This guide is maintained by illumination and was inspired by this comment. Updated sporadically when I have time. I am happy for others to edit and add their own additions, but would like for any additions/amendments to be noted.

The purpose of this wiki is to give you a broad recommendation as to which Credit Cards you should have to address your most common needs. This can range from Travel Insurance, Price Protection, Rewards Points, to AMEX statement credits.

If you cannot guarantee that you will pay your credit card balance in full each month then you should prefer a low-rate credit card over rewards (as the savings in interest will far exceed the low benefits obtained through rewards).

As a general rule of thumb, you should have the following cards:

1. American Express Card - for highest points earn + AMEX statement credit offers
2. Mastercard/Visa - as a backup where AMEX is either not accepted, or only accepted with a ridiculous surcharge
3. Travelling Card/International Transactions Card - to avoid having to pay Overseas Transaction and forex fees

Depending on how specific you want to be, this can be further broken down as follows:

1. Travel Insurance Card
2. Extended Warranty Card
3. Price Protection Card
4. Lounge Access Card
5. Supermarket/Department store card (e.g. David Jones AMEX)

In the examples given below, the percentage used to show “rate of return” is based on gift cards, NOT premium class airfares/upgrades which arguably provides greater value for your points. All rates of return are calculated per dollar spent.

It is arguable (and largely true) that points are greater value when used for redeeming flights. However, there are a multitude of reasons I will not be using the potential value from airfares in rewards points for the purpose of this guide:

There are a large variety of reasons why valuing points for airfares is complex. Factors include:

• Class of travel: Economy Class, Premium Economy Class, Business Class, First Class
• Travel period: For example, June-August compared to December-February for flights to Europe, or simply weekends compared to weekdays.
• Time of travel: A flight at 10am is not worth the same as a flight at 1pm - it is technically a “different product”
• Choice/preference of airline: For example, for SYD-AKL you have the choice of 6 airlines: Jetstar, LAN, Qantas, Emirates, China Airlines, Virgin Australia
• Stopovers: For example, if you were to search for a SYD-LHR revenue ticket, you will be given a multitude of stopover options
• The type of traveller you are:
  1. You never fly, due to work/family commitments, or a lack of interest in flying/travelling.
  2. Whenever you fly, you want to get from point A to B for the cheapest price possible
  3. Whenever you fly, you want to fly in style in premium cabins
• Other promotional activities/opportunities that may exist by paying for a revenue ticket or redeeming points for airfares
  • Example 1: Qantas Frequent Flyer offering quadruple points for all bookings made to Turkey in July 2015 (this is merely an example - it did not actually happen)
  • Example 2: Asia Miles offering 15% off redemptions for travel originating in Australia for bookings made by 31 July 2015 (also merely an example)
• Fuel tax/airport tax
  • American carriers only charge one of fuel tax or airport tax (can someone confirm?)
  • Can sometimes vary by class of travel and airport - airports in the UK charge additional taxes for premium cabins
• With almost all cases, (significantly) reduced availability for redemption fares - this means you must be more flexible with your travel dates and book your fares further in advance
• Differences in ways of calculating the points cost between different loyalty programs
  • Example 1: Qantas Frequent Flyer “penalise” (charge you extra) to fly on an airline within their alliance, as opposed to Cathay Pacific's Asia Miles where you will be charged the same number of points regardless of which airline you fly within the alliance
  • Example 2: Asia Miles offer a discount for booking a return airfare as opposed to one-way. i.e. Return airfares cost less than 2x one-ways.
  • Example 3: Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer class city pairs into zones and the fares are calculated based on the zone within which the cities fall into. With Asia Miles, the cost is calculated by adding the total flying distance between all the cities within which your proposed routing includes. This means if you add more stopovers, your fare will cost more.

• Either:
  1. Book in a premium class of travel - this means Business Class or higher
  2. Upgrade an upgradable economy class ticket - note that upgrades are often not allowed on the cheapest class of Economy class - you will need to find out what the respective rewards program's rules are to find out whether you will be able to upgrade
• Book long-haul travel - from East Coast Australia, this refers to South East Asia or further (flight time of 7 hours+)
• Specifically for flexible rewards programs such as AMEX Membership Rewards, ANZ Rewards, Westpac Altitude or Citibank Rewards: Out of all the frequent flyer programs you can transfer your points to, which one will you be able to yield maximum value out of? Find out the points cost, the airline options available to you, and whether your desired dates are available. Do this prior to transferring the points.

Date Checked: July 3, 2015

Departure: Wednesday, March 9, 2016
QF1
SYD-DXB
16:50-01:25

QF1
DXB-LHR
02:40-06:20

Return: Wednesday, March 23, 2016
QF2
LHR-DXB
21:15-07:20

QF2
DXB-SYD
10:55-06:50

Cost:

Points: 128,000 points
Tax Cost: $845.18
Inclusions: 30kg luggage each way
Revenue Ticket price: $2226

With the calculation above, 1000 points = $10.79

Depart: Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Return: Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Points Cost: 192,000 points
Tax Cost: $1209.78
Inclusions: 40kg luggage each way
Stopover: Dubai

Departure: Wednesday, November 4, 2015

EK415
SYD-DXB
06:00-13:20

EK9
DXB-LHR
14:45-18:25

Return: Sunday, November 22, 2015

QF10
LHR-MEL (Stopover in Dubai)
12:35-21:35

QF400
MEL-SYD
06:00-07:25

Cost:

Points: 192,000 points
Tax Cost: $1586.78
Inclusions: 40kg luggage each way

I am going to assume the benefit of Balance Transfers would not be beneficial to a great deal of Ozbargainers, because to really take advantage of a Balance Transfer offer, you must already have a significant credit card debt. However, this presents two issues:

• Having an existing debt may affect your ability to apply for a new credit card offering a balance transfer
• By taking advantage of a balance transfer, any purchases you make whilst having a balance transfer are not part of the common “55 days interest free” feature offered by most credit cards (because you already have an existing debt from a previous statement). That means you would be purchasing something worth $1000 today, and tomorrow you will owe $1000.55 (calculated at 20%/p.a. - a ball park figure for the commonly charged interest rate on many credit cards)

Having said that, a balance transfer can be a very good way of indirectly obtaining a personal loan for either no interest at all (e.g. 0% for 16 months), or a very low rate (e.g. 0.99% for 12 months). An example of such a situation would be if you wish to purchase a car.

• You wish to purchase a $15,000 car
• You currently have a credit card with a $10,000 credit limit
• You pay $5,000 cash, and the other $10,000 on your credit card for the $15,000 car
• Your balance (amount owed) on the credit card is now $10,000. This means two things:
  • You currently can't use this credit card anymore (you have reached your credit limit)
  • You owe $10,000, and if you do not have $10,000 currently saved, you will be accruing interest on this amount owed at the interest rate of card after the due date of your next statement
• You can now apply for a credit card with a promotional offer on Balance Transfers (such as, 0% on Balance Transfers for the next 16 months)
• If approved, for the next 16 months you will still owe $10,000 and you will NOT accrue any interest charges

Cheque to Self is currently only offered by Citibank.

This is almost the same as Balance Transfers offered by other banks, but is literally a cheque written to you in your name (greater flexibility). This means you can take it as cash, put it in a high-interest savings account, put it in a term deposit, or put it in an offset account for a mortgage. Assuming you are able to repay this amount back prior to the promotional period finishing, you have now earnt money in interest (or saved money in interest) by using Citibank's money.

Once again as in the case above, if you are to take advantage of a Balance Transfer, any purchase you make will instantly attract an interest charge, so it would be in your best financial interests to not use that card prior to paying off the Balance Transfer.

Complimentary Travel Insurance can vary greatly from card to card. For this reason, it is very important that you read the Product Disclosure Statement of the insurance offered to you by your Card Provider so you are aware and understand what exactly is and isn't covered, and to what extent it is covered. There is also usually a minimum spend required before Travel Insurance on a Credit Card becomes activated. This amount is most commonly $500 - i.e. a minimum of $500 of your travel expenses (including accommodation, tours, airfares) must be paid for on the card, which is not usually very difficult to achieve. It also common for the card holder + family members to be included.

The common inclusions of Travel Insurance can include:

• Medical/Injuries (Cover for hospital admission, medical consultation)
• Disruptions (Compensation for Cancelled/delayed flights, generally 'unlimited' cover for cancellations)
• Funeral Repayments
• Theft
• Lost Baggage

When it comes time to claiming, a “claim amount” (excess) must be paid. This is a one-off fee and once again varies from insurer to insurer.

It is often said that standalone specialised Travel Insurance is often better than the ones offered by a third party through a Credit Card Provider, but as I am not familiar with Travel Insurance, I will stop here.

These are the current standout AMEX cards with annual fees:

• American Express Explorer Card - $395 annual fee (released August 2016)
• American Express Platinum Edge - $195 annual fee
• American Express Velocity Platinum - $349 annual fee

And three with no annual fee:

• Qantas American Express Discovery
• Velocity American Express Escape
• American Express Essential

These American Express cards over the last few years (2014-2016) have always had a bonus points offer on sign up. The amount may vary on a roughly quarterly basis, but is usually a variation of the points awarded, annual fee waiver, and/or a balance transfer promotion.

All the following cards will give you access to many of the AMEX statement credit deals posted here - often times you could make savings worth hundreds of dollars annually with these offers. Some of these offers are exclusive to American Express direct issued cards, which means those listed on this page. This is as opposed to American Express cards issued by the banks - which at present are only issued by three of the four major banks of Australia: NAB, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank.

N.B. As of 2017-11-13 NAB no longer issues new AMEX cards and existing cards will expire on 2018-02-21 as per this link.

The common features of these cards are as follows:

• “Refund Protection” for if you are refused a refund on an eligible item within 90 days of purchase
• “Purchase Protection” for eligible items that are accidentally broken/stolen within 90 days
• 4x free Supplementary Cards

Some of these also include a combination of the following, specified in more detail below:

• Travel Insurance - eligibility, claim limits, excesses, and definitions all vary depending on the product
• “Buyer's Advantage” (Extended Manufacturer's Warranty)
• Smartphone Screen Insurance
• Sydney International Airport AMEX Lounge access

Official Page

• $400 Travel Credit usable on car hire, hotels, flights and must be booked via American Express Travel or over the phone.
• Consistent 2 Membership Rewards Gateway points/$1 earn
  • Note that Membership Rewards Gateway points differ to the Membership Rewards Ascent points earned on the Platinum Edge. Most notably, the conversion rate to the airline programs is 25% lower from the Gateway variant
• Membership Rewards Gateway - Transfer your points to multiple loyalty programs (e.g. Asia Miles, KrisFlyer, Enrich Miles, Emirates Skywards, AirPoints (Air NZ), Starwood Preferred Guest) and no points expiry. Good to take advantage of promotional point transfers which come up every now and then.
  • There are reports from the Australian Frequent Flyer forum of being able to “convert” the points from Membership Rewards Gateway to Membership Rewards Ascent. It appears to be related to owning a card which earns into Membership Rewards Gateway and another card earning into Membership Rewards Ascent, and then calling to have them linked.
• Complimentary Travel Insurance activated upon $500 cumulative spend on travel expenses. Airfare purchased must be a return airfare originating in Australia.
• Rate of Return (on versatile Gift Cards): 1.48% (2 points per $1 and 13500 points per $100 cash back or gift card)
• Bonus points offer as at 25 November 2016 (check expiry and qualifying criteria):
  • 100,000 Membership Rewards Gateway points after spending $1500 within 3 months
  • 100,000 Membership Rewards Gateway points with a referral link after spending $1500 within 3 months, with referee getting 30,000 points
• Entry to the Sydney and Melbourne International Airport AMEX Lounge twice per calendar year

Official Page

One free domestic return flight per anniversary year on Virgin Australia incl. baggage - this is worth more than the annual fee in itself and can (may be against T&Cs) be resold as it does not need to be in your name. You could almost argue this makes the card free, without factoring in the effort of having to resell the ticket.

• $200 Travel Credit for new applications from 10 November 2016. The Travel Credit is usable on car hire, hotels, flights and must be booked via American Express Travel or over the phone.
• Bonus points for expenditure in certain categories (3 points/$1 at major supermarkets, 2 points/$1 at major petrol stations)
• Membership Rewards Ascent - Transfer your points to multiple loyalty programs (e.g. Asia Miles, KrisFlyer, Enrich Miles, Emirates Skywards, AirPoints (Air NZ), Starwood Preferred Guest) and no points expiry. Good to take advantage of promotional point transfers which come up every now and then.
• Complimentary Travel Insurance activated upon $500 cumulative spend on travel expenses. Airfare purchased must be a return airfare originating in Australia.
• - Rate of Return: At 3 points/$1 at supermarkets, ~2.61%
• – If stacking with 15% off reward seats + 15% bonus points, rate of return on a 'peak' domestic Virgin Australia flight (MEL-BNE) = 7.65%
• Purchasing (Woolworths) supermarket gift cards yields 3 points/$1, which is hugely important given the 5% eGift Cards we can regularly purchase from Cashrewards/Entertainment Book
• Bonus points offer as at 25 November 2016 (check expiry and qualifying criteria):
  • 10,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $750 within 3 months
  • 15,000 Membership Rewards points with a referral link after spending $750 within 3 months

Official Page

• One free domestic return flight per anniversary year on Virgin Australia incl. baggage (as at 11 February 2017, this is the only AMEX card remaining with a free Virgin Australia flight) - this may be worth more than the annual fee in itself does not need to be in your name. Thus, this can technically be sold by may be against the T&Cs. This potentially covers a large portion of the annual fee, without factoring in the effort of having to resell the ticket. See destinations here
• Bonus points for expenditure in certain categories (3 points/$1 at any merchant tagged as a restaurant, 2 points/$1 on travel related expenses)
• Complimentary Travel Insurance activated upon purchasing an airfare on the card. The airfare does not need to be a return fare, nor does it need to originate in Australia, which is means eligibility for the Travel Insurance is easy, relative to many of the other complimentary travel insurances provided on Credit Cards.
• Rate of Return (on Coles Gift Cards): At 3 points/$1 at restaurants, ~1.66%
• Bonus points offer as at 25 November 2016 (check expiry and qualifying criteria):
  • 50,000 Velocity points after spending $150 within 3 months
  • 80,000 Velocity points with a referral link after spending $1500 within 3 months
• Entry to the Sydney International Airport AMEX Lounge twice per calendar year
• Discounted companion Business Class travel on Virgin Australia (or Etihad/Delta codeshares) to selected long haul destinations
• Entry to the Virgin Australia Business Class lounge twice per card anniversary year - usable when flying Virgin Australia (including when using the included free flight)

Official Page

• 1 QFF Point/$1
• 2 QFF Points/$1 on “selected Qantas products and services in Australia”
• Current bonus points offer as at 25 November 2016:
  • up to 7,500 Qantas points without referral after spending $750 within 3 months
  • up to 15,000 Qantas points when using a referral link after spending $750 within 3 months
• Rate of Return (on $10 Woolworths Gift Card for 1500 points): At 1 QFF point/$1, ~0.66%

Official Page

• 1 VFF Point/$1
• 2 VFF Points/$1 on Virgin Australia
• Current bonus points offer as at 25 November 2016:
  • 7,500 points when you spend $750 within 3 months
  • 15,000 points when using a referral link after spending $750 within 3 months
• Rate of Return (on $50 Coles Gift Cards): At 1 VFF point/$1, ~0.55%

Official Page

• 1 American Express Membership Reward Point/$1 on all purchases
• 0.5 American Express Membership Reward Point/$1 on utilities, telcos, government bodies
• Current bonus offer as at 25 November 2016:
  • $50 statement credit when you spend $750 within 3 months
  • $75 statement credit when use a referral link and spend $750 within 3 months
• Smartphone Screen Insurance where you essentially pay 10% of the cost of your screen repairs, covered up to a maximum value of $500 per claim (e.g. a $450 claim will incur a $45 charge called an “excess”)
• The only one out of the free AMEXs which includes up to 12 months of Extended Manufacturer's Warranty upon purchasing an eligible item on the card.
• Rate of Return (on a versatile Gift Card): ~0.74%?

Official Page | Free for Life Promo this offer is now expired

• 75,000 points on your first spend within 90 days from card approval
• Rewards program
• 2x PriorityPass Lounge access per year
• Complimentary Travel Insurance
• Rate of Return: ~0.85%

Official Page

• $129 annual fee, refunded if you spend over $6,000 in the year
• Complimentary 12 months Extended Warranty on most purchases of “personal goods”
• Complimentary Travel Insurance
• Rate of Return: ~0.50%

Official Page

• $99, $49 or $0 Annual Fee
• 2 points/$1, 1 point/$2 or 1 point/$2
• 6 months Merchandise Protection (costs 1% of closing balance, avoidable if you pay the balance owed prior to statement being generated
• Rate of Return: 1% or 0.25%
• Free Delivery with Coles Online when order over $100, not available to remote areas.
• [$99 annual fee Coles Rewards Card only]: No International transaction/currency conversion fees on all purchases
• If you are paying your balance off prior to statement generation, you are effectively reducing your interest free days to 28-31 days (depending on calendar month) instead of the maximum “up to 62 days”
• Price protection Pays the price difference to your account if an eligible item purchased with your card reduces in price at the same store within 24 months of purchase.
• Merchandise protection Pays the cost of repair or replacement if an eligible item purchased with your card is lost, stolen or damaged within 6 months of purchase.

• The Bankwest Zero Platinum Mastercard is better than 28 Degrees in all aspects, except eligibility is stricter due to the minimum credit limit requirement of $6,000 which requires a higher salary
• The other Bankwest Platinum Mastercards have an annual fee and you can earn points into a Rewards Program, but are otherwise exactly the same as the Zero Mastercard
• The 28 Degrees is superior in only one aspect - 6 months Price Protection and Merchandise Protection
• Bankwest cards have a 21 day “Purchase price guarantee”, and a 3 month Purchase Security Cover

Official Page

• 12 months Price Protection and Merchandise Protection on purchases (costs 0.5% of closing balance, avoidable if you pay the balance owed prior to statement being generated)
• No Rewards Points
• No currency conversion fee, international transaction fees
• Currency conversion rate is the Mastercard rate

Zero | More | Qantas

• $0/$130/$160 Annual Fee
• Rate of Return: 0%/~0.74%/~0.50%
• Complimentary Travel Insurance, Purchase Security Cover, Extended Warranty, Price Guarantee
• No currency conversion fee, no international transaction fees

Official Page

• $99 Annual Fee - the cheapest Credit Card on the market with no international transaction fees/foreign exchange fees and Rewards Points
• 2 FlyBuys points per $1 spent
• Rate of Return: 1%
• 2 years Price Protection on Australian purchases
• See the section above Travel Cards for more information on the Coles Mastercard range

Official Page

• $225 Annual Fee plus 60k Velocity Points bonus after spending $500 within 3 months - offer expires 15 February 2017
• 1.5 Reward Points per $1 spent until 5/8/2017; afterwards: 1.5 ANZ Reward points per $1 spent, capped at $2,000 per statement; 0.5 ANZ Reward points for spend beyond $2,000 each statement.
• 2 Virgin Australia lounge passes per card year
• One free return Domestic Flight on Virgin Australia per card year - See destinations here
• To “activate” the free flight and “activate” the benefit of the 2 Virgin Australia lounge passes, you must spend $500 within 3 months of approval
• Overseas cash withdrawal fees from ATMs for Cash Advances are waived - however keep in mind you are still likely to incur interest charges unless your account is in credit

• The flight must be booked in the name of the Cardholder (unlike the free flights on direct AMEX issued cards)
• Must be booked 60 days or more in advance of departure
• The free flight includes departures from the East Coast cities to Perth return (unlike Platinum Edge/Velocity, which includes PER-East Coast return but not vice versa) - these fares often go for $500+
• Flight is on Virgin Australia and includes food/baggage
• The 2 free VA lounge passes that this card can be used with the free domestic flight
• The flight is actually free. No taxes/surcharges need to be paid as long as there is availability
• I believe there is a $107 change fee just like with the Platinum Edge/Velocity Platinum (but not sure how this works in relation to the 60 day minimum booking period rule)
• Approximate availability can be found by looking for the same flight on VA's website and if they are selling the fare as a Saver fare, it is likely to be available for redemption

This section is not a reference to a specific card, but refers to cards that in general often have the following characteristics:

• First year annual fee waived
• Several tens of thousands of bonus points upon first purchase of $X within X months
• Combination of many of the features mentioned above (e.g. Lounge Access, Extended Warranty, Rewards Program, Complimentary Travel Insurance)
• These types of cards will usually be better than a lot of the cards mentioned above
• However, they are usually only free for the first year and usually are not worth the annual fee going forward
• The tens of thousands of bonus points usually offered is unbeatable and is usually worth at least $200+

Please Update as deals as they change.
Notes:

• Annual Fee is only the first year and may include introductory rate.
• Not all travel insurance products on the cards are the same. Check before you travel.

1. The AMEX Platinum Edge ($195/year): ~2.61% return (3 pts/$1 at supermarkets)
2. Qantas American Express Ultimate Card ($450/year): ~2.01%

1. Jetstar Platinum Mastercard ($169/year): ~2% - but points can only be used towards Jetstar flight purchases
2. Citibank Clear Prestige ($700/year): ~1.14%

• Different cards are good for different purposes. These are the common/significant selling points of different Credit Cards:
  • Price Protection
  • Rewards Points
  • Extended Warranty
  • 0% Purchase Rates
  • Lounge Access
  • AMEX Statement Credits
  • 0% Balance Transfer
  • Complimentary Travel Insurances
  • Concierge
  • Car Rental Excess Insurance
  • Status with another Loyalty Program (e.g. Gold status with Hilton)
• A solid Credit Card Portfolio will consist of:
  • American Express Card
  • Mastercard/Visa as backup (where an expensive AMEX surcharge is present, or where AMEX is not accepted)
  • Travel Card purely for overseas/international expenses
• Currently a very solid portfolio would be:
  • AMEX: Platinum Edge/Explorer
  • Visa/Mastercard: Coles Mastercard/Citibank Signature/HSBC Platinum/Macquarie Platinum
  • Travel Card: 28 Degrees/Bankwest Platinum Mastercard/ANZ Travel Adventures
• The ridiculous annual fees on the Mastercards/Visas with good ROR lead me to believe the Coles Mastercard $89/year is one of the best of its category, considering the consistent 1% ROR and its 2 years Price Protection
• Given the frequency of offers on Credit Cards of a similar calibre to Westpac Altitude Black of late, it is very possible that the Coles Mastercard might end up being relegated to just being your Price Protection card (which is still amazing)
• If this is the case, it may simply be more worth taking the $0 Annual Fee Coles Mastercard, settle for a 0.25% ROR and have another Mastercard/Visa as your primary point-earning Mastercard/Visa Credit Card
• It is virtually impossible to find Credit Card Rewards that can beat the 5% cashback offered sometimes by MEBank/ING/Citibank on PayPass purchases
• At the end of the day, you will always have to consider your personal circumstances. In particular, you will need to consider:
  • Your current Credit Limit and any liabilities/debts
  • Other potential debts/liabilities: Rent, Electricity/Gas/Internet, Phone Bill, Car Loan/Personal Loan
  • Your salary
  • Future travel plans
  • Your goals/desires in terms of what you want out of a Loyalty Programs
  • Your goals/desires in terms of what you want out of a Credit Card (Travel Insurance, Car Rental Excess Insurance, Lounge Access, Status with another program)