Velocity credit cards — sky high points potential

How we calculate Frequent Flyer Credit Card Finder Scores

Read full methodology

What different scores mean

9+

Excellent

These cards are your ticket to sky-high point earning potential, hefty welcome bonuses, solid ongoing earn rates, and a premium selection of travel-centric perks.

7+

Great

These cards might have slightly less impressive points earning or sign-up bonuses.

5+

Standard

Reliable workhorses for frequent flyers who want a well-balanced card. Enjoy decent point earning potential, competitive rates, and a good mix of practical perks.

0+

Basic

The entry point in the frequent flyer market. Their sign-up bonuses and ongoing earn rates might not be as generous.

Best Velocity credit card offers for March 2025

Here are the best Velocity credit cards based on their Finder Scores in the frequent flyer category:

• The American Express Velocity Platinum Card has a Finder Score of 9.85.
• The Virgin Australia Velocity High Flyer Card has a Finder Score of 9.36.
• The Westpac Altitude Velocity Black has a Finder Score of 9.35.
• The Citi Premier Card - Velocity Points Offer has a Finder Score of 8.88.

Read more about how the Finder Score determines the best credit cards on the market.

Updated March 2025 by money editor, Richard Whitten.

How do I earn points with a Velocity credit card?

The first step is to add your Velocity Frequent Flyer membership details to the credit card account. Then, you'll earn points per $1 spent when you use the Velocity credit card to pay for groceries, food delivery, a new outfit or any other eligible transaction.

If your new card also offers bonus points, you'll usually need to meet a spending requirement to get them. For example, a card could offer 60,000 bonus Velocity Points when you spend $3,000 on eligible purchases in the first 3 months.

Types of Velocity credit cards

1. Credit cards that earn Velocity Points directly

These cards earn Velocity Points per $1 spent, which are added to your frequent flyer account. Currently, American Express, BOQ Specialist, Virgin Money and Westpac offer these "direct earn" Velocity Frequent Flyer credit cards.

• Pro: It's easy to see how many Velocity Points you earn for your credit card spending.
• Pro: From April 2025, you'll earn more Velocity Points on flight bookings if you have one of these cards.

• Con: You're limited to only earning Velocity Points.

2. Reward cards that offer Velocity Points transfers

With these cards, you can transfer points from a credit card rewards program into your Velocity Frequent Flyer account. Some even offer an auto-transfer option.

• Pro: Sometimes you'll get point transfer bonuses with these cards. For example, 15% more Velocity Points than usual when you transfer points during the promotional period.

• Con: The point transfer rate varies but usually you'll end up with fewer Velocity Points than what you had in reward points. A typical transfer rate is 2 reward points to 1 Velocity Point.

How to find the best credit card for earning Velocity Frequent Flyer Points

Apart from the annual fee and interest rate, which are important when comparing any credit card, these are the things to look for:

Bonus points and sign-up offers

You can get a lot of value from Velocity credit card introductory offers, with some cards offering up to 170,000 bonus Velocity Points. That's enough for two return business class flights between Sydney and Auckland (142,000 Velocity Points, plus fees and taxes) with points to spare.

Points per $1 spent

Generally, 1 Velocity Point per $1 is competitive for a direct earn card. For point transfers, an equivalent of 0.5 Velocity Points per $1 is competitive. Make sure you also check for any points caps or spend thresholds in your comparison.

Travel perks

You can get valuable extras on platinum and higher-tier cards, and even some Virgin Australia-branded cards, including: Airport lounge access, Complimentary travel insurance, Concierge services, Flight or travel credit, Bonus Status Credits or other exclusive offers.

What perks will I get with a Velocity credit card?

If you're interested in benefits specifically for travel with Virgin Australia, the 2 main ones are:

Flights

The Virgin Australia Velocity Flyer and High Flyer credit cards both offer a $129 Virgin Australia gift voucher each year you have the card.

Virgin Australia Lounge access

The Virgin Australia High Flyer offers 2 complimentary single-entry lounge passes for Virgin Australia lounges per year.

Example: How many points can I earn with a Velocity Frequent Flyer credit card?

The number of Velocity Points you'll earn with a credit card depends on the card's bonus points offer, earn rate and how much you spend. To give you an idea of how it works, here's an example that looks at the yearly potential points based on earn rates for 2 different Velocity credit cards.

In this example, spending with the American Express card would offer more value over the course of one year than the Virgin Money card. However, it does not factor in the value of any insurance covers, lounge passes or other perks.

"I chose Velocity Points over Qantas Points and went with a card that lets me earn Velocity Points directly. My main goal was domestic reward flights, and I shop at Coles more often than Woolies. Now I earn Velocity and Flybuys Points when I shop, and convert the Flybuys to Velocity Points. It pays for multiple domestic reward flights per year."

Richard Whitten

Money Editor

How many Velocity Points do I need for a flight?

You can get Virgin Australia Reward Seat flights from 5,900 Velocity Points, not including carrier charges that are billed separately. For example, this is enough for a one-way Tier 1 economy reward flight from Sydney to Melbourne.

Here are some other examples to give you an idea of the points you'd need for a return flight:

• Sydney to Melbourne in business class: 31,000 points
• Brisbane to Perth in economy (Tier 2 reward): 35,600 points
• Sydney to Queenstown (NZ) in business class: 71,000 points

This means a competitive credit card bonus points offer will give you enough points for a reward flight (or flights).

Calculate how much your Velocity Points are worth

Choose Velocity Frequent Flyer as the program and put the number of points into this calculator to get a dollar value for them.

2025 Finder Credit Card Awards for Velocity Points

Each year the Finder Credit Card Awards recognises Australia's top credit cards, with expert analysis of rates, fees and offers based on 12 months' worth of data. These cards might not currently have the most competitive deals for earning velocity points but you can use them as a benchmark against the latest offers.

Best Velocity Frequent Flyer Credit Card: Westpac Altitude Velocity Black

Westpac's Altitude Velocity Black won this year's Velocity frequent flyer credit card award. You can earn up to 120,000 bonus Velocity Points with this card if you hold it for over a year.

Westpac's Altitude Velocity Black won this year's Velocity frequent flyer credit card award. You can earn up to 120,000 bonus Velocity Points with this card if you hold it for over a year.

Highly commended

American Express Velocity Platinum Card

The American Express Velocity Platinum Card is highly commended in this award category. It offers new customers a competitive sign up points offer when they spend $3,000 in the first 3 months and has a high earn rate, lounge access and many other benefits.

Citi Premier Card - Velocity Points Offer

Citi's Premier Card - Velocity Points Offer has a high bonus points offer and an annual fee that's a touch lower than comparable cards. That's why it's highly commended in the Velocity frequent flyer category.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How long does it take to get Velocity Points from a credit card?

  The Velocity points you earn on your credit card for regular spending are typically added to your frequent flyer account once a month, after your card's statement is issued.

  Point transfers usually take between 1-14 days to show up in your Velocity account, but it varies. For example, the terms and conditions for NAB Rewards transfers to Velocity state that it can take up to 10 business days.

  Bonus point offers may take a little longer between the spend criteria being met and the points landing in your account. For example, American Express indicates this process will take 8-10 weeks.

• What is an eligible transaction on a Velocity frequent flyer credit card?

  You can earn Velocity Points on most everyday spending, including food and drinks, travel bookings and even medical appointments. While it varies between cards, transactions that don't usually earn points include cash advances, balance transfers, gambling transactions and BPAY payments.

• If I want to book travel with a Velocity credit card, do I have to fly with Virgin?

  No, you can use your credit card for flights with any airline or travel booking service that accepts credit card payments.

  You'll still earn Velocity Points per $1 on eligible spending. But you'd miss out on any additional points and status you'd get if you travelled with Virgin Australia.

  If you want to use your Velocity Points to make the booking, you can travel with Virgin or any of their partner airlines, including: Air Canada, Delta, Singapore Airlines and Etihad.

• Can I cancel the card after getting bonus Velocity Points?

  Technically, yes. This process of applying for a card, getting the bonus points and then cancelling the card is called "churning". If you're going to do this, make sure the points have landed in your account and you've paid the balance in full before trying to cancel.

  But keep in mind that regularly applying for cards then cancelling them can lower your credit score and reduce your chance of approval. So it's a good idea to keep track of your credit score and limit applications within a 12-18 month period.

• Can a Velocity credit card help me earn more Status Credits?

  Status Credits help you reach higher Velocity membership tiers. Silver, Gold or Platinum status means you can get benefits like Virgin Australia airport lounge access, additional baggage and priority boarding.

  Flying is the main way to earn Status Credits but there are a couple of other ways – including credit cards that offer bonus Status Credits. For example, a card might offer 100 Velocity Status Credit when you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months – but this is a rare feature.

  According to Finder's credit card database, the American Express Velocity Platinum and the Virgin Australia Velocity High Flyer Card are the only credit cards that currently offer status credits. With the American Express Velocity Platinum, you'll get up to 100 Velocity Frequent Flyer Status Credits when you spend at least $50,000 on eligible purchases within your membership year. The Virgin Australia Velocity High Flyer Card also offers 100 bonus Status Credits when you spend $3,500 on eligible purchases each month for the first 2 months.

• Are Velocity or Qantas Points better?

  There's no single answer to this question, so let's look at a few scenarios:

  • If you want to fly overseas, Qantas Points offer access to reward flights with 29 partner airlines, including oneworld alliance members. Velocity Points offer access to reward flights with 9 partner airlines.
  • If you want to fly in Australia or New Zealand, both Qantas and Velocity Points give you plenty of options for economy, premium economy and business class reward flights.
  • If you already fly with one airline more than the other (e.g. Virgin Australia), focusing on earning points with the linked frequent flyer program can help you redeem reward flights faster.

  You can weigh up more details in Finder's guide to Qantas vs. Velocity Frequent Flyer.

How does the Finder Frequent Flyer Score work?

The Finder Score is an easy way you can figure out which frequent flyer credit cards are worth the trip, and which ones aren't worth getting out of bed for.

Here's how the score works:

• We analyse over 250 credit cards and assess 8 features, giving a score for each one.
• Then we combine these scores using a weighted methodology (because some features are more important than others).
• This gives us a final score out of 10: the Finder Score.

See full Finder Score methodology

Written by

Amy Bradney-George

Journalist

Amy is an experienced journalist with over 16 years of experience, contributing to major publications like Money Magazine, The Sydney Morning Herald, and ABC News Australia. Specialising in personal finance, she frequently appeared in media outlets and on radio. Amy holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Drama from Griffith University and earned RG146 certifications in Tier 1 Generic Knowledge and Tier 2 General Advice Deposit Products, ensuring her expertise is grounded in current financial regulations. Amy was Finder's Senior Writer for Credit Cards from 2016 to 2024. See full bio

Amy's expertise

Amy has written 552 Finder guides across topics including:

• Credit cards
• Frequent flyer
• Credit score
• BNPL
• Money management
• Sustainability