ANZ Airpoints Visa Credit Card

Roland Bleyer

Credit Card Expert with over 15 years card experience and the founder of Creditcard.co.nz. Ask Roland a Question about this card.

The ANZ Airpoints Visa

Making it super easy to earn points on Air New Zealand’s Airpoints programme, the ANZ Airpoints Visa allows cardholders to earn Airpoints Dollars on their everyday spending. Keeping it fairly simple elsewhere, this card is purely a rewards card that works to keep costs down with a $0 annual fee for the first year, and an affordable account fee paid every six months after that.

What we love...

You pay the card’s account fee every six months. Considering this is a rewards card, the fee is actually pretty reasonable. But of course, it is only reasonable if the card provides you with value. As a rewards card, that means getting back more in rewards value than you pay out in fees.

To work out whether the ANZ Airpoints Visa offers you value, consider how much you will spend on the card, then work out what that spend equates to in Airpoints Dollars. The earn rate on the ANZ Airpoints Visa is $120 = 1 Airpoints Dollar, so you will earn 1 Airpoints Dollar for every $120 you spend on eligible purchases.

As long as your rewards total is more than the annual fee, it could well be worth having it in your wallet. If you think you may spend more on the card and you want a higher earn rate, you could consider the ANZ Airpoints Visa Platinum as an alternative option. This card also offers more in terms of extras, but does come with a higher price tag.

It’s nice to know that there is no limit on the number of Airpoints Dollars you can earn, and your Airpoints Dollars will never expire as long as your card remains current. In terms of spending your Airpoints Dollars, you could redeem them for flights or upgrades, or purchase items within the Airpoints Store.

If you don’t have enough points for the reward you want, you can take advantage of an advance of up to 50 Airpoints Dollars. This Airpoints Dollars Advance is like an overdraft feature, advancing you a limited number of Dollars to cover the reward you want, which you then pay back by earning more points on your future credit card spending.

What’s not so great...

As with most rewards cards, the ANZ Airpoints Visa has a substantial purchase rate. While this will make no difference to cardholders who clear their balance before interest starts accruing, those who carry a balance will likely negate the value of any rewards they earn with the interest they pay out on that balance.

Why should you choose this card?

If you’re interested in earning rewards on your everyday spending – and you don’t want to pay a fortune in annual fees – the ANZ Airpoints Visa should definitely be on the shortlist. Obviously, as it earns Airpoints Dollars, it would typically work best for cardholders who tend to travel on Air New Zealand or its partner airlines.

While the card may be fairly basic, cardholders still have access to security features such as ANZ’s fraud monitoring and Visa Zero Liability, as well as tech compatibility with Apple Pay and Google Pay. With ANZ as a provider, cardholders have access to their account in branch, over the phone, via ANZ Internet Banking, ANZ goMoney and at ATMs.

Overall Rating

Offering a simple way to earn Airpoints Dollars, the ANZ Airpoints Visa offers a decent earn rate.