The Bankwest Qantas transaction account is one of a very small number of Qantas Frequent Flyer Point earning cards that is not a credit card. So if you can’t or don’t want to get a credit card, it presents a way to earn points on all eligible card transactions as well as your balance.
Now, that said, the earn rate is low compared to a credit card if you use it for every transaction. The earn rate on your balance is also low compared to a high-interest savings account, or managed investment fund like Raiz.
So, what is the earn rate?
Note: Bankwest has advised that from April 1, 2020 the earn rates will reduce as per notes below.
- On eligible transactions, you will earn 5 Qantas Frequent Flyer Points per transaction. 3 points per transaction from 1 April 2020.
- You will also earn 5 points for each overseas ATM withdrawal. Unchanged from 1 April 2020.
- 0.4 Qantas Points for every whole amount of $100 making up the daily balance at the end of each day (approx 12 points per $100 per month). 0.3 points per $100 per day from 1 April 2020.
Notice, it is per transaction, not per dollar like credit cards.
Most point earning credit cards will now earn you between 0.5 points and 1 point per dollar, with a small amount earning you more than 1 point per dollar. So it doesn’t take much for a credit card to earn more points.
That said, if your credit card earning rate is 0.5 points per dollar, that means on a $10 spend you would earn 5 points, the same as what you would get with the Bankwest Qantas Transaction account.
Spend less than $10 and all of a sudden, the earn rate of your Bankwest Qantas Transaction account could well be higher.
Spend $5 and you are all of a sudden getting the equivalent of 1 point per dollar.
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How to maximise your point earning with the Bankwest Qantas Transaction account
So, to maximise your point potential with this account, you really want to use it for transactions below $10. The lower the value, the better the return. Think that cup of coffee, the snack on the way home from work, even splitting your grocery shop into many small purchases (if the extra time to do so makes sense for you). Eligible transactions are pretty much any EFTPOS transaction (Savings/Cheque/Credit) including tap and go transactions. At the time of writing, ineligible transactions include cheque payments, BPAY payments, bank transfers, transactions involving a cash-out component, bank fees, foreign exchange purchases, domestic ATM withdrawals, traveller’s cheques, gambling or online gambling transactions, government charges, business expenses, and anything else that Bankwest decides to exclude at their discretion. So you will earn points on most regular purchases you make with the card.
Where this can really come into play is in tandem with services like Zip Pay and Afterpay that split larger transactions into small ones and charge them to your designated card. Zip Pay works out the best here because you can make payments of $1 as often as you want and these are currently eligible transactions for points on the Bankwest Qantas Transaction account. This is especally true since Zip Pay does not permit credit cards to be used for payments. Afterpay splits a purchase into four transactions, so it works best where the total value of the purchase is $40 or less ($40 divided by 4 is $10 meaning you get 0.5 points per dollar – the same as lower point earning credit cards), however, Afterpay allows credit cards to be used so depending on the transaction a points-earning credit card may work out better.
When you use Zip Pay to make payments of $1, you can now start earning up to 5 points per dollar, more than any point earning credit card I’ve seen!
To do this though, you have to be making manual deposits of $1 into your Zip Pay account. Zip Pay has a minimum weekly deposit of $10, so if you only make payments using that method you are limited to 0.5 points per dollar. Every deposit that you make manually from your Bankwest Qantas Transaction account will get you 5 points, so keeping the value of each manual deposit low will maximise your points.
It’s probably best not to be silly with this though. Zip or Bankwest might start to wonder what is going on if there are hundreds of tiny deposits on the same day!
As I mentioned earlier, you do also earn points on your balance in the bank, but at 12 points per $100, unless you want points more than dollar returns, you will get more value from a high-interest savings account or investing through a managed fund like Raiz. So I would just keep your balance at the minimum you need to cover the charges you are putting on the card.
To really get the most from it, it takes a little thought into what transactions are the best to put on this card, and may take some extra work, especially if you are paying for each item in your grocery shop separately, that said, you can clock up a decent amount of points with this card quite quickly on low value transactions.
How do you maximise your points?
What tips do you have for maximising your Qantas Frequent Flyer points with the Bankwest Qantas Transaction account? Let me know in the comments below!
Disclaimer
I have a Bankwest Qantas Transaction account and this article is based on my own experience and financial situation. This article isn’t financial advice and you should take into account your own financial situation before doing anything. This isn’t a paid article, I don’t get any kickbacks from Qantas or from Bankwest.
