Yahoo Finance Credit cards giving away free Qantas and Velocity points
These are the credit cards handing out the most points, for the least onerous conditions.
Everyday spending on the right credit card can help to build your Qantas and Velocity frequent flyer points, but it’s bonus points which will help you realise your free travel goal much faster. Here are the credit reward card tricks and tips to score the most points.
Did you know there are up to 120,000 free frequent flyer points available for Qantas and Velocity members? You just need to know how to qualify and how to collect them.
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How Qantas members can bulk up on bonus points
Yahoo Finance asked comparison site Finder to interrogate the market for the most generous frequent flyer bonus points right now, and for the least onerous conditions. Below is an exclusive list for Qantas frequent flyer points. You can see NAB Qantas Rewards Signature offers 120,000 points. The hurdle to get the points isn’t high but you do need to know how they are triggered.
Step 1: Spend $3,000 in the first 60 days to get 90,000 points
Step 2: After 12 months, get the remaining 30,000 points
Don’t miss that you can also currently get the same 120,000 ‘uplift’ with Westpac Altitude Black but you need to flush through $6,000 in the first three months for the first 90,000 points to land. Note those words “flush through” because it’s important to remember that you should always pay off your balance in full at the end of the month on a rewards credit card.
This is because if you instead carry any debt over, you will be slugged with an eye-watering interest rate. And that will cancel out the monetary value of your points faster than you can say “fly free”.
Just a few points to note about Finder’s analysis. These are the biggest Qantas bonus point offers available for personal cards; business cards will be different. Cards with an excessive annual fee of over $500 have been excluded. But it is also possible to earn points with the Citi Prestige card, which offers 100,000 bonus points with a $750 annual fee, and Qantas Premier Titanium, which has a 150,000 bonus point offer with a $1,200 annual fee and $200,000 minimum income requirement.
How Virgin Velocity members can bulk up on bonus points
These are the best big-win deals for Virgin Velocity members. While there’s no NAB in the table below, you can get 120,000 Velocity points with the other iteration of Westpac’s Altitude Black… once again, all you need to do to bank the bonus points is to spend $6,000 in the first 120 days and then still be a customer a year later to get the final 30,000.
Don’t miss that these conditions are to get you conditioned to spending… and then sticking around long enough to make the habit worth Westpac’s while. But if you are a disciplined money manager, always pay off your balance in full such that you never pay interest and have your eye purely on the frequent flyer prize, that won’t be a problem.
But soon after all your bonus points arrive, you need to look for the next latest and greatest points giveaway. That’s how this bonus points game works.
Just like with the Qantas points cards above, these are for personal use (there may even be better ones if you are after a business card).
Points boost trick two: Where to shop to get even more frequent flyer points?
The $64,000 question is how to shop to keep earning frequent flyer points during the ‘introductory’, ‘waiting’ period.
The places that you can use a credit card to earn points per $1 spent are anywhere the transaction would be classified as a purchase, including:
Supermarkets
Retail stores (clothing, shoes, books, cosmetics etc)
Travel services and booking agencies (including airlines, hotels etc)
Petrol stations
Restaurants and cafes
Entertainment venues and ticketing services
Glasses, contact lenses and other optometry services
Bills that accept credit card payments – for example, for your mobile phone plan, internet plan etc.
But just note: You don’t earn points on BPAY in most cases… just be aware of this when you are paying things like council rates, some bills etc. But, on the plus side, you can typically earn points for standard medical and health-related spending, such as doctors, dentists etc.
In this world, in these economic times, why wouldn’t you get something for nothing?
Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon is the author of How to Get Mortgage-Free Like Me, available at www.nicolessmartmoney.com. Follow Nicole on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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