HSBC Platinum Credit Card

It’s not unusual to get a basic credit card with no annual fee. What is highly unusual is to get a platinum credit card without an annual fee, not just as an introductory offer for the first year, but every single year. Although the stated annual fee for the HSBC Platinum Credit Card is an already reasonable $129, it’s relatively easy to have the fee refunded every year. And remember that a platinum credit card comes with a lot of benefits, in this case a rewards scheme and airport lounge passes, as well as a suite of useful insurance policies, all of which can be yours absolutely free of charge. But if you’d rather start the relationship with a l-o-n-g zero interest balance transfer instead, that can be yours too.

Annual fee refunded for low $6,000 annual spend

Spending $6,000 annually on your credit card – just $500 per month – is not difficult: groceries, fuel for your car, a restaurant meal – goodbye $500 per month, hello free credit card. You don’t need to change your normal spending pattern to qualify for a free platinum credit card while this offer lasts.

Supplementary cards on the account (e.g. for your partner) are always free of charge.

Earn rewards on your everyday purchases

Making purchases expressly for the purpose of earning rewards is illogical and not cost-effective. But earning rewards for everyday, unavoidable spending is totally reasonable, and that’s exactly what this card allows you to do. For every dollar you spend in Australia, using the card, you’ll earn one HSBC Rewards Plus point. For every dollar you spend with overseas merchants, including online purchases, you’ll earn two points.

Points are capped at 10,000 per monthly statement period, but that’s a fairly generous limit. You’d need to be spending at least $100,000 per year using your card in order to hit the cap on a regular basis.

What can you do with the points? All of this:

• Choose from a range of merchandise in the online Rewards Plus catalogue – everything you would expect to find in an upmarket department store
• Exchange points for retail gift cards, including national brands like Coles, Woolworths, Myer, Bunnings, JB Hi-Fi and Westfield – 5,000 points per $25
• Get a cashback on your HSBC credit card account – 7,500 points per $25 cashback
• Convert your HSBC Rewards Plus points to Virgin Australia Velocity frequent flyer points, Singapore Airlines Krisflyer Miles or Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, at the rate 2 HSBC points = 1 frequent flyer point or mile
• Swap points for accommodation vouchers with hotel groups Fairmont, Choice and Swissôtel, starting at 5,000 points for a $25 voucher
• Exchange your points for a gift voucher with Flight Centre, starting at 20,000 points for a $100 voucher

Complimentary insurance policies

Because you can have the annual fee refunded, these insurance policies really are free, unlike the similar policies accompanying high-fee cards. Here’s what you’ll get, without paying an extra cent if you meet the fee refund criterion:

• Annual multi-trip international travel insurance for primary and supplementary cardholders and their families, covering emergency medical expenses, luggage, delays, unavoidable cancellation and even loss of income as a result of injury sustained while travelling. (Cover is activated by using the cards to pay at least 90 percent of each traveller’s fare.)
• Rental vehicle insurance excess waiver, worldwide.
• Transit accident insurance, providing cash compensation for loss of life, limb or eyesight sustained as the result of an accident while travelling as a passenger on a plane, train, bus or ferry, where the fare was paid with the card.
• Purchase protection insurance, covering goods purchased with the card for 90 days against loss, theft or accidental damage &ndash: generous $125,000 annual claim limit.
• Extended warranty insurance, doubling the manufacturer’s Australian warranty on items bought with the card, up to a maximum of 12 additional months.
• Guaranteed pricing scheme, refunding the price difference if an item you purchased with the card in a store appears in a printed catalogue with a price more than $75 lower, up to 21 days after the purchase.

Free airport lounge passes

The primary cardholder is entitled to receive two lounge passes every year, to Lounge Key airport lounges. One of the free passes may be used by a guest accompanying the primary cardholder, and additional visits are available at a cost of $US27 per person.

Lounge Key provides access to over 1,000 airport lounges worldwide, regardless of which airline you are flying with. There are Lounge Key lounges in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Cairns, Darwin and Coolangatta.

Big potential savings on selected dining, travel and retail purchases

Cardholders will be automatically enrolled in the Frequent Values dining and retail program. There is a long list of restaurants offering a 20 percent bill discount, hotels with a 20-50 percent reduction, plus additional discount offers on retail gift cards, car hire, travel, entertainment, health and beauty, and more.

Platinum concierge service

You may know what facilities are available in your hometown, but what happens when you are travelling interstate or overseas? This card gives you access to the Visa Platinum concierge service anywhere in the world, to assist with advice and reservations for restaurants, travel, accommodation, entertainment and other lifestyle services. The platinum concierge staff are local experts, and may even know more than you do about the best places to eat, stay and be entertained on your own doorstep.

Balance transfer at zero interest for a long 22 months

Transfer balances from your existing non-HSBC credit or store cards, up to a liberal 90 percent of your new approved credit limit, and pay no interest at all on the balance for 22 months, with no upfront balance transfer fee to pay.

A zero-interest balance transfer to a platinum card is likely to appeal to someone who has either just made a major purchase with their existing card, maxing out their credit limit, or to someone who can afford to repay their balance but would appreciate the opportunity to leave some funds on deposit and earn interest.

While the balance transfer remains on your card, you’ll forfeit other benefits

Unfortunately, having a balance transfer is an ‘either/or’ option. That is, for as long as there is an unpaid balance transfer on your card, you won’t qualify for the normal monthly interest-free period of up to 55 days. This means that you’ll probably want to use another card, or cash, for your regular purchases until the balance is paid off.

As a result, you’d probably have to pay the $129 annual fee in the first two years because you wouldn’t meet the $6,000 spending target. By not using the HSBC card for purchases during the first 22 months, you’d also miss out on other benefits like insurance cover and rewards points. So you can have either a balance transfer, or a free card with interest-free days on purchases and associated complimentary benefits, but not both at the same time.

High interest rates are avoidable

The balance transfer revert rate (the rate you’ll pay on any remaining balance when the 22-month interest holiday is over) is the cash advance rate of 21.99 percent p.a. The interest rate on purchases is 19.99 percent p.a. Both these rates are at the high end of credit card interest rates, and you can avoid paying them by diarising the offer expiry date and regular payment due dates, and by planning both your purchases and your finances so that funds are available for full repayments when required.

Pay with your smartphone

The card is enabled for both Apple Pay and Google Pay. So if you have a compatible mobile device, you can enjoy the convenience of using it for fast, secure payments.

A good range of credit limits

The minimum income for this card is $40,000, so even the lowest available credit limit is a reasonably significant $6,000. But big spenders on high incomes can qualify for substantially higher limits to suit their needs.

One fee that even big spenders will want to avoid is the very disagreeable $200 overseas emergency card replacement fee. Hang on to the card carefully when travelling the world.

Other platinum rewards cards with no or low annual fee

Although the HSBC Platinum Credit Card is not strictly speaking a ‘no annual fee’ card, it effectively becomes one in any year where you use it to spend $6,000, which is likely to be most years for most cardholders.

While there’s no shortage of prestige cards offering an annual fee rebate in the first year, the opportunity to avoid a fee thereafter is extremely rare. Perhaps the strongest competitor is the American Express Essential Credit Card, which has no annual fee and, while not a platinum card, nevertheless has rewards points and some insurance cover (though not travel insurance).

You can compare other cards with no annual fee, or a first year fee rebate, on our ’No annual fee’ page in our Features section.

A card for those who want it all for nothing

The HSBC Platinum Credit Card proves that you can have it all and pay nothing. Enjoy loyalty points on your routine spending plus two airport lounge passes every year, benefit from complimentary insurance cover including the highly desirable overseas travel insurance policy, and pay no annual fee because the fee waiver spending target is extremely low. Even if you do decide on a balance transfer, all these benefits will still be waiting for you towards the end of the second year.

You can't balance transfer to the HSBC Platinum Credit Card at the promotional balance transfer rate from:

• HSBC