Australia's 'Big Four' banks slash frequent flyer points

ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac have all rolled out sweeping cuts to credit card frequent flyer points.

The reductions affect almost every cardholder, with some cards soon to earn up to 85% fewer points per dollar spent than they do today.

The changes come in response to the RBA’s upcoming July 1 cap on ‘interchange fees’, which will restrict the amount that credit card companies earn every time a customer swipes their card to a mere 0.8% of a transaction’s value.

As a result, the banks will have less money coming in which can be invested in customer-pleasing perks such as frequent flyer points.

What’s more, that cap will apply not just to Visa and MasterCard spend, but also to American Express transactions on cards issued by the Big Four Banks – on which revenues of 2-3% are currently typical, but which will be lowered to just 0.8% in line with Visa and MasterCard.

Wherever you bank, here’s a summary of how the Big Four’s upcoming changes will affect you.

ANZ is no longer issuing new American Express credit cards and will deactivate all existing ANZ AMEX cards from August 5 2017 – instead providing new earning rates on its points-earning Visa credit cards of between 0.16 and 1.0 airline frequent flyer points per dollar spent, depending on which card and frequent flyer partner you choose and how much you spend.

Read: ANZ stops issuing American Express credit cards

Over at the Commonwealth Bank, AMEX cards will be retained but earning rates will be slashed by up to 85% on everyday spend, including CBA’s top-of-the-line Diamond Awards AMEX card which will soon earn fewer points per dollar spent on most transactions than its companion MasterCard.

Read: Commonwealth Bank retains AMEX cards, tanks credit card points

NAB will also continue issuing American Express cards but with the number of points earned per dollar spent cut by up to one third. Further changes to monthly points capping arrangements also clamp down on the total number of points attainable per month with reductions of up to 85%, and some customers earning no points at all after spending just $3,000 per month.

Read: NAB joins CBA in cutting credit card frequent flyer points

Finally, Westpac’s dual-card strategy of pairing an AMEX with a Visa or MasterCard will remain, but with cuts to AMEX earning rates of just over 15% on all above-Platinum cards, while Black-level MasterCards will also earn 60% fewer points on international transactions. Payments to the ATO won’t earn any points at all from July, except on direct-earning KrisFlyer cards which aren’t open to new customers.

Read: The next domino falls: Westpac reduces credit card points

Chris Chamberlin

Chris Chamberlin is the Associate Editor of Executive Traveller, and lives by the motto that a journey of a thousand miles begins not just with a single step, but also a strong latte, a theatre ticket, and later in the day, a good gin and tonic.