for me. Also the 8000 spend in 4 months which I did to waive the $19 fee netted me another 20,000 points (with Smart Awards monthly bonus for Yello+ customers). All in all, I got 1200$ worth or sign up bonus + 2 intl free insurance + $350 worth of Yello offers and MasterCard travel rewards cashback offers. If used correctly, this is one of the best cards on the market now with no intl txn fees

    • When were your bonus points posted?

      • +1

        My bonus points 30,000 each month posted about two weeks after each statement.

    • Can you sell Accor points?

    • Can you expand more on the 50% bonus?
      Is this 50% bonus when converting CommBank Awards to Accor points or something else?

    • So in my calculation, the total Awards point for 4 month period would be,,

      Sign up bonus per month 22,500 x 4 = 90,000
      Monthly spend 2k min. to waive the monthly account fee = 2,000 x 1.5 x 4 = 12,000
      Total: 102,000 Awards point.

      This would be equiv. to 30,600 Accor point by considering bonus 50%? (102,000 x 1.5 /5 = 30,600)

  • Wile churning does the qantas annal rewards fees apply again in the sam calendar year?

    • Na only annually. the whole idea is you get the card meet criteria and cancel the card the second your points are in your qantas account. Some banks will give you a pro rata refund on your annual fee but those are few and far between these days.

      • I had a weatpac card this year for 2 months and paid the qqntas annual fees of $79. If i get another card woukd i be chqrged again this year?

        • +1

          yes
          you're talking about westpac fees and commbank fees, of course you will be charged again

  • +9

    Not sure why this is getting upvoted
    $6k spend min $8k if you want to dodge fees.
    $136 fee + more if you have to wait for the points to hit
    50,000 Qantas points

    This is a very average deal

    • +3

      I upvoted for the beautiful table not the deal itself. Value is pretty poor for the CBA card, lots of better options available unless ppl have churned all already.

    • +1

      I think a lot of people appreciate the table at the bottom so you can make your mind up, I had context that for me this was the best available as I’ve churned through the betters offers on the market at the moment which are all listed in the table. But sure, be critical.

      • +2

        Dont get me wrong the table is great, buttt

        The upvotes on this post will make an ozbargainer think taking out this card is quite good value when in reality its not

  • Do you need to open everyday banking account for this card to get Yello?

  • +1

    Great table!, any similar one for Velocity?

    • Rwrds.com.au

  • Do BPAY transactions count towards the $4k/mth spend to avoid the monthly fee? I understand that you don't accrue QFF points with those types of transactions, but I currently pay my rent this way through another credit card so funds stay inside my mortgage offset longer.

    • BPay does not count

  • -1

    As a regular card churner I wouldn't say this is a good deal.

    The spend requirements across the 4 months is $6k (or $8k with no monthly fee) which is higher than every other credit card with the same minimum credit limit.

    The "Qantas Points per $ in fee" in table is widely skewed towards fees only. It doesn't take into consideration the monthly spending requirements. So if you had to spend $20k per month, that number wouldn't change. Which should be something to take into the calculation.

    • +2

      Not only monthly spending does matters but also minimum credit limit

      The Yello smart awards only requires minimum $3000 credit limit versus $6000+ for most cards with the same tier (bonus points)

      Low credit limit allows some lower income earner to still eligible to apply, but also allowing card churner to apply more cards at the same time

    • Well yes, the column is titled points per $ in fees so it would understandably be skewed towards that.. It’s all there for contexts for people to make their own mind. Hence why some of the more crazy spend amounts in 60 days or something out of the norm is in bold…

      If you pick a suitable card where you can comfortable meet the minimum spend within the time frame with everyday spending then I don’t see the issue and they’re all listed there for people to compare.

      I also am a credit card churned and done all those deals but if you need a low limit credit card which this offers for lower income, or grabbing a second card waiting for points to drop from another card than it might be suitable for some people…

  • +2

    Is the offer meant to be available in the CBA Yello tab in the app? I can't seem to find it.

    • You just need to apply for the credit card. As long as it says you are eligible for CBA Yello in the app it'll be picked up as part of your application.

  • great summary thanks!

  • Advice please!

    I run a small business online and my MONTHLY spending is around $15k (advertising on social media and COG). I've been running this business for 2 years and I've been using my bank (commbank) business visa debit card.

    I travel once a year with my partner and little one. Recently, my friend told me that he used amex quantas ultimate card and he pays everything with this card( bills, fuel, school, etc) and that i should get one.

    I really don't know anything about credit card and rewards etc and I'm looking for some advice on which one i should get as I'm spending nearly $15k every month.

    Thanks guys

    • +1

      Your friend is right but you're better talk to an accountant.

      Basically, you will use credit card (the bank's money) for all your expenses then pay off at end of the month/statement day.

      This one probably not suitable for you as you are spending big each month so may as well make use of some of the Premium / Prestige cards. You can start browse here https://www.rwrds.com.au/ for some ideas and probably best ask in the Financial forum

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