NAB scraps Virgin Australia Velocity credit cards

NAB has retired its branded Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer credit cards as the bank shifts its focus to its own-brand NAB Rewards cards instead.

This means you can no longer apply for the NAB Velocity Rewards Visa, or the NAB Velocity Rewards Premium (Platinum) Visa as a new customer – but if you already have one of these cards, you can continue earning points as normal.

New applicants hoping to earn Velocity points can instead consider the NAB Rewards Classic, Platinum and Signature card lines, but the number of points earned per dollar spent on these cards is calculated a little differently.

For example, the Velocity Rewards Premium Visa offered 0.66 Velocity points per $1 spent up to $3,000 per month, and 0.33 Velocity points per $1 spent on payments of $3,001-$6,000 per month, with all points earned credited directly to the cardholder’s Velocity account.

Under the comparable NAB Rewards Platinum Visa, shoppers would earn NAB Rewards points instead – rather than Velocity points – at a differing rate, and would have to manually convert their NAB Rewards points into Velocity points at a 2:1 rate before booking a flight or securing an upgrade.

Ultimately after crunching the numbers, the reward is 0.5 Velocity points per $1 spent on most everyday purchases, uncapped: fewer points than before on spends of up to $3,000, but more points on payments beyond this: particularly above $6,000/month, on which no points were previously awarded.

The card also provides a higher earn rate of one Velocity point per dollar spent at major department and hardware stores, and 1.5 Velocity points per dollar spent on overseas purchases: but with an annual fee of $199, compared to $150 p.a. as with the old Velocity Rewards Platinum Visa.

NAB also recently ceased offering its NAB Flybuys Rewards Card to new customers which provided another path for earning Velocity points, although the bank’s Qantas-earning Visa credit cards remain unchanged.

In other changes announced last year, all NAB American Express cards will be switched off on February 21 2018, although the companion Visa or Mastercard attached to the same account will continue to function as normal.

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.