GoldFlyer

Yes that's right, white gold and it is dazzling. I feel quite the smarty pants although it does clash a little with all the other gold cards in my wallet - boy can I be fussy. Now for my first purchase - has to be some Dom Perignon to go with all that duty free vodka I have been buying.

NM

Here's the info for which I am sitting on the fence:

I currently have a RACQ Gold Amex that gets used for anything that will take Amex. On that I earn 1.5 MR points per A$. I don't pay an annual fee for the card (waived if spend is >$9000) and only pay the MR fee ($59 plus their Accelerator fee for the 1.5 points/$). There is no additional card fee for Mrs NM.

I also have a Commonwealth Bank Gold Visa card. This will drop from 1 point/$ to 1 point/$1.50 in June. In June I will have 8 months of my annual fee still to run, and paid $129 for primary plus additional card. That fee won't be refunded, so I might as well hold onto that card until Feb, even if I choose not to use it.

Over the time I have had the CBA Visa, I have averaged 2250 points per month, or 27,000 for the year. So when the points erosion happens in June, I will be reduced to about 20,000 points a year (a loss of 7000 points a year). If I make no changes until Feb (when my renewal is due) I will lose about 4500 points.

So some of my options for a replacement Visa or Mastercard (to use where Amex is not accepted) are:
Citibank Plat Visa
Annual fee = $340 for primary + additional card
Extra points due to 1:1 earning = 7,000 / year
Bonus points for QF WP referral = 10,000
Cost of points = $0.02 / point (first year), $0.0486 / point (subsequent years)

Citibank Gold Visa
Annual fee = $129 for primary + additional card
Extra points due to 1:1 earning = 7,000 /year
Bonus for QF WP referral = 5,000
Cost of points = $0.01075 / point (first year), $0.01843 /point (subsequent years)

CBA Plat Mastercard
Annual fee = $265 for primary + additional card
Extra points due to 1:1 earning = 7,000 /year
Cost of points = $0.0378 /point (first and subsequent years)

I may be able to talk CBA into some form of fee relief if I "upgrade" my CBA Gold to CBA Plat, but even if they offer 50% relief, that makes the cost of the extra points $0.0189/point for the first 8 months, the reverting to the $0.0378 after that.

So purely from an extra points perspective, the Citibank Gold is the most attractive. So now looking the total cost of points over a 12 month card usage, I get:

CBA Gold Visa: $129 for 20,000 = $0.00645/pt
CBA Plat M/C: $265 for 27,000 = $0.00981/pt
CitiB Gold Visa: $129 for 32,000 = $0.00403/pt year 1, $0.00478 year 2
CitiB Plat Visa: $340 for 37,000 = $0.00919/pt year 1, $0.0126 year 2

So the most attractive option is CitiBank Gold Visa to replace my CBA Gold Visa. If I delay for 6 months, I lose 3500 points on my CBA Gold Visa but also save $64.50 by delaying the annual fee for the new CitiBank card, or $0.01843 / point. This, of course, is assuming CitiBank are still offering 5000 QF FF points for joining in Jan next year.

Of course, this does not take into account the fact that my spending pattern may change significantly later in the year (some of you know about that possibility, which is progressing well). So I am likely to wait a few months before jumping off my CBA Gold card. But I will be transferring all the points before the erosion in June!

Does my reasoning make sense or have I missed something? If I am on the right track, QF WP might as well get me a CitiBank Gold referral so I have it here ready for action if I find I need to jump.

QF WP

NM, I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment...I'll ready a Gold Card for you!!

One thing you can never judge is the future spending on a card. Although, a lot of trips for you to the USA might bump it up a bit.... ^

All you'll have to watch is the supposed "cap" on the points earned through the Gold Card...reported previously (without going looking for it)...

NM

Nor how long one will hold the card. So who knows, the second year calcs may be completely irrelevant. But my US trips will mostly be on corporate Amex, and personal spending on Amex wherever possible. Not much there that won't take Amex. Locally its mostly utilities and services etc.
I think the cap for Gold was something like 100,000, so that is not going to be an issue for this black duck.

RichardMEL

I thought the cap was:

Silver: 40k
Gold: 60k
Plat: no cap?

QF WP

RichardMEL, I think you are quite correct!! NM, this was first reported by dashman on Page 2 and confirmed by StevePER:

I can't say that I have been anywhere near $120K in spending in a year, so I haven't tested the Plat limit..

NM

A 60K cap is not going to be a problem. In fact, the 40K cap on the silver card is not a problem. This is to be a backup card for those places that don't take Amex. I scored over 120K points in 15 months on my Amex (and all my business expenses go on the corp Diners Club card).

roho

Plat. card received today.
So 10K points coming to you soon.
Thank you QFWP.

QF WP

Platinum

kawoh
Itsalongwaydown
roho (application completed)
Goldflyer (application completed)


Gold

IainF
d00t (new application form will be sent out soon)
RichardMEL (application completed & I think 5K points posted)
kpc (I know he's sitting on his)
kpc's brother (application completed & I think 5K points posted)
damian_h

I know that I have received 10K in points thus far, so I will have to track which FT'ers they were for...

Sydney

Am I reading this right? If I fill in a referral application then we both get 5000pts for a gold card and 10000pts for a platinum card?

If so, do you have any referral forms left? I'm interested in the gold one. I currently have the CBA gold and am looking for another card since their downgrading of pts. Thanks.

It's getting really annoying the way they keep changing the rules on us. I had the ANZ ff card for yrs and swapped to CBA less than 2yrs ago and now will swap agan.

QF WP

Sydney, yes you have it in one. We'll both get 5K points if you go for Gold. Private Message me with your postal details and I'll get a referral form off to you.

However, getting referral forms out of CB lately is like drawing teeth...
I ordered some 2 weeks ago and I'm still waiting for them (sorry, d00t). Will ring again and blast some poor telemarketer (who gets to send them out)...

StevePER

I have a spare referral form sitting on my desk at home, so if you want to fund MrsStevePER's honeymoon upgrade to business class instead of Mrs QF WP's holiday, send me a message instead!

Steve

QF WP

Sydney, thanks for your PM. StevePER will get his form to you first, as I am having trouble convincing CB to send me the forms.

I'll always bow to a man who needs to get his wife into J for their honeymoon flights (as I did last year)...

My need for the points is only to send Mrs QFWP over to LHR in First (because that all the Award seats that are left when accessing them now - lucky I have the points). I'll be buying J and pleading with QF to find me Z seats so I can join her in the nose...

I just know this will be our last "big trip" before the 20 year anchor (kids ) starts....then I'll be lucky to be let out of the house to SYD for same day business meetings, let alone overnights in ADL or PER...

StevePER

Thankyou QF WP, you are truly a gentleman. I'm rapidly approaching the required number of points, but the sooner the better if there's to be any availability left. I could really do with a couple of week-long Sydney trips to get me over the line...

Steve

Sydney

Just to let you know that if you are awaiting referral forms, then just ring up and they can fax one to you, or to the person you are referring. You then just give that person your details (name and card number) and you both get the pts.