Bank Australia is reducing the earn rate on its Rewards card to 0.75 Qantas Points per dollar as from October 1, 2017. At the same time it will be introducing a monthly cap of 20,000 Qantas Points.
Bank Australia Platinum Rewards Visa Card
The Bank Australiia Platinum Rewards Visa Card was one of the last Visa cards offering an uncapped earning of 1 Qantas Point per dollar spend. They maintained this rate at a time when most other banks were reducing their earn rates. Some banks dropped the earn rate across the board, while others retained a 1:1 earning up to a certain spend each month.
Bank Australia has gone down the path of reducing the overall earn rate. They have reduced the card earning down to 0.75 Qantas Points per dollar, while also introducing a cap. While they state a cap of 20,000 Qantas Points per moth, this equates to a spend of $26,667 per month. Above this spend, no additional points will be earned in the month.
On the plus side for ATO payers, they do not appear to have introduced any restrictions on ATO payments. Assuming that to be the case, it could still be useful for such payments, although some may run into the monthly cap.
The changes to the card appear to be limited just to the earning rate. The other features seem untouched. This includes the additional point earned when spending on Qantas services.
It is a bit of a surprise that Bank Australia has held out so long. All other banks made their changes to earnings in the lead up to the July 1 regulatory changes.
