Save up to $763 by spending rewards points wisely I Dollar Saver tip #75
Save up to $763
Tip overview:
A common complaint I hear about frequent flyer credit cards is that the annual fees can be very high - often $300 or more. That can totally be worth it if you use the bonus points for a high-value flight, but scoring reward flights can be tricky and intimidating, especially if you don't fly often.
But you can still get great points results through a card with a much lower fee.
Here's a simple example. The NAB Platinum Rewards Credit Card has an annual fee of just $45 for the first year ($190 after that).
And right now you can score up to 100,000 bonus NAB Rewards Points: 80,000 points in the first 60 days, then another 20,000 after 12 months once you pay the annual fee for the second year.
You can get these points as long as you spend $1,000 in the first 60 days. That's a pretty achievable goal - $125 a week is less than most households spend on grocery shopping.
100,000 NAB Rewards points are worth at least $450 in gift cards. Even after taking the $49 annual fee into account and the $190 fee you'll pay in the second year, that's still $215 of value.
Did you know
Finder research shows Just 16% of Australians spend their rewards points on flights - even though using them for flights is one of the very best value uses for those points.
You could also turn those 100,000 NAB Rewards points into 50,000 Velocity Points to spend on reward flights.
50,000 Velocity Points could get you a return Business Reward flight from Sydney to Melbourne, which requires 45,600 Velocity Points if you book a seat and use points to pay carrier charges as well (flight costs vary but you can see for yourself on the Velocity website).
The same Business flight without points would typically cost you around $1,002 (looking at return flights in April for 1 person). Even after factoring in the $239 in annual fees for the 2 years, that's $763 of value.
So bottom line? A low rate card can score you $215 in gift cards or over $700 in flights if you deploy the points wisely.
Used sensibly and with the balance paid off in full each month, frequent flyer credit cards really can get you more from your spending.