Postcards from Perkistan

The latest product to join the Commonwealth Bank’s credit card stable is the Commonwealth Bank Diamond Awards Credit Card. As you may be able to tell from the name, it is a high-spenders card and the results from the Mozo Rewards Revealer clarify that.

View the Commonwealth Bank Diamond Awards Credit Card on Perkler

The account has both a MasterCard and an American Express to increase the points-earning potential, however the earn rate has only been increased on the MasterCard with relation to the Commonwealth Bank’s Platinum Awards Credit Card. The MasterCard now earns 1.25 points for every dollar spent and the American Express earns 3 points per dollar. If you’re looking to transfer these points in to your Qantas account then you will be looking at 0.625 Qantas Frequent Flyer Points per dollar on the MasterCard, and 1.5 Qantas Frequent Flyer Points per dollar on the American Express.

Below I have included the results from the Mozo Rewards Revealer in a best case scenario, where all of your spending on the account is with the American Express.

$25,000 Annual Spend

Spend $25,000 or less? There's approximately 50 better options out there.

$50,000 Annual Spend

Spending $50,000? The card still ranks outside the top 40 with 100% spend on the American Express

$100,000 Annual Spend

Spending $100k per year on your credit? Well done, the card comes in at 9th on the Rewards Revealer with 100% spend on the American Express. A worthy contender to help burn that hole in your pocket

$200,000 Annual Spend

Here we see the card get in to it's element. Ranking third on the Rewards Revealer's list, with one of the cards above it having points directly ported to the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program, it is a serious contender and worthy of your dollar.

The two cards that place above the Diamond Awards Credit Card in the $200,000 spend category are the Westpac Singapore Airlines Platinum card and the Westpac Altitude Platinum card. Points on the Singapore Airlines card go directly to the KrisFlyer program, making the card not so useful to consumers looking for flexibility. The rewards difference between Altitude Platinum and Diamond Awards is just $19, meaning the card is a true contender for your dollar after weighing up all other options and benefits associated with the cards.

Cheers,
Graham

‪We’ve just come across mozo.com.au, a pretty cool competitor for RateCity and other rate aggregators out there. They’ve been in the media this week as they have just launched a brand new tool to compare rewards credit cards.

The Rewards Revealer allows you to enter details about your credit spending habits and the type of reward you like. Then, based on the points you will earn and annual fees, the Rewards Revealer will show you the “highest rated” credits cards based on the dollar value of the redeemable rewards.

This is a great tool to start your research in to a rewards credit card that may be right for you. Keeping in mind that the tool is calculating rewards on the base earn-rate of the cards only.

In Mozo’s press release they knock rewards credit cards saying they are “Unrewarding” and that they “fail consumers”. They’re right on face value. The rewards don’t look too crash hot when reviewing individual programs with the Rewards Revealer. But utilising loyalty programs is much broader than just a $ value for point calculation.

The Rewards Revealer does not take in to account the complimentary services that come with premium credit cards, such as insurance and concierge services that don’t have a monetary value.

Though they are pretty open about not including bonus shopping days in their calculations, it’s these and other personalised rewards that consumers love – like access to pre-sale tickets and other ‘clubs within the club’. These are a critical part of the rewards credit card decision making process.

Use your credit card to earn points at the same time as using individual retailer rewards cards and you get even more advantage. Research we have conducted here at Perkler HQ reveals that an average family of four can save over $4,100 through the use of rewards programs in their everyday spending.

We agree completely with the Mozo conclusion that on paper credit card point scales offer little direct cash benefit, but we still maintain the broader loyalty redemption market is strong. As we always say – if you are going to shop there anyway, why not get some kind of benefit?

Classic example is Westpac Altitude. Here at Perkler Jus uses his. The direct points value is pretty low – but using points to fly him and Mrs Jus to Melbourne for a weekend away from the kids is worth more than a dollar calculation - though he does love his kids

Check out the Rewards Revealer

and read what SMH have to say