ANZ Rewards: Ultimate Guide To Earning & Redeeming Points
Understanding and maximising the ANZ Rewards program
The ANZ Rewards program is one of Australia’s better flexible credit card rewards schemes, allowing cardholders to earn points on everyday purchases and redeem them in a variety of ways.
Points can be used for travel bookings, gift cards, retail products and experiences, or transferred to airline frequent flyer programs for flights. This flexibility makes ANZ Rewards a popular option for those who don’t want to be locked into a single airline loyalty program.
Cardholders can also boost their balance through signup bonus offers and by earning additional points with participating retailers via the ANZ Bonus Points Mall.
In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about ANZ Rewards, including how to earn points, how to redeem them, transfer options, and how to maximise their value.
What Is ANZ Rewards?
ANZ Rewards is a credit card rewards program run by ANZ Bank. If you hold an ANZ Rewards credit card, you’ll earn ANZ Rewards Points when you spend on that card. Those points can then be redeemed in several ways, including for travel bookings, gift cards, products, and transfers to airline frequent flyer programs.
Unlike airline co-branded credit cards, ANZ Rewards allows you to earn points first and decide how to use them later. That’s why it’s considered a flexible rewards program.
What Are Flexible Rewards Programs?
Flexible rewards programs, like ANZ Rewards, allow you to collect points in a bank’s own rewards currency instead of being locked into a specific loyalty program such as Qantas or Velocity Frequent Flyer. The biggest advantage of flexible rewards programs is exactly that - flexibility. Instead of committing to a single airline program from day one, you can decide how to use your points later based on availability and redemption value.
For example, once you’ve built up enough points, you might search for reward flights and find that Velocity doesn’t have a flight you want. Then, you could find that Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer does have a suitable reward seat, and transfer ANZ Rewards there.
Most flexible rewards programs offer multiple airline partners, which can be hugely beneficial when it comes time to redeem your points for flights because it gives you more options. Keep in mind that each flexible rewards program has different airline partners and different transfer rates, which will affect how many airline miles you receive when converting your points.
Want to learn more?
Read on about Australia's top flexible reward programs and access our handy transfer matrix 👉 Guide To Flexible Credit Card Rewards In Australia
ANZ Rewards Credit Cards
ANZ currently offers just two credit cards that allow you to earn ANZ Rewards Points. These are the ANZ Rewards Platinum and ANZ Rewards Black. Each card has different earn rates, annual fees and perks, with the Platinum being a mid-tier card, and the Black being part of ANZ’s premium credit card lineup.
Both cards offer the ability to earn rewards points, which can then be transferred to a number of loyalty programs:
- Velocity Frequent Flyer
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Cathay Asia Miles
- Air New Zealand Airpoints
- Everyday Rewards (unlocks two-step transfers to Qantas)
How To Earn ANZ Rewards Points
There are several ways to earn points in the ANZ Rewards program. Here are a few of the main options.
Credit Card Spending
As you might expect, the main way to earn ANZ Rewards Points is by using an eligible ANZ credit card for everyday purchases. Points are earned on eligible spending, with earn rates depending on the card you hold. Higher-tier cards typically earn more points per dollar spent, although many cards also have points caps that reduce the earn rate after a certain spending threshold.
Bonus Signup Offers
Many ANZ Rewards credit cards come with introductory bonus points offers for new cardholders. These offers typically require you to spend a minimum amount within the first few months of opening the card. Once the requirement is met, bonus points are credited to your ANZ Rewards account.
ANZ Bonus Points Mall
ANZ cardholders can also earn additional points when shopping online through the ANZ Bonus Points Mall. This online portal partners with a range of retailers, allowing you to earn bonus points when you click through and shop with participating brands.
Retailers include:
- Bonds
- David Jones
- Cotton On
- Rebel
- and many others
Some partners offer multiple bonus points per dollar spent, which can significantly increase your points balance.
What Are Eligible Purchases?
The majority of your daily spending is eligible to earn ANZ Rewards Points, including eating out, fuel, groceries, and more. Things like cash advances, balance transfers, gambling, ATO payments, and card fees are usually not eligible to earn points.
How To Redeem ANZ Rewards Points
Redeeming ANZ Rewards Points is straightforward, with a range of options depending on how you want to use your points. From travel and airline transfers to gift cards and merchandise, the value you receive can vary significantly.
Points Transfers
By far the best way to extract maximum value from your ANZ Rewards Points is by transferring them to airline frequent flyer programs such as Virgin Australia Velocity, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles.
As this is the best way to redeem ANZ Rewards Points, we’ll explore partner transfers in a dedicated section below.
Gift Cards
ANZ Rewards Points can be redeemed for gift cards with several partnered brands. Gift cards are a simple redemption option, though the value per point is quite poor.
Popular options include:
- Amazon
- Apple
- Bunnings
- Coles
- David Jones
- Freedom
- Harvey Norman
- IKEA
- JB Hi-Fi
- Kmart
- Myer
- Uber
- Woolworths
Cashback
You can redeem your ANZ Reward Points to reduce the balance on your credit card or an eligible ANZ bank account. Every 1,250 ANZ Rewards gets $5 cashback, so for $100 cashback, you would need to burn 25,000 Reward Points.
This method is slightly more valuable than gift cards, but it’s still a pretty terrible redemption.
ANZ Rewards Store
One of the most popular redemption options is using ANZ Rewards Points for products via the ANZ Rewards Store. Here, you can cash in points for movie tickets, magazine subscriptions, toasters, chainsaws, phones - basically any product.
Again, merchandise redemptions generally offer lower value per point compared to travel or airline transfers.
ANZ Rewards Airline & Loyalty Transfer Partners
ANZ Rewards Points can be transferred to four airline loyalty programs, including Velocity Frequent Flyer, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and Air New Zealand Koru. There is also the option of transferring to Woolworths Everyday Rewards, which unlocks a sneaky two-step transfer to Qantas Frequent Flyer.
ANZ Rewards points can be transferred to Flight Centre World360 Rewards, but this is generally not a great use of points. World360 doesn’t offer many valuable redemptions, making it similar to booking through Flight Centre in that you’ll likely pay more than you need to.
Note that the transfer times above are listed as business days. In our experience, many ANZ Rewards are instant or occur within 24 hours. These windows are essentially a worst-case scenario.
Transfer ANZ Rewards To Qantas Points Via Everyday Rewards
You can transfer your ANZ Rewards Points to Woolworths Everyday Rewards program. This also allows you to essentially transfer your ANZ Rewards to Qantas, since Everyday Rewards can be converted to Qantas Frequent Flyer at a 2:1 ratio.
The process is done in two steps:
- ANZ Rewards Points to Everyday Rewards Points
- Everyday Rewards Points to Qantas Points
The transfer rate is as follows:
- 2,700 ANZ Rewards Points = 2,000 Everyday Rewards Points
- 2,000 Everyday Rewards Points = 1,000 Qantas Points
This makes the effective transfer rate 2.7 ANZ Rewards Points to 1 Qantas Point, which is actually quite good. Especially considering Asia Miles and KrisFlyer are both 3:1.
How Much Are ANZ Rewards Points Worth?
The value of ANZ Rewards Points varies depending on how you choose to redeem them. This makes it difficult to assign an exact dollar value to your points balance, as the value can change depending on the redemption method. That’s even the case when transferring to one airline over another, or choosing between different gift cards.
What is easy to say is that transferring ANZ Rewards to an airline frequent flyer program and redeeming for flights, especially Business and First Class, nearly always offers the best value.
Redeeming ANZ Rewards Points for gift cards or retail products will usually offer the worst value from a dollars-and-cents standpoint. That said, if you’re someone who does not want to travel, spending your points on flights would obviously not make sense, but saving money on a product you’d otherwise purchase might.
Remember that unused points are useless and will lose value over time. While you shouldn’t rush a redemption, keep in mind that programs can decide to devalue or remove redemption options wherever they please.
How To Maximise Your ANZ Rewards Points
There are several strategies worth considering if you want to extract maximum value from your ANZ Rewards Points.
- Pick the right ANZ Rewards card - If you’re eligible, selecting a higher-tier card can offer better earn rates, helping you accumulate points faster.
- Use signup bonus offers - Keep an eye out for any large introductory bonuses to earn points quickly if you meet the minimum spend.
- Use your card for everyday spending - use your card for your normal daily spending (where possible & that you can afford) to consistently earn points.
- Be mindful of points caps - once you exceed the monthly spending threshold, earn rates can drop significantly, consider spreading on other cards if needed.
- Redeem points with airline partners - airline transfers often provide better value, especially for reward flights.
- Avoid low-value redemptions - products and gift cards normally offer lower value per point.
ANZ Rewards vs American Express Membership Rewards
While ANZ Rewards is a solid bank rewards program, it’s not the only option available. Another major player in Australia is American Express Membership Rewards, which is widely considered one of the best banking rewards programs.
One of the biggest differences between ANZ Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards is how quickly you can earn points. That’s because in most cases American Express offers a higher earn rate compared to ANZ Rewards, in addition to no cap on the number of points you can earn per month.
This differs by card, but as an example, the ANZ Platinum earns 1.5 ANZ Reward Points for every dollar spent up to $2,000 per statement period, before dropping to just 0.5 points for every dollar spent. But the mid-tier AMEX Explorer earns 2 Membership Rewards points per dollar, uncapped.
American Express also has a wider range of 10+ airline transfer partners, offering even more options when it comes time to redeem points for flights. Currently, ANZ Rewards only offers four airline transfer partners.
In short, ANZ Rewards is a solid program that can prove quite useful, especially with a large sign-up bonus offer. But in terms of ongoing everyday spend, American Express Membership Rewards tends to offer more upside, both in terms of earn rates and transfer partners.
Summing Up: Is ANZ Rewards Worth It?
ANZ Rewards is a solid bank rewards program that is well worth considering, particularly when strong credit card signup bonus offers are available. ANZ regularly runs competitive promotions across its Rewards credit card range, which can make it easy to build a points balance quickly.
One downside to the program is that ANZ reduces the earn rate once you exceed a certain spend threshold each statement period - normally $2,000 or $5,000 depending on the card. After hitting this limit, ANZ slashes your earn rate by up to 75%.
That said, the ability to redeem ANZ Rewards for Business Class flights with several quality airline partners gives the program broad appeal. Plus, partner transfer rates are generally in line with other bank programs.
ANZ Rewards is worth considering if you value flexibility and want a straightforward rewards setup. However, your goal is to earn points quickly on everyday spending, there are stronger programs available.
Frequently Asked Questions: ANZ Rewards
Yes, ANZ Reward Points expire within 36 months of 31 December of the year in which they were earned. So as an example, points earned anytime in 2023 would expire on December 31, 2026.
No, ANZ Reward Points cannot be transferred directly to Qantas Frequent Flyer. However, ANZ Rewards Points can be transferred to Everyday Rewards and then on to Qantas.
This depends on how the points are redeemed. Typically, the best redemptions are by transferring to an airline partner and booking flights.
ANZ Rewards Points are primarily earned through spending on eligible ANZ credit cards. Additional points can also be earned through signup bonuses, shopping via the ANZ Bonus Points Mall, and promotional partner offers.
ANZ Rewards Points can be used by logging into the ANZ Rewards Portal and selecting a redemption option such as gift cards or airline transfers.
You can access the ANZ Rewards program through ANZ Internet Banking or the ANZ mobile banking app. Once logged in, select your eligible credit card account to enter the ANZ Rewards portal.
Your ANZ Rewards Points balance can be checked by logging into ANZ Internet Banking or the ANZ mobile app and accessing the rewards portal. Your points balance may also appear on your credit card statement.
