American Express David Jones Platinum Credit Card

Every regular David Jones Shopper who is considering a premium card should take a serious look at the American Express David Jones Platinum Credit Card. Owning one will make you feel like an A-lister, since cardholders are showered with bonus points and also receive a stellar ongoing points earning rate at DJs, while still earning points at a very attractive rate elsewhere. It all comes at a cost of course, but it’s a justifiable expense if you make use of the many privileges.

Choice of reward schemes

Different rewards schemes suit different lifestyles, so Amex and David Jones give you a choice.

If you are a committed Qantas Frequent Flyer you can opt to earn QFF points and redeem them for award flights and upgrades with Qantas and 50 partner airlines. Alternatively, you can use your points to buy merchandise and retail gift cards from the Qantas store, although this is not the most cost effective way to use them.

Not interested in Qantas points? No problem, because you can choose American Express Membership Rewards points instead. These points can be used for:

• Online shopping at davidjones.com
• Purchasing retail gift cards (DJs, Myer, Westfield, Coles, Kmart, Bunnings, Harvey Norman and many more)
• Converting to points with eleven travel partners: nine airlines (Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Etihad, Malaysian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Virgin Australia and Virgin Atlantic) and two frequent guest programs (Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy)
• Booking travel through Helloworld or Webjet, or buying a Hertz car rental voucher
• Buying foreign currency from American Express
• Obtaining concert and movie tickets from Ticketmaster, Hoyts and Greater Union
• Conversion to a cash credit to offset against the balance owed on your card account

Attractive points earning rate, especially for David Jones customers

This is where this card earns its stripes as a dedicated David Jones card. It rewards shopping at David Jones with a spectacular four Amex points or two Qantas points per dollar, and the points rate for shopping at major supermarkets and petrol stations is also very attractive. Here are the details:

• David Jones purchases: 4.0 Amex or 2.0 QFF points per $1 spent
• Major supermarket & petrol station purchases: 3.0 Amex/1.5 QFF points per $1 spent
• Purchases everywhere else: 1.0 Amex/0.55 QFF points per $1 spent

‘Major supermarkets’ includes all the usual suspects (Bi-Lo, Coles, Fishers, Food For Less, Fresh Provisions, Harris Farm Markets, IGA, Macro Wholefoods, Safeway, Supabarn, Thomas Dux and Woolworths) and it’s the same story for petrol stations (Ampol, BP, Caltex Woolworths, Gull, Metro, Mobil, Peak, Safeway Petrol, Shell, United, Woolworths Petrol and 7 Eleven). Remember, though, that just because an outlet appears on this list it doesn’t guarantee that an Amex card will be accepted or that there will be no surcharge added.

Points are uncapped and will not expire as long as your card account is current.

Generous bonus points

As long as you don’t already have an Amex David Jones card, there’s a gold-plated welcome waiting for you in the form of 30,000 Amex Membership Rewards points or 15,000 QFF points, just for using the card to spend at least $750 outside of David Jones during the first three months of holding the card. Presumably this is to remind you that it’s not just for using in David Jones, but everywhere. See below for an analysis of the dollar value of these points.

A-list loyalty perks

David Jones is figuratively rolling out the red carpet for its platinum cardmembers. The long list of benefits is designed to make you feel valued and keep coming back, shunning that other upmarket department store. It includes:

• Free next day courier delivery for items purchased in-store only (excluding gift cards, hampers, fresh food, wine, gift registry and large items)
• Complimentary shopping bag storage at the DJs customer service desk
• Free gift wrapping for both in-store and online purchases
• Priority booking at David Jones Personal Shopping Suites, to be pampered with old-fashioned service from a personal stylist
• Complimentary hem and sleeve length alterations on all clothing purchased in-store (excluding bridal)
• Exclusive invitations to fashion parades, shopping nights and other events as well as bonus gifts and discounts
• Up to four years interest free with no deposit when you spend $500 or more on homewares, furniture, bedding or electrical items in-store. (Note the $35 credit establishment fee and $2.95 monthly account keeping fee.)
• ‘Fashion Pay Later’ option, giving you fee-free and interest-free credit for three months when you spend $250 or more on fashion items in-store
• ‘Christmas Deferred Payment’ option is similar, delaying payment until February 1st on all your in-store purchases made between November 1st and Christmas Eve.

Complimentary insurance benefits

Since this is a platinum card, Amex is assuming the cardholder will have a platinum lifestyle, travelling the world and buying relatively expensive household goods and personal items. Accordingly, the card comes with four complimentary insurance policies to cover items and experiences purchased with the card:

• Multi-trip international and domestic travel insurance for the primary cardholder and close family members travelling with them. It is activated by paying for the full trip fare using the card (or rewards points) and covers emergency medical expenses, loss, damage or theft of baggage, money and documents, unavoidable travel cancellation, repatriation and personal liability.
• Buyer’s Advantage, extending manufacturer’s warranty on purchased items by up to 12 months
• Purchase Protection, providing 90 days’ cover against theft of, or damage to, items purchased
• Refund Protection, reimbursing the purchase price of an unused item if a retailer will not take it back, again with a 90 day limit.

Airport lounge passes

Every year you’ll be entitled to two single-entry lounges passes granting access to the American Express lounges at Sydney and Melbourne international airports. You can relax in comfort before your overseas flight, no matter which airline you are travelling with.

Cost versus benefit

None of these advantages really comes for free, since there is a substantial $295 annual fee. But you can add up to four supplementary cardholders free of charge, making sure that your family members help you to earn points.

The interest rate on purchases of 20.74% p.a. is unlikely to deter people whose income level makes this card a worthwhile prospect, since they are most likely to avoid interest charges altogether by paying off their purchase balance on or before the due date. Cash advances and balance transfers are not available.

The monthly billing cycle effectively grants up to 44 days interest free on purchases each month. This is not as beneficial as other cards offering 55 days interest free, but in reality the difference will cost you less than $45 per year even if you run up a monthly balance of around $4,000 (i.e. $4,000 @ 3% lost interest income for an extra 132 days).

So this card is likely to cost you around $340 ($295 + $45) a year. But if you were to spend about $8,000 a year at Coles or Woolworths, $3,000 a year on fuel for your car, $10,000 a year on clothing, gifts, household and personal items at David Jones, and $29,000 everywhere else (an annual total of $50,000) always using this card, you would collect 102,000 Membership Rewards points or 51,000 QFF points. That’s enough Qantas points for three Qantas business class flights between Sydney and Melbourne, worth a total of around $2,400, with 3,000 QFF points left over to put towards a DJs gift card purchase.

Add to this at least $500 for a comparable international travel insurance policy, and around $110 for the lounge passes, and it becomes clear that, if you use it sensibly, this card could deliver savings of at least $3,010 per year for a cost of $340, without ascribing a value to any of the minor benefits. Furthermore, the 15,000 bonus QFF points in the first year are worth an additional $750 in business class flights.

A look at the competition

If you are looking for a high points earning rate plus other benefits, but are not really committed to shopping at David Jones (or there isn’t a store near you) you may want to consider other premium cards, such as the Westpac Altitude Black Credit Card or the NAB Qantas Rewards Signature Card.

Check out all your options on our ‘All rewards’ page in our Features section.

Definitely a card for David Jones customers

To get the most out of this card, and justify its high annual fee, you really need to be a devoted fan of David Jones. Every dollar spent there earns cardholders 4.0 Amex points or 2.0 QFF points, which is hard to beat. When you add to this the fact that you will qualify for every perk available to DJ’s customers, holding this card really should make you feel like an A-lister who knows the value of a buck – a winning combination.