Bankwest Breeze Platinum Mastercard

Bankwest Breeze Platinum Mastercard

Highlights

  • Experience 0% p.a. interest on balance transfers for 12 months (with a 2% BT fee, then 12.99% p.a.).
  • 0% p.a. for 12 months on purchases (reverting to 12.99% p.a.).
  • Benefit from up to 55 interest-free days.
  • Offer exclusively for new customers within a specified period. Additional charges, along with terms and conditions, apply.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • 0% p.a. on balance transfers for 12 months.
  • 0% p.a. for 12 months on purchases.
  • No foreign transaction fees. Plus, complimentary overseas travel insurance for you and your family.

Cons

  • There is no rewards program on this card.
  • There is a 2% BT fee.

History

    Our review

    Convenience

    Customer service

    Rates and fees

    Rewards

    Trust

    For only slightly more per year than the standard Breeze Mastercard, you can have the Bankwest Breeze Platinum Mastercard.

    You’ll get the same zero-interest introductory offers on balance transfers and purchases and the same low ongoing interest rate on purchases, but that extra few dollars on the annual fee will buy you a whole lot of valuable insurance coverage. And you’ll probably recover even more by saving on foreign transaction fees.

    In short, you’ll get platinum benefits at a lower-than-expected price.

    0% for a 12-month period on balance transfers

    This balance transfer offer is long enough to give you plenty of breathing space to repay the transferred balance, and it has an important accompanying feature that is rarely matched by other balance transfer credit cards. This valuable additional benefit is the very low revert interest rate applied to any part of the transferred balance not repaid after the introductory offer expires.

    Even the balance transfer revert rate is low, for a credit card

    When applying for a balance transfer it’s always best to plan to repay the balance before the end of the promotional period, in order to avoid the revert interest rate – the interest rate that will be applied to any balance remaining when the offer has expired.

    In many cases, a card’s high cash advance interest rate will be used as the revert rate, but with this card Bankwest have chosen to use the much lower ongoing purchase interest rate, instead of its punitive cash advance rate. This will be welcome news to anyone not absolutely certain that they will have the capacity to repay their transferred balance within the introductory offer period.

    0% for a 12-month period on purchases

    Here's another feature you'll rarely encounter – a matching 0% introductory offer on purchases. This means that you can still use your new card for purchases while you're paying off your balance transfer, and there will be no interest charged on any part of your debt (unless you take a cash advance).

    Just take care not to run up a purchase debt you can't afford to repay once the offer comes to an end. It would be a good idea to squirrel away in a savings account an amount equivalent to each month's purchases, so that you can repay your balance in full before interest charges kick in.

    Low ongoing purchases interest rate

    Once the 0% introductory offer on purchases expires, there's still a very low ongoing interest rate applied to any purchase balance not fully repaid by each month's payment due date. While the rate is higher than most personal loan interest rates, it’s definitely very low for a credit card.

    55 days interest-free

    Interest charges on purchases can be avoided permanently if you take full advantage of the up to 55 days interest free still allowed for purchase transactions after the introductory offer comes to an end, and then repay the balance in full by the payment due date. At up to 55 days, the interest-free period is more generous than that allowed by some 44-day cards.

    $6,000 minimum credit limit

    The $6,000 minimum credit limit is not suitable for anyone who wishes to avoid the temptation to run up a credit card bill they would struggle to repay. If you need a lower limit, apply for the non-platinum Bankwest Breeze Mastercard instead. It has fewer benefits, a lower fee, and a low minimum credit limit of $1,000.

    High late payment fee

    The high fee imposed if you are late with your monthly repayment is seriously unpleasant. It can be avoided by always making at least the 2% monthly repayment required, on or before the due date.

    This is not the highest of credit card monthly repayment fees, but it’s higher than that charged by any of the Big Four banks.

    Lots of complimentary insurance cover

    Platinum cardholders expect platinum insurance cover, and this card will not disappoint. It has the full suite of complementary policies, including:

    • Overseas travel insurance. Annual multi-trip cover for journeys up to three months long.
    • Interstate flight inconvenience insurance. Covers flight and luggage delays, personal items loss or damage and unavoidable travel cancellation, for domestic trips of up to 14 days.
    • Transit accident insurance for overseas travel. Provides cash compensation for serious injury sustained on public and commercial transport overseas.
    • Extended warranty insurance. Doubles the manufacturer’s Australian warranty, up to a maximum of 12 additional months.
    • Purchase protection insurance. Three months’ cover against loss, theft or accidental damage, for major personal items purchased.
    • Price guarantee insurance. Refunds a price difference of between $75 and $1,000 if you see your recently-purchased item advertised for sale at a lower price, located at a store within 25 km of the original purchase store (excluding online purchases).

    In order to be covered by these policies, you must use your Bankwest Breeze Platinum Mastercard to purchase the items concerned. In the case of interstate flight inconvenience insurance, this means the return airfares.

    For overseas travel insurance, there is no requirement to spend any specific amount on prepaid trip expenses in order to activate the insurance – cover is automatic. However, you can apply for upgraded benefits (extending the maximum trip time or compensation limits, for example) by applying to Bankwest and paying a premium.

    No foreign transaction charges

    There’s some really good news for anyone travelling overseas or making online purchases from a merchant not located in Australia. All your purchases will be absolutely free of foreign transaction charges and currency conversion fees. Other cards can charge a fee of up to 3.5% on these transactions.

    Digital capabilities

    The card can be used with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, to turn your smartphone into a digital wallet and payment tool. And you don’t need to wait for your new card to arrive in the mail, since you can activate it as soon as it is approved, via Bankwest’s mobile banking app.

    Annual fee lower than expected

    It all adds up to a tidy platinum package – all these benefits for a very reasonable annual fee for a card of this type, and only a few dollars a year more than the standard Bankwest Breeze Mastercard (which has no insurance cover and no freedom from overseas transaction fees).

    Compare other platinum cards before you decide

    One of the reasons for the lower-than-anticipated annual fee is the absence of rewards points with this card. Many applicants for a platinum card will expect reward points on their purchases.

    But there are lots of different types of platinum cards available in Australia. If the card discussed here doesn’t exactly meet your needs, take a look at other platinum cards listed on our travel insurance credit cards page and our rewards credit cards page.

    The Westpac Altitude Platinum Credit Card (Qantas), for example, earns Qantas Points and also has complimentary insurance and a reasonable annual fee, albeit higher than the Bankwest card's fee.

    A card for the savvy traveller

    There’s no doubt that this is a card for the reasonably regular traveller with a shrewd eye for economy. Travel insurance and fee-free foreign purchases can add up to substantial savings.

    Back home, it will also appeal to anyone likely to make major retail purchases, with the potential to be covered by the extended warranty, purchase protection and price guarantee policies, as well as fee savings on online overseas purchases.


    Yvonne Taylor

    Reviewed by Yvonne Taylor

    Lead Product Analyst

    User reviews

    Convenience

    Customer service

    Rates and fees

    Rewards

    Trust

    A good, easy to manage, everyday card

    Reviewed by Lawrence

    This card is easy to use and has a reward scheme that offers cash back. I much prefer this and It is great to see money returned to my account. It is very easy to manage with a comprehensive and very user friendly website where you can quickly see all your accounts and transfer efficiently between accounts when necessary.


    Better internet banking and customer service

    Reviewed by Mark

    Was with Virgin but now I have all my cards together with Bankwest and the service is so much better to be able to access everything on the one Internet site. The customer service is also very helpful and they speak good English which is very helpful in this day and age.


    Best card for overseas purchases

    Reviewed by Rachel

    There are no international transaction fees, which is excellent for someone who travels overseas regularly for business. The complimentary travel insurance on purchases is helpful when bringing home new purchases from overseas. I save interest by paying off purchases within the interest-free period. There is no annual fee or rewards program, but you have easy online banking experience and access to Commonwealth Bank ATMs.


    Easy access

    Reviewed by Ian

    I love the ease of access, the website, the backup service, the customer helpline, online help, the ease of contacting them either in Australia or when traveling overseas, and especially the travel insurance as a benefit. I use the travel insurance on a regular basis and never have problems with claims.


    Great for emergencies

    Reviewed by John

    I got this card to pay out another credit card on no interest. I do like the bank but am considering going to a lesser card.

    Reward points do not interest me. I just need it for emergencies. The only other thing that annoys me with credit cards is the interest rates.


    Market low interest rate

    Reviewed by Michael

    Switched to this card to reduce my repayments. It saved me a lot of money with 8.99% interest rate instead of the standard 22%.

    Unfortunately no rewards are offered, so not ideal for customers who pay off their credit cards on time every month. Would recommend for people struggling with paying off debt.


    Earlier payment due dates, fewer rewards

    Reviewed by Sarah

    What started out to be a great credit card is slowly starting to turn into a nightmare. Our due dates for payments are becoming earlier and earlier, to the point where it now skips a pay cycle for me, which is making it harder to pay off.

    Not only this, but rewards that used to be great are getting more and more expensive, requiring larger amounts of points to be accrued for smaller benefits.

    I would definitely steer clear of this credit card and we are definitely considering a new one soon.


    Quick service for balance transfer

    Reviewed by Sandra

    I obtained this card though a balance transfer from another card. I received excellent service and they were very quick to transfer funds to pay off my existing card — within three days. There’s always minimal delay in customer service and minimal wait time on the phone, which is really frustrating with other banks, etc.

    The yearly fee is one of the lowest on the market, from what I’ve researched.


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