Amplify Rewards Credit Cards

The Amplify Rewards Cards Range

Designed to suit the needs of different levels of cardholder, there are three cards on offer within the Amplify Rewards range. Within this tiered offering, there is the basic Amplify Rewards Visa Card, the mid-level Amplify Rewards Platinum Visa Card, and the top-of-the-pack Amplify Rewards Signature Visa Card. Here’s what each card has to offer.

Amplify Rewards Visa Card: With the range’s lowest annual fee, this entry-level card would likely work best for cardholders who want to earn rewards, but who don’t need any additional extras. It offers the same earn rate as its platinum cousin, earning 1 Amplify Point for every $1 spent on eligible purchases, uncapped.

Amplify Rewards Platinum Visa Card: Charging a slightly higher annual fee, this card provides the same earn rate as the entry-level card at 1 Amplify Point per $1 uncapped, but sells itself on its extras. These focus on insurances, providing cover on overseas travel and retail purchases, with extended warranty, price guarantee and purchase protection.

Amplify Rewards Signature Visa Card: With a much higher annual fee than the other two options, this card provides an earn rate of 1.5 Amplify Points per $1, uncapped, with a host of extras thrown in as well. These include two Priority Pass invitations each year, access to the Visa Luxury Hotels program, the services of a Personal Concierge, and the range of insurance covers offered on the platinum card.

Amplify Rewards Introductory Offers

Aside from their tiered earn rates and extras, each of the cards within the Amplify Rewards range may also set itself apart with an introductory offer. Again, introductory offers tend to be tiered, with the Platinum and Signature cards providing bigger offers than their standard cousin. Here are some introductory offers to be on the lookout for.

Bonus Points: Amplify Rewards cards are rewards cards above all else. And what better way to entice new cardholders to sign up for a rewards card than with a bonus points offer? With this type of offer, new cardholders can get their hands on a chunk of bonus points, typically after making a minimum spend within the first few months. Those bonus points can be an amazing boost, with the option to receive them as Amplify Rewards or Qantas Points.

Reduced Annual Fee: Making a rewards card work means getting more value from the points you earn than you pay out in annual fees. With an introductory offer reducing the card’s standard annual fee, value is much easier to come by, in the first year at least. It can also work well for cardholders who want to give the card a ‘test drive’ before deciding if they want to keep it long term.

Balance Transfers: Within the Amplify Rewards range, you may find a balance transfer offer or two. These offers allow you to transfer the balance from your current credit card to take advantage of a much lower rate over an introductory period. While these offers can help you pay down your debt faster, they don’t always work well on rewards cards that entice you to spend – unless you know you can pay down both your new balance and your transferred balance.

0% Purchases: These are perhaps not as common as the other types of introductory offers, but it’s still possible to find offers on purchases now and then. With a 0% purchase offer, you will pay no interest on your purchases throughout the introductory period, making it a great way to save on interest.

The Amplify Rewards Program

One of the first things you will need to think about when you apply for an Amplify Rewards card is whether you want to earn Amplify Rewards or Qantas Points. Each card in the range allows cardholders to earn Amplify Rewards, or to opt in to earn Qantas Points either directly into their Qantas account or on a monthly sweep basis.

When making your choice, consider what kind of value your spending will provide on each program. If there are bonus points up for grabs, look at what each chunk of bonus points will equate to when redeemed.

Earning Points

When using your card day to day, all eligible spending will accrue points on your chosen program according to the earn rate on your card. As there is no points cap in place on any of the cards, you can earn as many points as your spending allows. It’s also nice to see that each card allows one extra cardholder at no extra cost, so points can stack up even faster.

If you have the Amplify Rewards Signature Visa Card, you can also benefit from birthday bonus points. With this feature, you receive a birthday bonus of 10% of the points you earned in the past year. So, say you earned 40,000 points in that year, you would receive 4,000 points as a birthday bonus. This may be either Amplify Points or Qantas Points, or a combination of both.

Redeeming Points

How you redeem your points will depend on which program you earn on.

Within the Amplify Rewards program, you can redeem your points in the Amplify Store on anything from gift cards to tech. You also have the option to use your points to cover your annual fee. If you’re more interested in travel, you can redeem points for travel using the program’s Amplify Travel portal, to cover everything from flights and accommodation to tours and car hire.

By opting into the Qantas program, you can redeem points for flights and upgrades, or for hotel stays and car rental with Qantas partners. You can shop Qantas Store for gift cards, merchandise and experiences, to cover Qantas Club membership or Qantas health and travel insurance, or to buy goodies at Qantas Wine.

Transferring Points

Earning on the Amplify Rewards program also provides you the option to transfer your points to any of the program’s three partners, Virgin Australia’s Velocity, Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer and Malaysia Airlines’ Enrich.

Currently, the transfer rate within each program is 2 to 1. That means, when you transfer out of the Amplify Rewards program, you would receive 1 point or mile within your chosen program for every 2 Amplify Rewards points transferred.

Choosing Amplify

Is Amplify Rewards for you? As a flexible rewards program, Amplify Rewards certainly has plenty to offer. With the option to earn Amplify Rewards, you have a host of redemption options open to you, including transfer to Velocity, KrisFlyer and Enrich. Alternatively, if you think you would get more out of the Qantas program, you can opt in to earn Qantas Points instead.

As for extras, these are on par with similar cards currently on the market. It’s up to you to choose the level of card that best suits your spending style, with the extras that provide value to you. Before you choose, simply work out the value of points you would earn on each card, and compare that to the card’s annual fee. Bear in mind, extras (that you will actually use) add extra value to the card.