CBA Diamond rewards gives customers choice

14/04/2011

Commonwealth Bank has launched the Diamond Mastercard with a rewards scheme that allows cardholders to redeem their points on anything.

The program includes a concierge service: the cardholder calls the service to ask the concierge to find a chosen item. Alternatively, cardholders can buy items themselves and then instruct the bank to use their points to pay for them.

When it comes to travel, Commonwealth has an arrangement with Flight Centre and offers cardholders access to a travel agent, and booking with any airline or hotel (Diamond cardholders can opt for the Qantas Frequent Flyer direct-earn program instead).

Commonwealth Bank’s executive general manager cards, David Lindbergh, said the Diamond program had been designed in response to consumer complaints that there were too many restrictions applying to standard rewards and frequent flyer programs.

The annual fee is $425 and the cardholder must sign up for a minimum balance of $18,000. Lindbergh said it would make sense to upgrade from Platinum to Diamond if spending was $55,000 to $60,000 a year.

Cardholders earn 1.25 points per dollar spent on the MasterCard and three points per dollar on the companion American Express card. Cardholders can earn a maximum of one million points a year.

Source: Banking Day