Fly further with the American Express Velocity Platinum

You could fly from Sydney to Fiji in business class with the bonus points, but do the perks outweigh the price?

The American Express Velocity Platinum is designed to reward Velocity frequent flyers with points for every dollar they spend. If you apply through finder by 26 September 2018 and meet the spend requirement, you’ll score 70,000 bonus Velocity Points! The standard bonus points offer is 50,000 Velocity Points, so the extra 20,000 bonus points is exclusive to finder users. But with a hefty annual fee and purchase rate, it’s suited to shoppers who can make sure the rewards offset the costs.

From bonus points and high earn rates to the extras, we’ve analysed the details of the American Express Velocity Platinum and compared it with other cards to help you decide if this is the right Velocity card for you.

How many points can I earn?

Bonus points

The American Express Velocity Platinum credit card offers one of the best value bonus Velocity Points offers on the market right now. Exclusive to finder users, you’ll earn 70,000 bonus Velocity Points if you apply by 17 September 2018 and spend $3,000 within the first 3 months of card membership.

Combined with the standard earn rate of 1.5 points per $1, this means you could earn 74,500 Velocity Points when you meet the required spend. That boils down to roughly 24 Velocity Points per $1 spent. Not bad!

That’s enough points to fly from Sydney to Los Angeles in Premium Economy, return from Sydney to Fiji in Business Class or return from Melbourne to Auckland in Business Class (all worth 71,000 points excluding taxes and fees). These are just a few examples of where your points could take you, but you can also use the points tables on the Velocity website to calculate where you could fly with your bonus points bounty.

Earn rates

The American Express Velocity Platinum card has one of the highest Velocity Points earn rates available. You will earn 1.5 Velocity Points per $1 spent on eligible purchases and 0.5 points per $1 spent with government bodies with the Amex Velocity Platinum card. Designed to reward loyal Virgin Australia customers, you’ll also earn an extra 1 Velocity Point per $1 you spend on eligible Virgin purchases.

There are no points caps or reduced earn rates either, so your points potential is determined by how much you spend and repay.

Velocity Status Credits

If you spend $50,000 on eligible purchases over the course of your membership year, you’ll be rewarded with 100 Velocity Frequent Flyer Status Credits. This is currently the only card on the market that offers bonus Velocity Status Credits, which sets it apart from other products.

Unlike points, you can use Status Credits to climb the Velocity Frequent Flyer silver, gold and platinum membership tiers. As you ascend the tiers, you can enjoy benefits including priority boarding, complimentary baggage allowances and global lounge access.

You need to collect 250 Status Credits and have flown two eligible sectors to reach silver membership, so this Status Credits offer could help you get some of the way there.

What are the extra features?

As a frequent flyer credit card, the Amex Velocity Platinum flaunts a number of travel-centric perks. Some of the benefits you can expect include:

Domestic return flight each year

After your first spend each year, you’ll be rewarded with a complimentary domestic return flight between select cities with Virgin Australia. This is one of the only cards that still comes with a complimentary domestic flight rather than a travel credit.

Airport lounge passes

You can travel in style thanks to two complimentary single entry passes to Virgin Australia lounges at select airports each anniversary year. You just need to present your American Express Velocity Platinum card and a valid boarding pass in your name at the participating lounge to enter. You can see Points Finder’s reviews of the Virgin Australia lounges in Melbourne and the Gold Coast to see what all of the fuss is about.

You can also enjoy two complimentary entries per year to the American Express Lounge at Sydney International Airport and Melbourne International Airport with this card.

Complimentary travel insurance

If you use your card to pay for eligible travel, you can also take advantage of complimentary domestic travel insurance, international travel insurance and travel inconvenience insurance. Just make sure you check the eligibility requirements and ensure the policy offers the right cover for you before you travel.

0% balance transfer offer

The card also comes with 0% p.a. on balance transfers for the first 12 months. There’s a 1% balance transfer fee and the balance transfer rate will revert to 20.74% p.a. at the end of the promotional period. Remember that you can’t earn points on balance transfers. Plus, if you’re struggling to repay an existing debt, you may not want a card that could tempt you to spend to earn points when you should be concentrating on repaying your debt.

If you are looking for a card to get your debt under control, you can compare more interest-free balance transfer cards on finder.

How much does this card cost?

These perks come at the cost of a hefty $375 annual fee. You can help offset the annual fee by taking advantage of the domestic flight voucher, redeeming valuable rewards (such as flights or upgrades) with your points and taking advantage of other extra perks like the complimentary insurance and lounge passes.

The card also charges a high purchase rate of 20.74% p.a., so it’s suited to cardholders who can afford to pay their balance off in full each month. Otherwise, any interest you collect could drag you into debt and outweigh the value of your rewards. Plus, if you pay your balance in full, you can also take advantage of up to 55 interest-free days.

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With 70,000 bonus points, a competitive earn rate and loads of extra features, the American Express Velocity Platinum card is a competitive option for Velocity Points lovers. But as there are many Velocity credit cards on the market, points chasers will benefit from comparing their options before they apply.

Please note that terms and conditions apply. For a more comprehensive overview of the card’s rates, fees and features, check out our review of the American Express Velocity Platinum.

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