• Rates
  53%
• Fees
  60%
• Rewards
  96%
• Customer Service
  89%
• Value
  41%

Roland Bleyer

Credit Card Expert with over 15 years card experience and the founder of Creditcard.com.au.

The Big Review: NAB Qantas Rewards Signature Card

NAB’s highest earning Qantas card, the NAB Qantas Rewards Signature Card provides cardholders with much more than just a great earn rate on the Qantas program. If you apply now, you can also receive 120,000 bonus Qantas Points, reduced annual fee first year and 0% p.a. on balance transfers for six months, as well as a personal concierge service, seven complimentary insurances, Visa Front Line access, and access to exclusive lifestyle, entertainment and travel rewards, deals and discounts through Visa Premium.

• 120,000 Bonus Points on a new NAB Qantas Rewards Signature Card when you keep your card open for over 12 months. Minimum $3,000 spend in first 60 days
• Reduced annual fee of $295 for the first year. This fee reverts to $395 p.a. from the second year
• 0% p.a. on balance transfers for six months
• Up to 44 days interest free on purchases
• Earn 1 Qantas Point per $1 up to $5,000 and 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 from $5,000 to $20,000 on everyday purchases
• Earn 1 additional Qantas Point per $1 on eligible Qantas products and services
• Free Qantas Frequent Flyer membership (a saving of $99.50)
• Redeem rewards in the Qantas program, including award flights, products and vouchers from the Qantas store
• 24/7 Personal Concierge
• Visa Front Line access
• Access to lifestyle, entertainment and travel rewards, deals and discounts with Visa Premium
• Complimentary insurance cover on eligible travel and retail purchases
• $15,000 minimum credit limit
• Balance transfer must be applied for during card application, 2% balance transfer fee applies, reverts to cash advance rate.
• Offer unavailable if closing/transferring from another NAB credit card account.
• 19.99% p.a. standard variable purchase rate
• 21.74% p.a. cash advance rate
• Points are capped at $20,000 spend per statement period.
• Interest free days only available if you pay your account in full by the due date each month. You won’t receive interest free days if you have a balance transfer.

This Card: The Lowdown

Providing premium perks and a decent points-earning potential, the NAB Qantas Rewards Signature Card is an excellent choice for cardholders who want to earn big on the Qantas frequent flyer program.

With this card, you can earn Qantas Points on everyday purchases, with the opportunity to earn additional points on eligible Qantas spending. Of course, if you apply, you can also enjoy 120,000 bonus Qantas Points to spend as you like.

Splurging 120,000 bonus Qantas Points

Where could you go?

• You could fly Sydney to Auckland one-way five times, using 18,000 Qantas Points each time.
• You could fly Melbourne to Nadi for 22,500 Qantas Points in Economy, 50,000 Qantas Points in Business, or 75,000 Qantas Points in First.
• You could check out Europe, flying from Perth to Hamburg, Lisbon, London or Amsterdam for 55,000 Qantas Points each way.
• You could explore the United States, flying from Brisbane to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix or Seattle for 45,000 Qantas Points each way.

As a premium card, the NAB Qantas Rewards Signature Card has plenty going for it.

• 24/7 Personal Concierge, providing assistance by booking travel, making dinner reservations, buying tickets and arranging the purchase and delivery of gifts for loved ones.
• Access to Visa Front Line, to reserve tickets and purchase them online prior to general public release.
• Access to lifestyle, entertainment and travel rewards, deals and discounts through Visa Premium.

Seven complimentary insurances covering eligible travel and retail purchases:

• Overseas travel and medical insurance cover,
• Interstate flight insurance cover,
• Domestic hotel burglary insurance cover,
• Transport accident insurance cover,
• Extended warranty insurance cover,
• Purchase protection insurance cover,
• Price protection insurance cover.

Digging Deeper

With the basics covered, it’s time to dig a little deeper into what’s on offer with the NAB Qantas Rewards Signature Card, so you can decide whether this card is right for you.

This Card: As a Rewards Card

As this card has the highest earn rate among the trio of NAB Qantas Frequent Flyer linked credit cards, it offers you the best opportunity to earn big on everyday spending when you choose to bank with NAB.

• Earn 1 Qantas Point per $1 up to $5,000 on everyday purchases,
• Earn 0.5 Qantas Points per $1 from $5,000 to $20,000 on everyday purchases,
• Earn 1 additional Qantas Point per $1 on eligible Qantas products and services.

Because there is a points cap in place, with points being earned on a tiered system, this card may not be suitable for everyone. However, it is worth noting that there is no points expiry on this card, so you can keep saving the points you earn until you find something you really want to spend them on.

If you are new to the Qantas program, you will receive free Qantas Frequent Flyer membership when you sign up for this card, giving you a saving of $99.50. You may also choose to add an additional cardholder to the account – at no extra cost – to help you earn points faster.

What about those additional bonus points? When using your card for certain purchases, you can earn 1 additional bonus point per $1 spent. These additional bonus points will be applied to card transactions on the following:

• Qantas flights booked directly through qantas.com and Qantas Contact Centres,
• Qantas flights booked through selected travel agents but processed with Qantas Airlines identified to card scheme as the relevant merchant,
• purchases of Qantas Frequent Flyer membership,
• purchases of Qantas Club membership, joining and annual fees,
• purchases of Qantas Gift Vouchers,
• purchases made through qantasstore.com.au, qantasshop.com.au and qantasepiqure.com.au.

As for the 120,000 bonus Qantas Points, there is some small print to take into account. To be eligible for the 120,000 bonus points offer, you must apply be approved. Points will be awarded on a tiered basis - 90,000 bonus points when you spend $3,000 on everyday purchases in the first 60 days (credited to your points balance within 3 months of meeting the spend criteria) and 30,000 bonus points after 12 months (credited to your points balance within the 13th month).

In this case, everyday purchases do not include gambling or gaming purchases. In addition, to be eligible, you cannot be an existing customer who has received NAB Qantas Rewards Bonus Points for a new personal NAB Qantas Rewards credit card in the past twelve months.

And redeeming your points? Points can be redeemed for travel, on a Classic Flight Reward or Points Plus Pay Flight, or on an upgrade using Classic Upgrade Rewards or Bid Now Upgrades.

You could also choose to pay for Qantas Club Membership, to book car hire or accommodation with Qantas Hotels, to shop for premium wines and gourmet food with Qantas epiQure, or invest in extra protection with Qantas Insurance.

Or, if you prefer a little retail therapy, you could head to the Qantas Store.

• Retail Gift Cards: $100 David Jones gift card for 16,530 Qantas Points, $50 Bonds gift card for 7,940 Qantas Points, or $50 Dymocks gift card for 7,940 Qantas Points.
• Magazine Gift Cards: a 12 month subscription to Vogue UK for 35,150 Qantas Points, to Frankie for 11,730 Qantas Points, or to Healthy Food Guide for 11,640 Qantas Points.
• Experience Gift Cards: Skydiving in Sydney for 45,600 Qantas Points, a Melbourne Café Indulgence Tour for 18,910 Qantas Points, or a Daimler Private Wine Tour for Two in the Barossa Valley for 128,840 Qantas Points.
• Travel Gift Cards: $100 Accor gift card for 16,530 Qantas Points, $100 Jetstar Flight Voucher for 15,880 Qantas Points, or a $100 Qantas Holidays Voucher for 24,850 Qantas Points.

This Card: As a Premium Card

There is one main reason for choosing a premium card such as the NAB Qantas Rewards Signature Card – and that’s its perks. After all, you’re not likely to fork out $395 in annual fee each year if you’re not getting extras in return. For a limited time pay $295 annual card fee for your first year, then $395 p.a. from the second year. Aside from its rewards program, this card offers the following features to cardholders.

Personal Concierge Service

As a cardholder, you will have access to the NAB Concierge Service, which NAB describes as a complete travel and lifestyle service, offered 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Acting in much the same way as a personal assistant, NAB’s personal concierge can assist with all manner of services.

In terms of travel services, the NAB Concierge Service can help you plan out your entire trip, assisting in the booking of all your flights and accommodation. If anything goes awry while you are on your trip, your concierge can help organise medical or legal services, even offering emergency interpretation assistance, when needed.

As for everyday services, your concierge can offer assistance by finding, booking, and delivering tickets for live music, sports, and shows; organising car and limousine rentals; arranging flower delivery; making reservations at health clubs, golf clubs and hotels; or helping with restaurant recommendations and bookings.

Visa Front Line Access

Designed to offer select extras to Visa Signature cardholders, Visa Premium provides access to lifestyle, entertainment and travel rewards, deals and discounts. Visa Premium also features its own 24/7 concierge service, as well as global customer assistance, and access to exclusive offers.

As a registered Visa Premium member, you will also have access to Visa Front Line. This can give you access to the hottest tickets in town with no queues and no waiting, allowing you to reserve tickets and purchase them online prior to general public release.

Complimentary Insurance Cover

Similar to many other premium credit cards, the NAB Qantas Rewards Signature Card offers a range of complimentary insurances to its cardholders. These include:

• Overseas travel and medical insurance cover
• Interstate flight insurance cover
• Domestic hotel burglary insurance cover
• Transport accident insurance cover
• Extended warranty insurance cover
• Purchase protection insurance cover
• Price protection insurance cover

As with any type of cover, it’s important to check the small print before relying on any insurance offered on a credit card. For example, to be eligible for:

• overseas travel and medical insurance cover, you must use your card to purchase at least $500 of your pre-booked transport costs (such as your airfares or cruise) and land content (such as accommodation, tours or car rental) before your trip.
• interstate flight insurance cover, you must use your card to purchase 100% of your return interstate airfares prior to the commencement of the trip.
• domestic hotel burglary insurance cover, you must use your card to purchase 100% of your domestic hotel/motel accommodation costs.
• transport accident insurance cover, you must use your card to purchase 100% of your conveyance costs.

As for the card’s insurance covering retail purchases:

• The extended warranty insurance offers cover for a further 12 months on the period of a manufacturer’s expressed original warranty, provided the original warranty period is not greater than five years.
• Purchase protection insurance offers cover for new personal items purchased on the card, covering against loss, theft, or accidental damage anywhere in the world, for three months from the date of purchase.
• Price protection insurance offers cover for the difference between the price of the covered item and a lower printed advertised price for the same item.

Be sure to read the insurance policy document carefully for more information on the cover provided, as well as eligibility requirements and how to make a claim.

This Card: The Essentials

Just as you should always find out more about any insurance cover on offer, you should also check the small print for all need-to-know info on the card itself. With the NAB Qantas Rewards Signature Card, that starts with the $395 annual fee. As this is a fairly significant outgoing, you should work out whether you are getting more back in rewards and extras than you pay out in that annual fee.

As we mentioned previously, to be eligible for the 120,000 bonus Qantas Points, you must spend $3,000 on the card within 60 days of card approval. If you plan on spending that amount on your card anyway, it shouldn’t be an issue. However, if you spend more than you can pay back, just to get those points in your pocket, that is something to worry about.

In terms of interest, the card has a standard variable interest rate of 19.99% p.a. on purchases and 21.74% p.a. on cash advances. That means, to make all the rewards and extras on offer worthwhile, you must clear your balance each statement period, before interest starts accruing. Also be aware that any balance transfers left unpaid after the intro period ends will attract the higher cash advance rate.

To be eligible for the card, you must be 18 or over, and an Australian citizen or permanent resident. If you are not a citizen or permanent resident, you will need to provide the last overseas address you lived in, as well as other details of your residency status.

Decision Time

If you don’t mind spending $3,000 on your card within 60 days and keeping you card for over 12 months, then the NAB Qantas Rewards Signature Card provides a fantastic way to earn 120,000 bonus Qantas Points. Reduced annual fee first year. For your annual fee, you can also enjoy a decent earn rate and prestige perks on this premium card, such as complimentary insurance cover, a 24/7 concierge service, and Visa Front Line access.