Seems a pretty solid deal to me in this day and age of mediocre CC offers. For a reduced first-year Annual Fee of $74, you get 60000 Velocity Points with $1500 min spend per month for the first two months (30K per month), plus a $129 Virgin Australia flight voucher (applied as credit to your Travel Bank).
Minimum Credit Limit is $6000.
Referees will receive 5,000 Virgin Money Points when they open their first Virgin Money Go Account before 31 July 2024 and meet the Welcome Offer Bonus Points Criteria (1 debit card purchase/direct debits/BPAY transaction in the first 30 days).
Referrer will receive 5,000 Virgin Money Points for each referee who meets the Welcome Offer Bonus Points Criteria, for up to 5 referees in a month.
Good to know, cheers
Can confirm, no exclusion period. Very easy to churn 3-4 times a year.
Currently churning 30+30+20
What's the +20?
I'm on this card for the second time.
There was an extra 20k offer via velocity
@abs898: Extra 20k - is it still running? Can't see it on velocity, is it targeted? How do you activate it?
how long do you wait until you reapply again?
2 months. But from what I understand there is another minimum qualifying time
I had this card previously, cancelled in Jan this year.
Tried reapplying in Feb but was declined. Left it for a couple of months and reapplied in May and was approved.
@Heybargain: Yeah, definitely best to wait a bit to have a better chance at getting the card after the previous one is cancelled.
Some people apply the week they cancel their previous card and sometimes they get lucky. They may be on $200k/yr as far as I am concerned. My salary isn't that high so I continue to alternate between different cards and make sure there's a 2 month gap between when I cancel a Velocity Flyer and when I reapply.
It's why my next card won't be a churn. I've already gotten an ANZ Rewards in the past 12 months and AMEX Velocity Platinum is kinda crap for points atm. I need the Bendigo Ready credit card for travel and only need it with its minimum $3k limit so now is a very good time to apply for it.
In the past, the banks were only OK with me having ~$15k credit limit across 3 cards. I don't need 3 cards these days so I'll keep the Bendigo as my main credit card and keep churning velocity credit cards as my second card.
@Mugsy: Hey I have 3 cards (latitude, st George and amex) credit limit of $17k and home loans $700k. They rejected my application even though I wanted to close my two other accounts (limit $11k) and keep latitude, but there was no way to tell them that.
I rung and they said they can't give me a reason and you can't tell them anything, but I could cancel those credit cards, wait 2 months then reapply and see…
Any help on how you churn cards? Cancel the card then 1 week later apply with another company??
Never churned B4 and only knew about velocity points last month.
@cowiie: Wanting to close some of your credit cards is not having closed them. Banks don't operate on promises. Just close the cards you don't need, wait one or two months and then apply for the card that's part of your annual churn routine. I suggest just waiting for the next time there's a bonus 30k velocity points promo and start churning then.
I really cannot advise on how long is the right duration to wait before closing one card and then applying for another. Different people have got different experiences on this matter. At the very least, ensure that there's more than 1 month between credit card applications. My past rejections seem to be when I've applied too soon after the previous application.
@Mugsy: Yeah, I thought they would provisionally approve it pending cancellation letters etc. Most times I got a new credit card was under this rule, but never really for points.
Yeah, better to time the Virgin Flyer applications to get the additional 30k points making it at least 90k points for that $74 annual fee. Holding off on providing proof of ID for 24hrs on application can also yield another 5k points from Virgin Money making it 95k.
The bonus 30k also doesn't seem to be issued with the first month's 30k points anymore… it's looking closer to 2 months after meeting that first month's spend so highly likely one needs to hold onto the Virgin Flyer for at least 3 months.
I'll probably use my next credit card application to get a Bendigo Ready rather than churn for velocity points.
Holding off on providing proof of ID for 24hrs on application can also yield another 5k points from Virgin Money making it 95k.
What's this about?
From when they ran the bonus 30k promo a year ago…
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/791824#comment-14458411
Also worked during the bonus 30k promo that ended just over a month ago:
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/850751
Unless you're out of options, I wouldn't apply for the Velocity Flyer now and wait for the next round of bonus 30k velocity points from Velocity. Instead, go for something like the ANZ Rewards which gives 70k velocity points for $2k spend in the first 3 months but you can easily get the points in one month's time. The ANZ Rewards was not included as part of the bonus 30k points from velocity.
https://www.anz.com.au/personal/credit-cards/rewards-platinu…
This way, despite no cooldown with the Velocity Flyer, you're not trying to hold onto the Velocity Flyer for 3 months to get 65k points when the next bonus 30k velocity points promo could be running.
I had the ANZ Rewards for about 6 weeks and had gotten my points already. When the last Velocity Flyer 30k bonus was still running with a few days of the promo left, I paid the ANZ off, cancelled it and applied for the Velocity Flyer in the span of 3 days. Still got approved. Wouldn't have happened if I was churning the Velocity Flyer at the time.
You can review my comments of my application starting here:
do you still have to pay a cancellation fee after you receive the bonus points early?
Can't remember ever paying a cancellation fee.
Have never seen any cc asking for cancellation fee in my entire life.
Perfect summation, I got mine recently approved within a month of closing the last time I had it
do they still have the additional 30K points deal now？
Nope :(
Nah, it was 20k a month or so ago
30k…
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/850751
It ended mid July. I applied during the last week of the promo.
I've been rejected from this product twice. It's weird because I've been approved for NAB Signature Platinum (Credit Limit $15K,) and Coles Reward Mastercard (Limit $3K.) Same underwriter. Income is well above min. requirements - $75K. Can anyone in unsecured credit suggest how I could improve chances of securing this card? I've already closed the existing credit cards. Was hoping to keep this as long term card/instead of churning.
Do you have any home loans? BNPL facilities? Generally other debts on your credit report would be taking away all your debt servicing capacity
AFAIK, as a general rule having a mortgage can actually positively impact your likelihood of obtaining additional credit? Could be very wrong so don't take my word for it.
Very high level assessment - income minus expenses minus existing debt repayment. If leftover income is enough to service the newly applied card then it gets approved.
So having a mortgage will actually negatively impact you.
@khanggg: It can do both…
Having a mortgage that you've been diligently paying off will show you can manage debt. Even better if that loan is for a rental property where rental income helps.
But if you've been missing payments, or if it saps a good amount of your income, then it will negatively impact on the number of credit cards you can apply for.
Previously, when I had my own home and had another investment property, I could easily hold 3x credit cards (minimum card limit mind you).
Currently, I have a single house mortgage which (on paper) I share with my wife whereas in real life, I pay most of it since I earn more and she's dealing with her townhouse mortgage (her townhouse will be sold once we move into the new house). I've comfortably applied for one credit card but am about to test the waters with a second credit card in a month's time (Bendigo Ready… great travel card… will only apply for the minimum $3k as that's all I need).
Same experience, it think it has something to do with both being underwritten by nab/citi
Had to wait 3 months then was approved
I was auto rejected by the system when I applied for this early this month. Probably because I was holding a Citi credit card which I've cancelled
I asked for a manual reassessment and was approved within a few business days.
yep, exactly this. applied, auto rejected, asked for a review and got declined again, 2 weeks later received a call to go through the application over the phone with financial details and was approved.
manual reassessment
Is there an email address or phone number to call them on? Waited the ~3 months and was also just auto-rejected lol.
Yep, someone shared a rough template and the details in another previous thread. But its best to call the generic helpline and ask to be transferred to the application team once you've submitted the documents via email to check they have got everything they need to proceed with a manual assessment.
same here…. got rejected with no reason. I have multiple credit cards and very easy obtaining them with max credit limit of $50k and then i reduced it to $3k after the approval. Why this specific is giving me a NO. Income is significantly greater than expense combined.
I've had the card at least twice and got rejected recently, despite appeal and income way above expenses and very good credit rating. They never give specific reason/s for decline - just generic unhelpful rubbish.
Citi just seems to super flaky with the criteria for approvals or rejections depending on your current combined limit and recent churn frequency.
I called them and they said just "not meeting criteria" with no further explanation.
VF noob here - Any suggestions what I could do with the travel voucher? I have zero plans to fly with Virgin in next 12 mths, and am not sure how to sell this. Can I use this for some "travel" hotel booking somehow? Thanks
the travel credit is not transferrable, and even cant be used in rewards ticket on paying tax
you can use the credit to book ticket for other's though
I would just treat the $129 travel credit as additional bonus (ready to give up)
$74 for 60k velocity points itself is well worth to apply
Thanks for the kind reply. yeah that's what I've done… had these since Feb.
Yep, quite a decent deal.
70K could easy get you a one way to Singapore with Singapore Air (depend on season). Travel credit can take care of 60-80% of tax.
I haven't used CC points deals but I am interested. However, I don't spend much outside of rent, which is a few thousand a month (paid by bank transfer). What should I do?
are you referring to the requirements to meet the monthly spending? its $1500/month for first 2 months
if you dont have any spending or ideas to spend the $1500
Just buy a few coles prepaid mastercard so you can spend the money in later days
currently the card fee is waived
https://www.giftcards.com.au/ShoppingCart/ProductDetail/CG_c…
Yeah, I was referring to the spending requirement. That is a nice idea. Do you know if there is any way I can convert it back into cash?
not that easy as coles prepaid mastercard (digital) has to be spend online only
you could use it to pay future bills though (eg. phone / internet)
@littlesoldier: Thanks, I see. I have just checked and my rental provider has only provided bank details to pay rent. I understand there are fees if I try somehow do a bank transfer through a CC (I've never had a CC so I don't know much about it), but think the fees may outweigh the reward?
@Aidan9800: depends on the rental provider
some provider has different card surcharge based on the card you use
eg. usually a prepaid visa debit card / prepaid master debit card has less surcharge compare to paying by a credit card
But in general, even for credit card the card surcharge is unlikely to be over 2%
weighting to the $74 first year annual fee for 60k velocity
it is still well worth to apply the card
I normally calculate 100 velocity = $1, so 60k velocity worth $600 in my calculation
(It will worth more if you use the points for flights, and worth less if you use it to redeem goods / giftcards etc.)
https://www.finder.com.au/frequent-flyer/velocity/virgin-vel…
Use zippay to pay bills (e.g. car rego) that is not an eligible expenditure that contributes towards each month's $1500 spend. If you have a lot of expenses in an earlier month but not the next, things like Paypal's Pay In 4 can help shift some of that spend to the second month.
You should still be paying for things such as electricity and/or gas, contents insurance, internet, health insurance, etc… and as littlesoldier said, buy gift cards for later use if you're completely out of options.
Book refundable hotel stays on booking.com and refund once points are credited. I’m not sure which party this hurts in the end (airline or bank) but I wouldn’t personally do it to a small bank or one I liked, like Bendigo.
book expedia with paypal in 4, refund will back to your paypal balance instead of credit card
Can you then transfer out as cash to your bank account? Sounds like money laundering 😄
have you tried this and gotten the balance transferred to your bank account?
Can you ask to BPAY rent?
I can try, I assume BPAY means I can just pay with a credit card?
Edit: I've just confirmed this online and asked my rental provider if they offer that.
BPAY payments are excluded according to the TC
" Eligible Transaction means any purchase excluding (but not limited to) Cash Advances, Balance Transfers, Special Promotions, BPAY payments, purchases of foreign currency and travellers cheques, transactions made in operating a business, bank fees and charges such as interest and ATM charges and government related transactions"
https://virginmoney.com.au/credit-card/compare-our-credit-ca…
How is it possible you aren’t spending $1500 a month total on just normal expenses like groceries and bills etc? I find this very very hard to believe. Do you not eat and not pay for bills?
Why would I lie, why would I have any incentive to? 😂 Bills I keep to a minimum and are a few hundred max a month, and not much once split. Food isn’t much when you've been on ozbargain for years and know where to find a deal. Telling you I have had 25+ HelloFresh referrals is a good start.
Nah I’m not saying you’re lying, it’s just I find it’s very expensive simply to live these days and am confused as to how someone could get away with spending so little every month. More like what are we doing wrong when we’re spending 5K a month
@Smol Cat: Maybe your living dynamic is completely different. Bills are no more than a few hundred each month, half of that once split with my roommate. Then really the only other expense is food. Easy to get away with spending minimal on food if you Ozbargain it hard enough.
@Aidan9800: To chime in on this discussion, almost 20yrs ago when my bro and I moved out of home, we use to live off $50 of groceries per week for the two of us, $39/mth for a 12Gb 512k ADSL plan, and electricity was kept to a minimal. We had contents insurance, car insurance, annual servicing and rego… but apart from going shopping, we didn't use the car too much so fuel costs was minimal. Mobiles we used Virgin so leveraged off the free virgin to virgin calls and sms… I was paying $50 for credit that would last me 3-6 months. I just reviewed my monthly finance spreadsheets from back then to confirm these costs… it's a shocker seeing $200 for the total monthly grocery costs and no more than $50 each month spent eating out!
In today's environment, if I lived like I did back then, my groceries would probably cost me $80/week (it's amazing how far a tray of lean beef mince, 1kg bag of diced frozen veges, some onion and garlic, fried onion, salt and pepper mixed in with 6 cups of rice will get you), internet I would be churning between 25Mbps plans costing $49-54/mth, mobile I'd be using Kogan's $120/yr S plan (which is what I currently use… amazing that it now costs me less per year for mobile service). We no longer have monthly bus passes but these days I WFH 40% of the week so monthly public transport costs is still ~$80/mth going by normal public transport fares and not the current 50c fares.
I would be finding it hard to spend $1500/mth after rent as well if I lived like I did back in 2006.
But that frugality allowed me to save up and buy a unit by 2007. I may need to go that frugal again if I'm to pay off my house loan - lol
@Mugsy: That's interesting to know! Reading this just makes me realise how hard I am OzBargaining life and paying barely anything (outside of rent) while still eating healthily and enjoying each day.
@Aidan9800: Yeah, very important to eat healthy and exercise still (the latter you can always do without the need for a gym membership if you live close to a good park, or know the right exercises… takes discipline of course). Everything else in life falls apart without good health.
Depending on what work you do, you may need to still invest in ongoing education or the right clothing/attire and networking which doesn't make saving easier but there's a cap to how much you can save whilst a pay increase will go further. I found my salary going from ~$24k to $44k between jobs at the time and by 2008/9, I was closing in on $100k.
Striking a balance between saving and where and how much to invest your money is an important juggling act.
@Mugsy: That is very impressive and I am both shocked at how out of touch I must be as well as a little scared. Looking at our spending I've realised it's our out of control eating out costs that's blowing the budget hard. Clearly lacking self control when it comes to food.
@Smol Cat: Yeah, these days I spend on food a lot more liberally. A single meal out with my wife will easily cost $30-70 depending on where we go… though, $70 (even over $50) is a rare event. I try to go for a few cheap healthier eats like the bakery with $7 banh mi when eating alone or for breakfast with the wife… but there's only so many times one can eat banh mi before it gets a bit repetitive.
I also tend to do largish shops when there are some massive reward points (though I buy things like toilet paper in advance to meet the spend target). We always target the heavily discounted items when shopping.
I applied for this earlier this week and stupidly put down my income after tax instead of before that it asked for. Got rejected despite being in the top 5% of earners in the AU, my first rejection ever, and I’ve had a lot of cards. Oh well. Anyone know if you can appeal a rejection?
Give them a call. Tell them you stuffed up and would like to appeal the rejection by providing more info.
Update: I rang them and they told me to send their applications team an email. I basically just said I put the wrong income amount, check the payslips and reconsider. This morning I randomly received a text saying my application has been approved. It seems they don’t bother to check payslips in the first place.
lmao what?
Whats top 5% btw?
This offer also comes with 0% balance transfer for 12 months, has anyone had experience with Virgin money balance transfer? Can I just dump it in a bank account? Also, is the $1500 minimum spend statement closing balance, or am I able to pay off purchases earlier than the statement is issued to avoid interest (assuming I've done a balance transfer) and still meet the spending threshold?
Up to 60,000 bonus Velocity Points offer is available to new and approved Virgin Australia Velocity Flyer Card account holders who apply by 2 September 2024. 30,000 bonus Velocity Points will be awarded for each month $1,500 or more is spent on eligible purchases for the first 2 months from account approval.. The first month begins on the date your account is approved. Please allow up to 1 week for your card to be mailed to you, leaving you about 3 weeks to meet the spend hurdle for the first month. The second month will commence one month from the date your account is approved. Purchases must be processed and charged to your account in the relevant month to count toward your monthly spend. An eligible purchase means any purchase excluding Cash Advances, Balance Transfers, Special Promotions, refunds and chargebacks, purchases of foreign currency and travellers cheques, transactions made in operating a business, and fees and charges such as interest and ATM charges. Please note that if you have a balance transfer, you will be charged interest on any spend you make. Credit Card application must be submitted through this page. Points will be credited to the Primary Cardholders Velocity Account up to 2 months after the qualifying purchases. Velocity membership Terms and Conditions apply. This offer can’t be used in conjunction with other Virgin Australia Velocity Flyer Point promotions or offers. Offer is not available to existing Virgin Money Credit Card holders (including upgrades).
Reading the t&c I don't believe it means you need a $1,500 closing balance each month, but I just wanted to confirm.
I've had this card for the last couple of months and am having an issue with getting the travel credit. I haven't needed a travel bank in the past and can't seem to set one up… tried to 'Find Username' etc through their website but still don't receive any emails. Guy on the phone said I need to book a flexi flight and cancel one to get it set up??? Doesn't appear right at all?
Unless I'm absolutely blind there doesn't appear to be a simple way to set up a travel bank account?
Go redeem your travel credit. They will set up a travel bank for you.
Went through the process of booking a flight and selecting 'Travel Bank' to pay for it. Pops up saying I don't have a linked Travel Bank account (signed in with my Velocity Account). Phone support seems useless so I feel like the $129 credit may be going down the drain…
Did you apply for your travel credit first using the instructions here?:
https://virginmoney.com.au/credit-card/rewards-and-benefits/…
It's not set up for you automatically. You need to redeem it first, then they set up a travel bank. Then you can go book your flight (not sure I used Velocity to book, I may have done it directly from the Virgin Australia website when I booked my wife's flight down to Sydney last year).
@Mugsy: Yep followed those steps originally. Over the phone, they said the credit was approved July 5th and they said an email was supposed to be sent to me to set up the travel bank after that (but am yet to receive an email).
Complaint has been escalated as velocity and virgin money seem to be blaming each other…
@zonarhd: Email not in spam folder?
Looking back at last year, my travel bank emails came from: "[email protected]". Maybe try searching your inbox for emails from this address.
Either way, hope they get to the bottom of this matter for you!
@Mugsy: They ended up crediting $129 onto the credit card. Never received anything about a travel bank so can't complain about that result :) cancelled it yesterday and will re-apply again next month ha.
It seems there are some purchase protection insurance but not travel insurance?
I think there used to be, but not anymore
Better value than the crap NAB card deal posted earlier this week.
The NAB rewards cards IMO are only good if you have a home loan w them and the annual fee gets waived. But you have to wait eighteen months(!!!) after canceling to reapply and be eligible for bonus points
How long do I need to have cancelled the card for? Anyone have any experience cancelling and reapplying within the same month?
50/50. I found the rejection is part way through the application and doesn’t trigger a credit enquiry. Last time I was rejected for this I waited 3 months and was approved with no change in circumstances.
How do you know 'the rejection is part way through the application?' ie. do you know what question/s trigger the rejection?
Unsure of what is the trigger. You don’t get to the stage to upload your documents to verify your income if you are rejected.
how to increase the change for CITI backed cards.
I had been rejected by CITI, velocity, Coles, Qantas money….
Got called by their applications team before to verify my income, which is pretty high, and then got rejected a minute later.
Muppets
That's probably what Flintz called them, thus the reject.
Hate Citi, won't bother with them or nab anymore, too difficult
I was called by their application team to confirm and verify income which is pretty decent. I am not paternity leave which is fully paid which seem to confuse them and then was rejected after a day.
Tried calling and they won't say anything, told me I will get a rejection letter with cause which I never did. I wrote an email asking for a reconsideration but never got a reply.
After a weeks applied for a NAB card and was approved instantly.
Althogh the offer is good, they have terrible service. My partner had it in the past and was not happy with their replies etc.
Decent deal, but my advice is to wait. This deal isn't likely disappearing, but Virgin are periodically (twice a year) offering a 30k bonus for signing up to direct earn cards like this. 90k vs 60k for the sake of a few months wait.
^This!
Unless one is using one of the other credit cards to apply for the 30k bonus, it's best to keep the Velocity Flyer for those promo periods and instead apply for cards like the ANZ Rewards card during the non 30k promo periods. 70k velocity points sign up bonus for $2k spend within the first three months but able to be satisfied and rewarded within one month is a pretty easy churn.
If you nail both 30k bonus promos per year, that's effectively a Velocity Flyer churn you've gotten for free!
Don’t see it mentioned, but be careful with when the month starts. When I applied for this deal before, the first ‘month’ started on the date I was approved.
Not realising that, my first ‘month’ was already finished before I activated my card
This was exactly the question I was about to ask…when does the month start. Is that confirmed the clock starts from application approval? Just wanting to line up the timing for the second months spend.
You can click on the link and find out from their T&Cs :
The first month begins on the date your account is approved.
Point 16, under Things you need to know
Keep in mind this credit card is regularly eligible for the additional 30k points deal.
Every 2-3 months velocity offer an additional 30k points on top of the 30+30 for the last 6 or so months. This just ended 15/7 so might be a couple of months away.
Although there is no 12 month exclusion period for this card, I have had success closing it and reapplying within a few months and being approved. YMMV