Got an email yesterday offering me a new credit card (don’t you all get these ones all the time?), but this one has a nice reward system. Somehow BP and Citibank are teaming up together introducing this new BP-Citibank MasterCard, which (1) gives big saving on fuel purchases in BP (2) gives small percentage cash back on other purchases (3) has a low interest on balance transfer (4) use this link to get $50 BP prepaid card.
I was very tempted to apply yet another credit card. But after reading the fine prints and thinking through, I don’t think it justifies. Let’s look at this deal.
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5% off your petrol and everything else you buy at BP
What else are you buying from BP? Hmm. Nothing. I don’t buy grocery in petrol stations unless in very urgent circumstances. That leaves 5% off petrol purchases, which equals to around 5-6 cents per litre these days, up to $15 saving a month.
Not bad. However I am currently using our Coles Source MasterCard, which gives us 4 cent docket + 4 cent mail-in coupon discount per litre from Shell. That’s 8 cents per litre saving! Procedure is a bit more complicated as you need to remember to keep the shopping dockets and coupons, and have to make $30+ grocery purchases from Coles, etc, but so far we have no problem getting 8c/litre off everytime we go and fill up at the pump.
5% off will only win out if the petrol price raises above $1.60/litre. Or if BP Ultimate is your fancy (I know some people do). Otherwise stick to Source MasterCard with Shell.
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1% off everything else you buy anywhere
1% rebate on everything! Yeah!! It is capped at $600 a year, but seriously, I don’t see myself rocking up $60,000 a year on my credit cards. My current NAB Visa Mini also has 1% cash back but capped at a relatively low $10 a month, but so far it works fine for me. Moreover, BP-Citibank MasterCard has annual fee $79 + $30 per additional cards, whereas NAB Visa Mini is only $19 with free additional cards.
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6.9%p.a. for 6 months for all balances transferred
… and a ridiculously high 17.95% afterwards. I always pay my credit card bill in full, so no thanks. I have to say that credit card is the worst way to borrow money because of the high interest. Use a credit card for convenience and associated rewards’ sake, but don’t use it if you might have difficulties to pay the bill in full at the end of the month.
Any other good rewarding credit cards that I should consider?
I believe this is the best rewards card on the market currently. I was using the Safway CC but they just took that off the market. Coles would be good but don’t shop at Coles.
Anyway, I tallied it up and I could potentially save around $100-200 bucks a year.
Sure. I think the 1% cash back is great. They have lots of these cash back credit cards in the United States but rare here in Australia.
I won’t argue that it is the best rewards card on the market (yes, cash back is much better than useless flight points), but I am pointing out that it is just not working for me. With a combination of Source MasterCard and NAB Visa Mini, I am paying less annual fees but getting similar if not better rewards with my usage pattern.
And I shop in Coles :)
A pro and con on the BP-Citibank MasterCard.
CON – There is no annual fee on the Coles Source Mastercard, so if you filled up once a week the $79 will translate to be $1.52 extra each tankfill. That works out to be between 2-4c more per tankfill (depending on you tank size).
PRO – The Coles Source Mastercard only allows you 52 vouchers per year. If you have to refill more than once a week then the BP-Citibank MasterCard will proberly be infront.
BP Citi just changed its rules midway by shifting from 1 per cent to 0.5 per cent – ie. changed its terms and conditions without changing its annual fee. Halved the benefits (indeed made them lower than half because if you buy petrol from non-BP outlets now than even that 0.5 per cent is not available) but kept the fee as high as before.
I asked the company to not implement this scheme for one year since they have already charged me the (rather high) membership fee (I have two cards in the family so I've paid well over $100 – I think about $120). But they've refused to extend the application of their new scheme til the year is over.
I've now lodged a complaint to the company – details at: http://tinyurl.com/cfra9h. Very problematic. I may have no choice but to raise it with consumer bodies if this complaint doesn't work. In the meanwhile I thought I'd STRONGLY recommend everyone stay away BOTH from Citi and BP! I wouldn't do busines with this kind of company in the future.
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This is totally unethical: promise something, take the money, and deliver half the benefits!
i actually work for selling the bp citibank mastercard and i think its great.
it may have a $79 annual fee bt if u activate the card within the 1st 2 weeks of receiving it then you get a $20 cashback and with saving the 5% off the pumps and everything in store you will make back that $79.
and for all the balances transferred it is actually 2.9% for 12 months not 6.9% for 6 months.
the card isnt perfect for every1 but most people would actually like this card if they just tried it.