Looking for No Annual Fee Credit Card with International Travel Insurance and Reasonable Spend Requirements

jrvb42 on 17/08/2023 - 09:39

I'm looking for a card that has:
1. Free international travel insurance
2. No annual fee (or waived for "reasonable" spending on the card

CBA have recently announced a change to my current card in order to get the annual fee waived - was $10k per YEAR, now $2k per MONTH - for me, not possible.

I've checked other cards, and the best I could find was BankWest Platinum Zero.
The travel insurance on this card is not as good as it has a 31 day travel limit and is only basic insurance - pay for longer or more inclusions.

I'd be grateful if anyone knows of a better deal.

(Yes, I know there are several similar topics, which I've looked at, but they don't address both the above points at once)

Thanks in advance.

Financial Credit Card Insurance Travel Insurance

Comments

  • silenthillrocks on 17/08/2023 - 09:47
    +3

    Bankwest Zero Platinum Card

    • jrvb42 on 17/08/2023 - 10:07
      +1

      Thanks - that's the one I mentioned in the post as having travel limits and being basic. In the absence of a better option, I'll go that way.

  • [Deactivated] on 17/08/2023 - 10:59

    Does 28 Degrees not provide travel insurance?

    Also, can I ask which CBA card has this $2k requirement you mentioned?

    • kerfuffle on 17/08/2023 - 11:03

      Does 28 Degrees not provide travel insurance?

      It never did?

      • [Deactivated] on 17/08/2023 - 11:18

        I just had a look, and it's not advertised anywhere, was it never ever? I could swear… or maybe I'm just completely delusional.

        • jrvb42 on 17/08/2023 - 11:35

          See my comment below - late 2021 it did, but as you did, I looked today and it's not listed, so I'll join you in being completely delusional.

          • [Deactivated] on 17/08/2023 - 11:37

            @jrvb42: Oh damn, I really ought to check regularly-ish aye, I would have bought flights with nil thought to see whether it's still in places, yikes!

    • Broke-Ken on 17/08/2023 - 11:32
      +2

      Also, can I ask which CBA card has this $2k requirement you mentioned?

      The card is "Low Fee Gold", which they recently stop selling, it's like they are trying to get all the existing customer off it too.

      https://www.commbank.com.au/credit-cards/credit-card-changes…

      I'm in the same boat. was able to hit the 10K/yr spend requirement, but 2k/month every month is pretty hard.

      For me, travel insurance was a bonus, but no fee international transactions was why I got it.

      I'll be looking to switch to a new card too.

    • jrvb42 on 17/08/2023 - 11:34
      +1

      Good point. It's not clear if 28 Degrees Global Platinum does indeed provide travel insurance.
      As of 13/12/21 there was an announcement that they do, however it is not listed under the benefits page as of today.

      Re your query, as of end of August, CBA Low Fee Gold will charge $8/mth, waived if $2000/mth spend.

  • knightslay2 on 17/08/2023 - 11:29
    +3

    Have you considered Bendigo Ready Credit Card?

    • jrvb42 on 17/08/2023 - 11:38

      Thanks heaps. This looks like it's getting the gold so far with a quick scan.

  • toomuchdogfur on 17/08/2023 - 11:46
    +1

    Ughhhh I have the CBA Gold for the same reasons as you stated, but I wasn't aware they were upping the min spend - thanks for the heads up!

    The ING Orange One Platinum has travel insurance & no fees, but with hoops:

    • Need $1,000 deposit into linked account and 5 transactions per month to waive international transaction fees
    • Need $14,900 spend per year to offset annual card fee of $149 (via the 1% cashback)

    IMO it's better to split to two cards to get the features if you can - that's what I'll do:

    • AMEX Explorer for travel insurance. Has a $395 yearly fee but you also get a $400 travel credit each year to spend on airfares, hotels or car rentals - not too hard to use this if you travel often (and I assume you do, if you want travel insurance on the card to begin with). And also this way you get good travel insurance instead of limited policies on the cheaper cards.

    • Any other no-fee Mastercard or VISA card with no international transaction fees - many options quoted above. ING have a variant too, but again with hoops if you want international transaction fees waived.

    (NOTE: By good travel insurance, I mean that I've had very easy claim experiences with AMEX for their insurance offerings, and on my last review a while back their covered amounts are generous enough. But I don't know if their numbers are better or worse than others on average, I'm just speaking from my own experience.)

    • jrvb42 on 17/08/2023 - 14:45
      +1

      Thanks. Had a look at Amex Explorer - not too bad. Downside is being locked into a) buying the tickets on the card to activate the insurance; b) lounge passes only valid at SYD,MEL; c) being locked in to spending the $400 annual fee offset at Amex Travel, where prices are not as good (for my 10 minute comparison) as elsewhere.
      Reckon I'm still leaning towards the Bendigo Ready Credit Card recommended by @knightslay2 or the BankWest Zero Platinum suggested by @silenthillrocks
      Upside is the positive experience you had re claiming on insurance.

  • El cheepo on 17/08/2023 - 17:51

    Im gutted about the 2k a month spend of $8 fee for commonwealth… didn’t know that was coming.

    Citibank, ING, Cba… getting harder to dodge fees these days.

    • jrvb42 on 18/08/2023 - 11:05
      +1

      CBA should have sent you a message about this - did you slip thru the cracks I wonder?

      • El cheepo on 18/08/2023 - 22:52

        Email or txt?

        No emails so far… 🫣

        • Broke-Ken on 18/08/2023 - 23:26
          +2

          Neither, I got a notification in the commbank app when I logged in, almost missed it too.

          Just logged into my netbank account and can see it in the "inbox", a long with all my other unread messages about my statements are ready.

        • jrvb42 on 19/08/2023 - 09:31
          +2

          Commbank app message. This must now be an acceptable way of notifying customers of changes to T&Cs.

          • El cheepo on 19/08/2023 - 19:55

            @jrvb42: I literally had to go looking for it in my commbank app to find they are gonna sting me for it…

            If i wanted to pay fee’s I’d aim for a card with better rewards then this… bah…

        • jinneshparekh on 17/11/2023 - 10:06

          For CBA - on change in spending limit + Fees structure - Check the first statement after June 23 - i.e. first statement for this FY - On the Last page there is communication on this, Little sneaky one

  • Jetkuma on 18/08/2023 - 12:02

    If you really want the best travel insurance and no annual fee. You will have to work hard for that. You didn't limit to just Australia but here is a card that's basically a free yearly fee after you spend $20,000 USD, a sign-up bonus, and a top-tier travel insurance level in credit card.

    https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/ihg-reward…

    How to get it? Well, you will need to be a US resident or you can go to the Australian Frequent Flyer forum and go to Strategy to Obtain US AMEX.

    I hold this card mainly for IHG hotel's reward redemption, bonus earning, and building credit score in the US. The amount of effort and research to just get this card took me about 9 to 12 months.

    • jrvb42 on 18/08/2023 - 12:43

      Ah, $20kUSD = $30kAUD. If I could spend that, then I'd simply stick with spending $24kAUD on the CBA card ($2k/mth).
      As I said - I have no hope of spending that much money - more to the point, I have no hope of having that much money to spend (certainly not on one card).
      I'm no longer employed and will travel frugally - hence not wanting to pay for either card or travel insurance.
      Even getting another credit card now will be a stretch.

    • vetopower on 20/08/2023 - 07:45
      +1

      This is terrible advice for many reasons.

      But most importantly for the purposes of this forum topic, the IHG Premier card does not have top tier travel insurance. Indeed, it has no medical insurance whatsoever.

  • BrantRaven on 26/08/2023 - 16:04

    What about the HSBC Platinum Card?

    Its not zero fee but overall seems OK?

    Brant

    • jrvb42 on 02/12/2023 - 12:17

      Is the annual fee $149? If so, it kind of ignores the fact that I'm unwilling to pay $8pm for my existing card, but thanks anyway.

  • jinneshparekh on 17/11/2023 - 10:05

    For CBA - on change in spending limit + Fees structure - Check the first statement after June 23 - i.e. first statement for this FY - On the Last page there is communication on this, Little sneaky one

  • giveback on 23/11/2023 - 15:55

    yeah I'm staying with CBA ultimate awards for points and free travel insurance. they also have free lounge access for 2! min spend $4k/month.

    • jrvb42 on 02/12/2023 - 12:21

      Yeah, sort of ignores the original requirement of "reasonable" spending requirement. We have a household income of under $4k/month (and I was asking because $2.5k was way too much monthly spend), we're clearly not in the same ball park socio-economically speaking. I'm on ozb for a very good reason. :)

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