American Express Velocity Platinum vs ANZ Rewards Platinum

The Amex Velocity Platinum earns more Velocity Points per dollar at every spending level. The gap widens once monthly spending passes $2,000. This is because the ANZ card’s earn rate halves at that point, while the Amex rate never caps. What the ANZ Rewards Platinum offers instead is a $149 fee compared to $440, and a larger sign-up bonus as of July 2026. Which card earns more is settled by arithmetic. Which card is worth holding is settled by how much passes through it each month.

Here are the rates, the numbers at three spending levels, the fees and bonuses, and the benefits behind each fee.

How each card earns Velocity Points

The Amex Velocity Platinum earns Velocity Points directly and without a cap. The ANZ Rewards Platinum earns bank points that convert to Velocity at a 2-to-1 rate. The Amex earns 1.25 Velocity Points per $1 on eligible everyday purchases, as of July 2026. It also earns 2.25 Velocity Points per $1 on Virgin Australia spending in Australia and 0.5 Velocity Points per $1 on payments to government bodies. The points are transferred to the linked Velocity account each month.

The ANZ card earns ANZ Reward Points, a bank currency that has no airline value until it’s converted. The ANZ product page sets the rate at 1.5 ANZ Reward Points per $1 on eligible purchases up to $2,000 per statement period and 0.5 per $1 after that. Government payments are not eligible. With auto redemption switched on, 2 ANZ Reward Points become 1 Velocity Point. So the effective Velocity rate is 0.75 per $1 up to the threshold and 0.25 per $1 beyond it. The conversion step matters for another reason. ANZ Reward Points expire 3 years after they are earned, and auto-redemption moves them into Velocity monthly. The mechanics of bank transfers are covered in our guide to moving points into Velocity.

What the earn rates deliver at different monthly spends

The Amex out-earns the ANZ card at every level, and the multiple grows with spending because only one of the two rates survives past $2,000 a month. The table assumes only everyday eligible spending, with no Virgin Australia or government transactions. The rates are current as of July 2026.

Monthly eligible spend	Amex Velocity Platinum earns	ANZ Rewards Platinum earns
$2,000	2,500 Velocity Points	1,500 Velocity Points
$5,000	6,250 Velocity Points	2,250 Velocity Points
$10,000	12,500 Velocity Points	3,500 Velocity Points

• Warning: comparing the cards on value is a multi-step calculation. The extra points earned with the Amex need to cover its higher annual fee.
• The fee gap is $291 a year as of July 2026, with the Amex at $440 and the ANZ card at $149
• At $5,000 a month, the Amex earns 48,000 more Velocity Points a year than the ANZ card. At 1.7 cents per Velocity Point, that difference is worth about $816. This is tracked in our rewards points valuations guide as of its December 2025 update
• At $2,000 a month, the gap is 12,000 points a year, worth about $204 at the same valuation. This falls $87 short of the fee difference before either card’s extras are considered

Below about $2,450 a month, the earnings gap alone no longer covers the fee gap. The decision then shifts to the bonuses and benefits. One practical factor sits outside the rate table: acceptance and surcharging. American Express is not accepted everywhere the ANZ Mastercard is. Where a merchant applies a surcharge to an Amex transaction, the surcharge reduces the value of the points earned. Card surcharges commonly run around 1-1.5 per cent as of July 2026. The 1.25 Velocity Points earned on that dollar are worth about 2.1 cents at the December 2025 valuation. So a surcharge in that range takes back roughly half to two-thirds of the value on that transaction. A person who would commonly face Amex surcharges should compare the two cards on the spending that would pass through each, not on the headline rates.

How the sign-up bonuses and fees compare

As of July 2026, the ANZ card offers a larger sign-up bonus and a smaller fee. This is the opposite of what the earn rates would suggest. A sign-up bonus is the introductory points offer on a new card, unlocked by a minimum spend within a set window. The spend that counts is mapped in our credit card minimum spend guide. The Amex offer is 50,000 bonus Velocity Points for $5,000 of eligible purchases in the first 3 months. It is only open to new American Express card members. Anyone who has held an Amex card issued in Australia in the past 18 months is excluded.

The ANZ Velocity path offer is 60,000 bonus Velocity Points plus $50 back for $3,500 of eligible purchases in the first 3 months. A further 20,000 Velocity Points are available for keeping the card beyond 15 months, bringing the total to 80,000 Velocity Points. Both parts require auto redemption to Velocity to be switched on within 3 months of approval and kept on. The exclusion window is 24 months and applies to anyone who has held an ANZ Rewards or ANZ Frequent Flyer card in that period. The ANZ fee is $149 in total. That’s made up of a $94 card fee and a $55 rewards program services fee. An additional cardholder costs $65 a year. The Amex fee is $440 and includes up to 4 additional cards at no charge.

Which benefits sit behind each annual fee

The Amex fee buys a travel benefits package, and the ANZ fee buys an insurance suite, which is the cleanest way to see what each card is for beyond the points. The Amex Velocity Platinum includes a complimentary domestic return flight with Virgin Australia each membership year after the first card spend that year. You also receive Virgin Australia lounge access for the primary cardholder when flying Virgin the same day, plus 2 guest lounge passes a year. The card also provides up to 100 Velocity Status Credits a year. You receive 50 at $25,000 of eligible spend in a membership year and another 50 at a further $25,000. Status Credits are the program’s status currency, separate from points. The card also includes travel insurance when you pay for a return trip with the card.

The ANZ Rewards Platinum carries international and domestic travel insurance, rental vehicle excess cover in Australia, purchase protection and extended warranty insurance, and a 24-hour concierge. It has no flight benefit and no lounge access. The split is clean. A person flying Virgin Australia a few times a year can put the Amex’s flight and lounge package directly against the $440 fee. A person who wants low-cost Velocity earning with the insurance suite and rarely flies Virgin gets what they are paying for at $149. Where to spend each program’s points across both airlines’ partners is mapped in our overview of Qantas and Velocity partners. The current field of alternatives sits in our roundup of the top Velocity points-earning credit cards.

Frequently asked questions

Fees, rates and figures quoted are correct at the time of publication and should be verified directly with each provider before acting on them.