One of the biggest travelling mistakes is taking your everyday credit card or debit card overseas, potentially adding an extra 3% on to your travel spend. The ANZ Rewards Travel Adventures Card does not charge a foreign conversion fee and is now my go to card for overseas travel.
I previously used the CommBank Diamond Amex that did not charge the overseas transaction fee. Since that card has been shut down by CommBank, I have been forced to look elsewhere.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics claims that over 11.2m Australians travel overseas each year. That number has doubled in the last ten years. Interestingly, only 60% was for a holiday.
The recent census claims Australian households spend $4,000 each year on holidays. Simple maths shows that holiday makers spend $27b on overseas holidays each year (granted they pay their flights in AUD, but this is an average). This could mean up to $806m in “hidden” overseas transaction fees. That’s an average of $120 per holiday per household, but frequent travellers are paying a lot more!
This number excludes money spent with overseas merchants for goods and services.
Tip: Remember to use the same card for overseas pre-booking when paying for flights, accommodation, tours and other incidentals.
Ouch. No wonder a number of banks are now providing fee free options e.g. Ubank and Commbank, to name just two.
In this post:
ANZ Rewards Travel Adventure Card
The card I am currently using for my overseas travel is the ANZ Rewards Travel Adventures Visa card.
This card is relatively new to the ANZ card family and ticks a lot of boxes.
Firstly, it ticks the box of “fee free” international transactions. I spend more a significant amount per year on holidays and overseas purchases, so with an annual fee of $225, it breaks even after the first $7,500 of spend.
The card also includes a Velocity Frequent Flyer sign-on bonus and points accrual, which I plan to convert to Singapore Airlines points due to the superior redemption options. I ended up with a 40,000 Velocity point bonus.
Moreover, it ticks the travel insurance box. However, this is something I don’t really value as I have four cards that offer this, including the recently launched CommBank World Debit Mastercard.
Free Domestic return flight with Virgin Australia (including Sydney to Perth)
Notably, the card offers a free domestic return flight on Virgin Australia between major Australian cities, and is one of the few to include Sydney to Perth. I plan to use this to fly to Darwin or Launceston. This flight is combined with two domestic lounge passes, and Virgin has some great lounges, so this is a plus.
One previous hack of mine is to fly for free to Darwin and then pick up Singapore Airlines subsidiary Silk Air for the next leg. Silk Air often have two flights per day leaving Darwin.
Tip: Consider using the free ticket to position yourself for your next flight. It can be easier to get a redemption flight out of Darwin, Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth and require fewer points.
Whilst the ANZ Travel Adventures card also provides a personal concierge, I have never used one and I don’t know anyone who has (I feel I can Google stuff myself rather than get someone else to do it).
The application form was easy, however you will end up at a branch to finish off your ID. While their mobile app is pretty easy, their desktop is dated. It does not provide BPAY payment capability.
Virgin Australia Velocity Points capping is a negative
The only other negative is the amount of points you can earn. Essentially, you get 0.75 Virgin Australia Velocity points for each dollar spent. This is reduced by two thirds after the first $2k spend, which is pretty low when you consider how lumpy travel expenses can get.
As many of the “fee free” overseas cards do not offer any rewards, perhaps this is moot.
They also have a separate login for their points program. This is one of those opaque programs that’s hard to decipher and navigate. My tip is: get in, set up auto redemption and never go back.
Finally it’s a Visa card, so is accepted at the same places that accept Mastercard and Amex.
Summary: If you want Virgin Australia Velocity points and spend over $7.5k per year on overseas transactions, then this card is worth considering. It gets better if you value the insurance and the free Virgin flight.
