The ANZ Rewards program is a flexible rewards program from ANZ Bank. This means you earn ANZ Rewards Points, which can be redeemed for other items or points in other schemes. This includes gift cards, money off your balance, hotel points and air miles. ANZ Rewards Points value varies significantly based on what you redeem them for. Just because you can use your points for something doesn’t mean it’s always the best use of them. But in saying this, unused points are useless and always lose value over time. So here’s a starting point on how much ANZ Rewards Points are valued.
| Type | Value (per point) |
|---|---|
|
Cashback |
0.4c |
|
Gift Card |
0.43c |
|
Rewards Store |
0.43c |
|
Flights (Economy) |
0.53c |
|
Flights (Business) |
1.0c |
Flights (Economy)*
0.53c
per point
Flights (Business)*
1.0c
per point
How are points' value calculated?
You may have noticed the asterisk over some of the costs. This is because the actual value of ANZ Rewards Points for these items is difficult to calculate and has many caveats. Flight prices are highly variable based on time of year and class of travel. I’ve tried to optimise this to show you the most conservative estimate (i.e. the lowest point value) to serve as a rough guide when deciding which rewards program to join.
I chose a baseline route and transfer partner to calculate the flight value per point. In this case, Sydney to Singapore in economy class using Krisflyer. Krisflyer represents good value and low taxes per fare, making this one of the better-valued frequent flyer programs. The points cost for a Saver fare was 61,000 return and $200 in taxes. I then found the cheapest flight on those dates on a full-service carrier (I don’t think it is necessary to pick Singapore Airlines as when booking flights, most people would go with the cheapest option), which cost $1,200. This gives the 61,000 points a value of approximately $1,000 (subtracting the taxes from the cash fare) or 1.6c per point. ANZ Rewards has a 3:1 transfer rate to Krisflyer, so the value per ANZ point is divided by 3. I used a similar method for business class flights. Krisflyer return redemptions from Sydney to Singapore come in at 137,000 points and $200 in taxes. This gives a rough value of 1.0c per ANZ Reward point.
The value per point will increase dramatically when flying during peak periods or in business class as the points cost is standardised irrespective of demand, at least with Krisflyer. Of course, the cash price of these flights is much higher, and few people would be willing to pay the cash price for the business fare, making the actual value per point a bit iffy. A more accurate way to determine this value is to ask yourself how much cash you would put up for a business class ticket and calculate the value. This is, of course, up to the individual.
Other things to take into account
Other things that you may not consider, and are much harder to assess, are the costs of the card itself and how this plays into the points value.
- The annual fee, which, if you’re lucky, you could have a fee waiver through an associated home loan or a one-off offer. This can be offset through other benefits the credit card offers, such as lounge access, sign-up bonus offers or any credits depending on how much value you assign to these.
- Credit card surcharges are becoming more common in Australia, and it can be hard to tell if paying the surcharge is worth it. Using our calculation as a guide, it’s easier. For instance, if you earn 2 ANZ points per $1 spent and are interested in looking for flights, any surcharge of less than 1.06% is worth paying as the value you get from rewards is greater.
What can you redeem ANZ Rewards Points for?
Airline Miles
| Airline | Conversion | Minimum Miles |
|---|---|---|
|
Cathay Pacific |
3:1 Asia Miles |
3,000 Points |
|
Singapore Airlines |
3:1 Krisflyer Miles |
1,500 Points |
|
Virgin Australia |
2:1 Velocity Points |
2,000 Points |
|
Air New Zealand |
2,000 Points to 10 Airpoints Dollars |
2,000 Points |
You may remember that Velocity is a transfer partner with Krisflyer as well. The relatively frequent transfer bonus offers with Velocity of 20% or more means a double transfer to Velocity and then to Krisflyer is better than transferring directly to Krisflyer. Also, remember that you can redeem Velocity points for Singapore Airlines flights, so check availability with Velocity first for better value redemptions.
Gift Cards
ANZ allows you to redeem points for a number of gift cards. These present better value than cashback, so if you’re considering going down this route, consider buying a gift card for Coles/Woolworths or a petrol voucher instead. These are as good as cash and give you more value than claiming credit back. Gift cards start at 2,300 points for $10 up to 111,000 points for $500, meaning the larger cards are slightly higher in value. Certain stores like Apple, David Jones and Event Cinemas have slightly higher redemption rates.
Cashback
Cashback values are fixed at 0.4c per point with a minimum redemption of 1,250. I would only go down this route if you have nothing you want to spend money on and nothing else you wish to redeem points for, as this represents the worst value of all options.
Rewards Store
ANZ also has their own Rewards Store where you can use points to shop for items including homeware, appliances, technology and much more. These are, again, relatively poor value redemptions, but on occasions, sales are known to occur, which may present a deal.
