florabundi

There was a really good point brought up recently about using your amex card for your shopping, fuel etc to collect airmiles for visits back home. Can you take one out in the UK and bring it with you for long term use or is it better to apply for one in NZ? Just thinking ahead and wondering why I have been using a visa card with no benefits for several years

P18PPS

There's nothing to stop you - we have credit cards in both countries - the one's over here have other points systems - see ASB "True Rewards" for instance. The only thing you'll need to watch out for is the exchange rate fluctuations that obviously could swing either way.

sarahw

You could always get an NZ credit card for everyday use that lets you collect Airpoints and keep a UK credit card for use on UK online shopping sites and when you go back home for visits.

It's expensive to use a UK-based credit card for your everday shopping in NZ as you'll get charged an extra 2% or so foreign currency conversion fee on every transaction.

tonrob

Have you checked out the US Airways miles purchase gig? Big thread about it on the Oz forum. Almost certainly would get you better results.

Bo-Jangles

I think you have to suss out the benefits and costs of any such scheme and I had been meaning to review mine. The last survey I saw Amex Blue Card came out on top with the best reward scheme.

Bearing in mind that ASB charges you $12 every 6 months for having said Credit Card and an additional $10 every six months to belong to the reward scheme. So you have to make sure it's earning it's keep. i.e. the card will costs you $44 per year before you spend a cent and being in the reward scheme is optional. So you'd have to spend $6,600 to break even.

The ASB rewards has been cool for me, I get some quite large sums back because I put everything on my Credit Card and volunteer myself to pay for things for other people, especially to earn the rewards and pay the bill off on the day it is due. I usually save the rewards for Christmas and you can cash them out in the form of vouchers for heaps of shops from Countdown groceries to Farmers and plenty of other stores. I like this scheme because it's easy for me to manage, it's all linked with my regular online banking and I can see the rewards building up, plus I don't have to wait to book flights or do anything special to get the money out. I am sure if I shopped around I would find something more lucrative.

I believe if you 're a high spender the National Bank Thoroughbred Card is a well recommended scheme. Costs $45 per year but you need to spend $2,000 to qualify for the reward scheme. So you get nothing on the first $2k, 0.5% cashback on everything up to $8,000, which increases to 1% on anything over the $8,000 mark. Still you have to spend $9500 before you breakeven.

I guess though most of us could easily do $8 to 9k per year on petrol and the weekly food shopping, meaning anything else you can charge onto the card earns the 'profit'.

Bo-Jangles

Saved some links for future reference and I am sure there are others:

Air NZ - Airpoints Dollars
http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/airpo...ncial-partners
http://airpointscalculator.co.nz/

National Bank Thoroughbred
http://www.nationalbank.co.nz/person...hbredcard.aspx

ASB True Rewards
https://www.asb.co.nz/personal/credi...ewards-dollars

Amex
http://www.americanexpress.com/newze...graminfo.shtml

Westpac Hotpoints
http://www.westpac.co.nz/olcontent/o...rd+credit+card

Westpac Hotpoints American Express
http://www.westpac.co.nz/olcontent/o...n+Express+Card

ANZ World Visa or Airpoints
http://www.anz.co.nz/personal/credit...cards/rewards/

BNZ
http://www.bnz.co.nz/personal-bankin...platinum-cards

Diners Club
http://www.dinersclub.co.nz/rewards/

Bo-Jangles

I'll try suss each one out for value for money.

Westpac Hotpoints = 2 Credit Cards for the price of one. This gives you a basic Visa or Mastercard and separate Amex Card for $44 I assume to account for the fact that not everywhere takes Amex (I don't know)

The basic Visa or Mastercard earns 1 Point for every dollar spent or 0.5%
You would need to spend $8,800 to get your $44 back

I estimated that I could put about $1,000 each month of spends on credit, so $12,000 in a year, earns 12,000 points and gets you a reward worth $60. Take away the $44 that the card cost you and whoop-de - bloomin-do we've made just $16.00 Two beers in the pub would see to that

The Amex card earns 1.5 Points for every dollar spent or 0.75% so it would pay to max up the Amex as much as possible and keep the Visa / Mastercard just as a backup plan

Spend $12,000 on the Amex card and you get 18,000 points, earns you $90, less the $44 you paid for the card and you're $46 in profit.

Assume then we spent half $6000 on each card; we get $75, less the $44 means we made $31.

On that basis, so far I am sticking with my simple ASB Rewards at 0.666% paid on everything, no faffing around with two cards, far easier to understand and if I spent $12,000 I would be sure to get $79.92 (less $44 = $34.92). I might check out the acceptance of of Amex though, cos if you could spend almost all all of the $12,000 on the Amex it would give me another $11.

bourbon-biscuit

Oooo, Bo-Jangles, you diamond! I'm watching this thread with interest, thanks so very much for your time and effort, very much appreciated

cappuccino

Amex isn't accepted by all retailers here (for the same reason it wasn't accepted everywhere in the UK) cos the fees are too high for the retailers.

Bo-Jangles

I was never keen on collecting Airmiles in the UK and I'm similarly dubious about 'Airpoints Dollars' over here because it's very difficult to determine the real value. The value of the miles or points seem to bear no relation to the cost of the flight and the redemption price of flights or accomodation are usually more than you would ordinarily pay. I have seen things inflated by as much as 50%.

I joined 'Airpoints Dollars' so that I could get points for booking Air NZ or other StarAlliance flights but have never bothered to try and maximise these by having credit card or Fly Buys linked. I paid $30 for the privelege. However it seems that this does actually get waived if you take out one of the associated airpoints credit cards available. I believe if you join Airpoints fom the UK that it is free anyway!

There are a few credit cards where you can collect additional 'Airpoint Dollars' and it seems on a standard Credit card you get 1 point for every $150 spent.

Kiwibank 'Go Fly' offers the standard 1 point for every $150 spent. Therefore using the same example of spending $12,000, you would earn you 80 Points or $80 Airpoint Dollars. Take off the $56 for cost of the card = Net reward $24

ANZ Airpoints card costs $50 and gives you 1 point for every $145 spent. Therefore $12,000 makes you 82.76 Points or $82.76. Take off the $50 for cost of the card = Net reward $32.76 (still not quite as good as my ASB Rewards)

Globalplus Visa card costs $55 and gives you 1 point for every $150 spent. Therefore $12,000 makes you 80 Points or $80.00. Take off the $55 for cost of the card = Net reward $25.00

http://airpointscalculator.co.nz/CardBenefits.pdf

There's opportunity of course to double dip the Airpoints, if you book a flight with one of the above credit cards you get the points twice. But still very borderline on the net gain, you'd actually get a teensy bit more by paying with an ordinary ASB Visa or Mastercard.

Bo-Jangles

BNZ Classic Cards all cost $30 each

Visa or Mastercard = score 1 Fly Buy* for every $50 spent

Imagine you spent the same $12,000 we've talked of before you would get 240 Points, you then get to choose to spend the points on some truly stunning articles from the Fly Buys catalogue.

https://www.flybuys.co.nz/GetRewards...210&OutletID=0 Costs $39.90 on some camping gear website.

BNZ Amex = 2 Fly Buys for every $50 spent so if it's even possible to use the Amex as much as other cards, you could double your points and can get this amazing bunch of towels.

https://www.flybuys.co.nz/GetRewards...979&OutletID=0

Fly Buys is a popular loyalty card scheme and something new arrvals should join asap on arrival, regardless of whether you have a credit card or not. You get some rewards just for spending in certain shops like New World, petrol stations and the like.

https://www.flybuys.co.nz/Pages/Default.aspx

I would say keep your $30 BNZ card fee and spend it on something more useful, that you might actually want.

Ordinarily it takes an age to save up enough points to get a new toaster, unless you're doing all your shopping in New World. Also bear in mind Fly Buys have a shelf life of three years, if you don't spend them they expire. To confuse matter even more you can also convert Fly Buys into Airpoints.

If you haven't already guessed, I shall not be switching to a BNZ Credit Card anytime soon.

florabundi

Wow ~ thank you so much for the help. I am off to pour a glass of wine and study all the info.