Virgin Australia Velocity Flyer Credit Card 22 Months Balance Transfer Offer

There are so many extra benefits included with the Virgin Australia Velocity Flyer Credit Card 22 Months Balance Transfer Offer that it’s impossible to include them in the already long offer name. But in addition to the balance transfer offer mentioned, you can also take advantage of a reduced first year annual fee, an annual $129 gift card, and bonus Velocity Frequent Flyer points in the first three months. And if the ongoing Velocity points come last in the list, it’s not because they are insignificant. They will keep on accumulating, month after month.

Let’s take a look at all these seriously rewarding benefits.

Balance transfer offer

Transfer a balance from your existing card (or cards) – or even a bank personal loan or line of credit balance – to your new Virgin credit card, and pay no interest on the balance for a very long 22 months. You’ll save heaps if you are currently paying 20% p.a. or more on your debt, and you’ll still have significant savings if your interest late is lower than that, because there’s no interest better than zero interest.

Take note, however, that there’s a 1% upfront balance transfer fee to pay, which will reduce your interest savings slightly. Not all balance transfer cards have an upfront fee like this, but those with no fee tend to be offering shorter interest-free periods than this one.

Beware the revert rate

Also be aware that if you cannot repay the transferred balance in full after 22 months, you will pay a steep revert interest rate of 20.99% p.a. This is the ongoing cash advance rate, slightly higher than the ongoing purchases interest rate of 20.74% p.a. You can escape paying these high rates by avoiding both cash advances and overdue purchase balances, and by paying off your balance transfer within 22 months.

No interest-free days on purchases if you have a balance transfer

You’ll also temporarily forfeit your monthly interest-free days on purchases (normally up to 55 days) while you have an unpaid balance transfer on your account. So plan to pay for your purchases in cash, or with another card, for the first 22 months. But do make a least one purchase with your card in each of the first two years, or you’ll miss out on the annual gift voucher (see below).

Reduced first year annual fee saves you $65

The normal annual fee for this card is $129, but with this special offer, you will pay only $64 in the first year. Half the annual fee – that’s another handy saving.

Annual $129 gift voucher

A $129 Virgin Australia gift voucher will be yours in each year that you use your card to make at least one retail purchase, at least two months before requesting your voucher. The voucher can be used for any flight or fare type, as well as selected Virgin Australia holiday packages. It completely covers the ongoing $129 annual fee.

Don’t forget the ongoing Velocity Frequent Flyer points

After getting this far in the list of benefits, it’s easy to forget that this is also a standard rewards card, earning ongoing points on purchases. The earning rates are:

• 0.66 Virgin Velocity points per dollar spent on the first $1,500 per monthly statement period
• 0.5 Virgin Velocity points per dollar spent after the first $1,500 per monthly statement period

In other words, there’s a points threshold, beyond which the earning rate declines, but no absolute points cap, which is good news.

While it’s not a stellar points earning rate, it’s very reasonable for a card that’s effectively free in any year that you use the $129 gift voucher. And if you are bothered by the low threshold or moderate earning rate, you might be better off applying for the Virgin Australia Velocity High Flyer Credit Card.

Bonus points in the first three months

To get you off to a flying start, your points earning rate will be boosted in the first three months after card approval. You’ll receive 3.0 extra points per dollar spent, on top of the standard earning rate.

This means that for the first $1,500 that you spend each month you’ll get 3.66 points per dollar, and 3.5 points per dollar thereafter, capped at 10,000 points per month. So each month for the first three months you’ll receive 5,490 points per month if you spend $1,500. If you spend a further $1,289 in any of those first three months, you’ll earn another 4,510 points (1,289 × 3.5 points) per month.

Earning rates will return to normal from the fourth month onwards, but you could have already pocketed 30,000 Velocity Points by then. That’s almost enough for a return Economy fare from Sydney to Fiji (35,600 points + $233 in taxes and fees).

Redeeming Velocity points

Although you’ll probably get the best value from your Velocity points by redeeming them for award flights with Virgin and its airline partners, you can also exchange them for retail and cinema gift cards, and merchandise from the Velocity Rewards store.

Some limited insurance cover

This is Virgin Australia’s basic Velocity points card, so you’re not going to get the international travel cover and other wide-ranging insurance benefits that come with the more expensive Virgin Australia Velocity High Flyer Credit Card. But you will get these two policies:

• Transit Accident Insurance: Pay your fares (and that of your accompanying immediate family, if applicable) with the card, and receive a cash compensation for death or serious injury sustained while travelling overseas as a passenger in a plane, bus, ferry or train.
• Guaranteed Pricing Scheme: Make a purchase with the card from a store (not online) and receive a refund equivalent to the price difference if the identical product is advertised in a printed catalogue at a lower price, within 25 kilometres, up to 60 days later. (Minimum claim $75, maximum claim $500.)

Visa benefits

Some of the advantages accompanying this card come courtesy of Visa rather than Virgin. They include:

• Visa concierge service: A virtual personal assistant online or by phone, anywhere in the world, for restaurant, theatre, travel and entertainment bookings and recommendations
• Visa Front Line Access: Pre-sale access to tickets for the best shows in town
• Visa payWave: Fast and easy contactless payments under $100
• Verified by Visa: A one-time password delivered by SMS for online shopping, to add an extra level of security
• Visa Zero Liability policy: You won’t be held responsible for fraudulent or unauthorised use of your card, but do advise your card issuer at once if it’s lost or stolen. (This comes in addition to the Fraudshield service provided by Virgin Money, the card issuer, which advises you of any irregular or suspicious transactions on your account.)

Can I get a better deal with a competing card?

Assuming that you’re looking to earn Virgin Velocity points, your options are more limited than they are for Qantas frequent flyers. American Express and Westpac are the only other card issuers (other than Virgin Money, the provider of this card) with cards earning Velocity points directly.

This Virgin Money card also comes in other formats with different benefits, and there is also a more expensive Virgin Australia Velocity High Flyer Card, already mentioned. You’ll find all of these options on our Virgin Money page.

Finally, you may also want to consider the many cards earning banks’ proprietary rewards system points (American Express Membership Rewards, St. George Amplify Rewards, HSBC Rewards Plus, ANZ Rewards, Westpac Altitude, NAB Rewards, and more), points which can be converted to Velocity points if you wish. You will find them on the Velocity page in our Features section.

What makes the Virgin Australia Velocity Flyer Credit Card 22 Months Balance Transfer Offer a good fit?

If you’re already a Velocity Frequent Flyer and committed to flying Virgin Australia, you may want to keep your credit card spending in-house and earn even more points towards your next flight. And there’s lots here to tempt you to do so – not just the balance transfer and reduced annual fee, but also the bonus points, annual gift voucher, complimentary insurance cover and Visa benefits.

Whichever way you look at it, if you pay off all your balances before they start attracting interest charges, you’re always going to extract far more value from this card than it costs you, especially when there’s the potential for that cost to be zero.

You can't balance transfer to the Virgin Australia Velocity Flyer Credit Card 22 Months Balance Transfer Offer at the promotional balance transfer rate from:

• Bank of Queensland
• Virgin Money