Westpac Airpoints Credit Card Signup Bonuses - 30APD for No-Fee Debit Card, 122-175 APD for Credit Card (After Fees)

• dealhunter on 17/12/2019 - 08:44

  Try amex airports platinum for better earning rate.

  • +homegardener on 17/12/2019 - 12:00 +2 votes

    ¿Por qué no los dos?

    If you don't really care about short term fluctuations in your credit score, I don't see the harm in taking out a card, getting the bonus and cancelling. I already have a mortgage, so it's not like I really need to impress a bank now…

    In the space of a year, there's no reason you couldn't get a signup bonus from all of the following issuers:
    - Amex
    - The big banks: ANZ, Kiwibank, Westpac, BNZ (I don't think ASB tends to do them, but possibly?)
    - Flight Centre Mastercard, if a bonus is on offer
    - Farmers Mastercard, if a bonus is on offer
    - Q Mastercard, if a bonus is on offer

    If you're a very high spender (and, in particular, a very high spender at places that accept Amex and don't impose an additional charge), then that Amex card might be a good option. But the fee is $195 and the APD sign-up bonus is only APD200. So you'll need to spend a fair bit for it to check out.

    In terms of Amex cards, I'd personally go for a different product depending on my situation:
    Low spender: Amex Airpoints Card (not the plat one) for $0 fee, 50APD bonus and 6 months interest free (provided I was setting the money to clear the balance aside in an offset account or term deposit or something)
    Some travel planned: the Platinum Edge, but probably only if there was a 50,000 MRP sign-up bonus offered through a partner, and not the usual 20,000. Free return flight on Air NZ domestically (direct flights only, and only the cheapest price buckets qualify), plus you can immediately redeem 20k MRP for ~$150 of travel to offset the $149 fee. 50k MRP works out to $375 of travel.
    Lots of travel planned and particularly if I already had flights booked on Singapore Air: the Platinum Charge Card. I got this card prior to a 6 week trip around Europe. Fee is enormous ($1,250) but immediately you get a $200 travel credit, 80k MRP (=~ $600 of travel) and a free night hotel stay through Accor Plus (if still offered). So we're down to about $450 for a year of lounge access and some other miscellaneous benefits - that might represent value for some people. If you will travel on Singapore Air (even if it's just on the WLG-MEL leg), then you can also jump through a few hoops and get SQ Krisflyer Gold after 3 segments on SQ metal). I'm coming to the end of my year with SQ gold, which I got near the end of my time with the Platinum card - so about a year of lounge through the Plat card, and then another year (with only a few months overlapping) of free lounge access on Air NZ and SQ flights. Plus, I asked for a retention offer when my year was almost up - I was offered another 10k MRP without any obligation to stay. I spent the points and then cancelled the card. I'm coming to the end of the benefits from that card, and have kept a spreadsheet of benefits - well over $2,500 of value (in terms of money actually saved that I would have spent under a counterfactual; the 'aspirational' or 'face' value of the benefits I got is presumably higher.)

    I'm planning to travel a whole lot less over the next year or so, because we're trying to save even more and blast the mortgage a bit. So now, my strategy (having regard to my own individual circumstances) is to 'stooze' first, 'churn' second and 'earn' rewards only as a last priority. This means:

    • maintain primary lines of credit on cards with 0% balance transfer facilities as a way of accessing cheap money ('stoozing'); these tend to be low-rate, low-fee cards with no real rewards scheme
    • then, cycle through additional cards ('churning') for sign-up bonuses
    • as part of that cycling, spend on whatever rewards card I'm churning at the time - happily taking the rewards
    • then, once the balance comes down on the stoozing cards, do a balance transfer when a 0% promotion is running to clear that month's closing balance, and put the money that I would have spent to clear the closing balance into an offset account for my mortgage (this account will be then used to make the minimum 2, 3 or 5% repayment on the 0% stoozing card each month)
    • finally, I regularly close 'churning' cards. That sets the clock ticking for being eligible for a sign-up bonus again (Amex's exclusion period is 12 months, Westpac seems to be 18 months, ANZ 12 from memory)
    • burnt toast on 18/12/2019 - 08:45

      This is amazing! Thanks for the write up.

  • Seighart on 17/12/2019 - 13:28

    Amex charges $200 upfront so lost my bonus $200 when I signed up previously :(

• mattk1 on 17/12/2019 - 08:49 +1 vote

  ANZ also have a bonus Airpoints offer at the moment:

  Airpoints Visa Platinum - 300 APD, $75 6-month fee
  Airpoints Visa - 150 APD - $32.50 6-month fee

  Both require $1,000 spend in first 3 months.

  • +homegardener on 17/12/2019 - 12:02

    Even better. Nice.

• PicMe on 17/12/2019 - 17:14

  Does anyone know if you cancel your card/account within 6 months, do you lose your airpoints dollar? Or do you still get to retain them.

• GoneWithTheWind on 17/12/2019 - 19:08

  Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe BONUS Airpoints and Airpoints Advance is the same, which means bonus airpoints are actually just like an 'OVERDRAFT'

  https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/airpoints-dollars-advance

  What if I want to close my Airpoints Credit Card?
  If you choose to close your Airpoints Credit Card, you can do so directly with your bank or American Express. If you have used your Airpoints Dollars Advance and you have a negative balance, you can earn back the outstanding balance over time by earning Airpoints Dollars through flights or by spending with Airpoints Partners. Any Airpoints Dollars that you earn will go towards paying back the balance. If you decide to close your Airpoints account, you will be asked to repay the full amount before your account can be closed.

  so if you close your Credit Card, then the BONUS APD will also be removed.

  The fee waiver promos would be much better as that is a PERMANENT reduction in cost. This is just an OVERDRAFT facility, not quite the BONUS as everyone seems to think.

  • +F0rtitude on 18/12/2019 - 07:02 +1 vote

    They are different. For the platinum or better cards, it reads up to 200 APD in advance, which is less than the bonus so what you said wouldn't make sense.

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