Ever heard of Diners Club? Most people under a certain age have not, even though it was once the pioneer in creating credit card culture.
My first credit card was a Diners Club card – a charge card actually (there is a subtle difference between charge cards and credit cards). I got it in March 1996 on the advice of a friend who proved many times over the ensuing years to be financially illiterate (bankrupt at least once, and at age 62 he is still working and not a home owner). It was cobranded with Ansett Airlines (who were a part owner of the ANZ franchise of Diners Club) and earned me 1.25 Ansett Frequent Flyer points on every dollar I spent on the card.
I actually ended up claiming three free flights between 1996 and 1999 – one return flight to Perth and two flights to Melbourne from Canberra when I was working in Canberra for most of 1999. I then accumulated some 58000 points between May 1999 and September 2001 when Ansett went broke, but did not have the time or inclination to take a holiday….
I cancelled the Diners Club card soon after that, but I had gotten a Visa card with my bank in mid 1996 when I got my first mortgage, and I still have that card.
Along the way, I have also had an Amex card issued by American Express itself, and later on an Amex card issued by my bank. And for one year, I had a Coles Mastercard.
The main motive for holding any credit cards initially, and even now, has been to accumulate reward points – the illusion of something for nothing we get when we spend excessively, supposedly on normal household expenses, although it does get a bit out of control very easily.
The Reserve Bank has, effective today, banned the charging of credit card surcharge fees to card users, in the hope that this saves consumers money.
Whilst the imposition of surcharges has been an extremely annoying and growing nuisance in recent years, the immediate impact on consumers has been the closure of various rewards programs. My bank has summarily replaced its main rewards program with its auxiliary program, which is far inferior.
As the Ansett experience killed off 90% of my desire to accumulate frequent flyer points a quarter century ago, my main interest in credit card rewards is claiming cash back on my credit card bill – something which, thanks to surcharges and the temptation to overspend, is a false economy.
As a believer in the doctrine of rational ignorance (ie that it is not worth my time and energy to study the fine print of most offers in search of a bargain), I am not going to waste too much time on working out how to game (if this is indeed possible) my current credit card’s remaining loyalty offers. Instead, I think I will phase out the use of my credit card in favour of a combination of my debit card and cash.
This might change the spending habits I have developed over the past 30 years, and cause me to reduce my levels of consumption. But I doubt it.
