Review: St.George Amplify Signature Visa

Introduction

Bridging the gap between the ‘Big Four’ banks and everybody else, the St.George Amplify Signature Visa is all about flexibility – allowing you to earn Amplify or Qantas Points on every dollar spent (depending on the option you choose), with the backing of Westpac behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly.

Selecting the Amplify Signature Visa with Amplify Points card allows you to utilise the bank’s own Amplify Rewards program, from which points can be converted to partner frequent flyer schemes, including Virgin Australia Velocity and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer.

What’s more, eligible new customers can earn up to 150,000 bonus Amplify Points when applying for the Amplify Signature Visa and spending $12,000 on eligible purchases in the first 12 months.

Alternatively, choosing the ‘Amplify Qantas Signature Visa’ card variation can pocket you a cool bonus of 90,000 Qantas Points when you apply and spend $6,000 or more on eligible purchases in the first 90 days from new card approval.

St.George Amplify Signature card: fast facts

• Grade/tier: Black
• Card type: Visa Signature
• Loyalty variants: Amplify Points (Amplify Rewards), or Qantas Points (Qantas Frequent Flyer)
• Amplify Points earned per A$1 spent (Amplify Rewards): 1.5 (1.65 with ‘birthday bonus’) on eligible purchases.
• 2 Amplify Points = 1 Velocity Points, 1 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles.
• Or, Qantas Points earned per A$1 spent (Qantas Frequent Flyer): 0.75 (0.825 including a 10% ‘birthday bonus’) on eligible purchases.
• Points capping/tiering: Earn 0.75 Qantas Points per $1 up to a maximum of $250,000 spent on eligible purchases annually. Bonus Qantas Points not included in the cap.

Bank disclaimer: Eligible purchases do not include interest, fees and charges, cash or ATM cash advances, cash equivalent transactions, gambling transactions, a purchase from or payment to a local, state or federal government or government related agency, BPAY or similar transactions (such as Post Billpay), refunds and balance transfers debited to the card account.

Amplify Signature: fees, charges and interest

• Annual fee: $199 first year ($279 card fee ongoing)
• Additional/supplementary cardholder fee: $0
• Interest rate on purchases: 19.49% p.a.
• Interest-free days on purchases^: Up to 55
• Interest rate on cash advances: 21.49% p.a.
• International transaction fee: 3.0%
• Minimum income requirement: No defined minimum
• Minimum credit limit: $15,000

Earning points for free flights:

St.George’s Amplify Signature cards with Amplify points come with no points capping or tiering: so regardless of how much you spend each month or year, you’ll keep earning the same number of points on every dollar charged to the card.

On the Signature card with Qantas Points, you’ll be able to earn 0.75 Qantas Points per $1 up to a maximum of $250,000 spent on eligible purchases annually. Bonus Qantas Points not included in the cap.

On both the Qantas Points and Amplify Points cards, there’s also a nifty 10% ‘birthday bonus’ each year which looks at your spending for the past 12 months (or part-year for new applicants) and awards a boost of 10% more points as you celebrate your special day.

Choosing Amplify Points gives you more flexibility than opting for Qantas Points, as you can convert your rewards across to the program’s various frequent flyer partners as you desire.

For instance, when planning one trip, converting Amplify Points to Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program could bring great value, though Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer could also prove fruitful, depending on where you aim to travel.

As an example, converting the 150,000 bonus Amplify points to Velocity delivers 75,000 points, which is enough for up to three business class flights between Sydney and Melbourne.

Transferring to KrisFlyer, on the other hand, would get to 75,000 miles, which is enough for a Business Saver Award ticket between Sydney and Singapore on the roomy A380.

If you’d prefer to earn points in Australia’s largest frequent flyer program, then the Qantas Points card could instead suit your needs and add to your already-growing balance of points.

With the 90,000 bonus Qantas Points alone, you’d have enough for a return business class flight between Sydney and Denpasar, gateway to all beautiful Bali has to offer.

Airport lounge access:

Cardholders receive two free airport lounge visits each year, tailored to the type of card they hold.

Amplify Rewards cardholders net a free Priority Pass membership with two lounge visits included, after which they can continue using their Priority Pass card to access participating lounges at a cost of US$35 per visit.

Alternatively, Amplify Qantas members receive two complimentary Qantas Club passes after registering via the St.George website, valid in domestic Qantas Clubs and most Qantas-operated international business class lounges when flying Qantas or Jetstar.

Free insurance coverage:

As with most above-Platinum credit cards international travel insurance comes as part of the package. This may be activated on a per-trip basis by charging at least $500 worth of travel costs to the card before leaving Australia and when holding a return ticket for trips of six months or less.

Those travel costs could be your return airfare, airport/departure taxes, pre-paid hotel stays during the trip or prepaid ‘overseas itinerary items’.

Essentially, this may give you the flexibility to book international flights using frequent flyer points rather than cash, provided you still charge >A$500 worth of eligible costs to the Amplify Signature card before jetting off: although read the policy documents carefully to determine whether this cover is right for you and whether it meets your personal needs.

For further information or to confirm whether your intended journey is covered by this policy, speak directly with the card issuer or insurance underwriter.

Also thrown in is extended warranty cover, purchase and price guarantees on eligible purchases, interstate flight inconvenience insurance, transit accident insurance and rental vehicle excess insurance in Australia.

St.George Amplify Signature: the verdict

If frequent flyer points are your goal, the St.George Amplify Signature card with Amplify Points is a good way to do it. Though you’ll be capped after a $250,000 annual spend on the Qantas option, this is still more than most people spend.

With up to 150,000 Amplify Points or 90,000 bonus Qantas Points on the table simply by applying and meeting the spend criteria, you’ll be well on your way to booking your next business class flight using points.

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Bank disclaimer: ^If your account has an interest free period for purchases, to be entitled to that interest free period, you need to pay off the “monthly payment balance” listed on your statement of account (not the full closing balance) by the relevant payment due date.