NAB Rewards Platinum Credit Card

NAB now has the most comprehensive range of credit card rewards points available in Australia. Added to the existing options of Qantas Frequent Flyer, Velocity Frequent Flyer, and flybuys cards come the new NAB Rewards card range.

Even seasoned points collectors may choose to migrate to the NAB Rewards Platinum Card, with its truly generous first-purchase bonus points and healthy ongoing points earning rate, a comprehensive array of redemption choices that leaves nothing out and all the usual complimentary insurance policies, for a much lower annual fee than the NAB Qantas Rewards Premium Card.

Earn NAB Rewards Points for everyday spending

The card comes with an offer of 100,000 bonus NAB Rewards Points, including 80,000 bonus NAB Rewards Points when you spend $1,000 on everyday purchases within the first 60 days of account opening and 20,000 bonus points for keeping your card for over 12 months.

While those first-purchase bonus points get you off to a flying start, it’s also relatively easy to keep on accumulating Points without changing your spending pattern. There are extra points to be earned, on top of the standard rate of 1 NAB Rewards Point per dollar, for shopping at the kinds of places you would be frequenting anyway. Here’s how it works.

• 1 Point per dollar for regular purchases and bill payments, except
• 2 Points per dollar for shopping at major department and hardware stores like David Jones, Myer, Bunnings, Mitre 10 and many more
• 3 Points per dollar when you use your card overseas
• 3 Points per dollar when you shop online with a merchant based outside Australia
• 3 Points per dollar for online purchases with Webjet (excluding bookings with some discount airlines)

Take note that you won’t earn any NAB Rewards Points for payments to the ATO, and the 3% fee applied to transactions outside Australia will take a bit of the shine off the high overseas earning rate.

Extremely wide range of redemption options

Since NAB already has dedicated Qantas credit cards, there’s no option to convert NAB Rewards Points to Qantas Points. But just about anything else that you might be looking for is available, for travellers, shoppers and entertainment seekers:

• Convert NAB Rewards Points to Velocity Points. 3 NAB Rewards Points = 1.5 Velocity Points.
• Redeem NAB Rewards Points for Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. 3 NAB Rewards Points = 1.0 Asia Mile (giving you access to Cathay Pacific, British Airways and Qantas flights, and more).
• Transfer NAB Rewards Points to Air New Zealand Airpoints Dollars at the rate 3 NAB Rewards Points = $0.015 Airpoints Dollars.
• To access other airlines, redeem your NAB Rewards Points at Webjet.
• Retail gift cards are available. E.g. a $20 Coles card costs 3,850 Points.
• Movie tickets for unrestricted screening times require 5,420 Points.
• Exchange NAB Rewards Points for merchandise in the online rewards catalogue.
• Feeling altruistic? Make a charitable donation with NAB Rewards Points.
• In need of cash? Your NAB Rewards Points can be exchanged for cashback to your NAB credit card or bank account.
• AFL club memberships and memorabilia are also offered.
• Points + Pay is available with every redemption.

Six complimentary insurance policies

NAB gives you six complimentary insurance policies:

• International travel insurance. Annual multi-trip family cover for trips of up to six months’ duration.
• Interstate flight inconvenience insurance. Family cover for delay, cancellation, luggage, and rental vehicle excess waiver, for trips up to 14 days in length.
• Transit accident insurance. Compensation for serious injury incurred through a public transport accident.
• Extended warranty insurance. Manufacturer’s Australian warranty on personal and household appliances is doubled in length, up to a maximum of 12 extra months.
• Rental vehicle excess insurance. Within Australia.
• Purchase protection insurance. Three months cover against theft, loss or accidental damage for new personal items.
• Extended warranty insurance.

NAB clearly hopes that this comprehensive cover will see you using your card without hesitation for all your travel and accommodation costs as well as consumer goods purchases, in order to activate the policies.

All the usual Visa benefits

Online shoppers can take advantage of an additional layer of password security with the Verified by Visa program.

And because this is a Visa Premium card, you’ll be able to use Visa Front Line Access to acquire hard-to-get event tickets before they go on general sale.

Add free NAB app and NAB Pay for Android to increase hi-tech functionality

With the NAB app and NAB Pay for Android you can:

• Use your card account even before the physical card arrives in the mail
• Tap and pay with your smartphone
• Use One Touch ID to access your account
• Turn payWave, overseas transactions and online transactions on and off
• Block and unblock the card if you temporarily lose it

Unattractive interest rates, shorter interest-free days

While this card is loaded with benefits for anyone willing and able to spend fairly freely, it’s not going to appeal to anyone with existing credit card debt (unless they can repay it within the first 6 months) or potential future long-term debt. Its interest rates – 20.99% p.a. ongoing purchase rate, 21.74% p.a. for cash advances as well as being the balance transfer revert rate – are aimed at cardholders who have at least the intention of paying off their balance every month and avoiding interest altogether.

NAB’s two low rate credit cards are the only ones in its stable to enjoy up to 55 interest-free days each month. The rest – including this one – get only Up to 44 days on purchases. You’ll lose 132 interest-free days each year if you’re transferring from a 55-day card.

A lower-than-expected annual fee

Benefit-laden platinum rewards cards usually come at a price – a high one. But $195 p.a. per year, with no charge for additional cardholders, is not exorbitant when the value of the rewards and complimentary insurance cover is considered. With a reduced first annual fee of $45, the bonus Points alone are potentially worth $570 in the first year (or $350 for more moderate spenders), and if your average earning rate worked out at 1.5 points per dollar you’d need to spend around $25,000 on the card each year – less than $2,100 per month – to redeem a gift card value equivalent to the cost of the annual fee.

A card that delivers choice at a reasonable cost

For those who expect rewards in return for their sizeable card spending but don’t necessarily want to stick with the frequent flyer program of a single airline, the NAB Rewards Platinum Card could be a sensible option. Both domestic and international award flights can be accessed through the variety of airline programs on offer, but this card’s gift card redemptions deliver roughly the same return in dollar value as the flights do. So you can switch between flights and other forms of redemption without feeling that you are sacrificing value.

Either way, you should regularly be able to earn back the annual fee, and more, without changing your spending habits.