The NAB Rewards credit card points program is a flexible card points program, which includes the NAB Rewards Platinum Visa, NAB Rewards Visa and NAB Rewards Business Platinum Visa.
Launched in February 2017, NAB Rewards offers points transfers to Velocity, Asia Miles and Air New Zealand Airpoints as well as a range of other unique redemption options. In this guide we’ll get into the details of the program and how to best use those points for value.
Digging into the details of NAB Rewards
As a flexible points program, NAB Rewards allows you to earn points into NAB Rewards balance, and these points can then be transferred to NAB Rewards’ frequent flyer program partners, redeemed for gift vouchers or other merchandise and experiences offered by the program.
Flexible programs like this are a good choice for anyone looking to get the most value from a rewards program – they allow you to earn points into a central points currency now, and choose how you redeem them later.
NAB Rewards points do not transfer to their frequent flyer program partners on a 1:1 ratio – instead, you’ll need to factor in the following transfer ratios to calculate how many points can be transferred to each program:
- 1 NAB Rewards points = 0.5 Velocity points, with a minimum transfer of 3,000 NAB Rewards points = 1,500 Velocity Points
- 1 NAB Rewards point = 0.33 Asia Miles, with a minimum transfer of 3,000 NAB Rewards points = 1,000 Asia Miles
- 3,000 NAB Rewards point = 15 Air New Zealand Airpoints Dollars
In our recent round of points valuations, we pegged Velocity Points at around 1.2c per point as a target value. This then means that we would put an approximate value of 0.6c per NAB Rewards point if we decided to move them over to Velocity Frequent Flyer.
You can read why we like Velocity and Asia Miles as frequent flyer programs in our dedicated guides to both.
NAB Rewards points expire
One of the downsides to NAB’s new rewards program is the points expiry policy. This is outlined in the NAB Rewards PDS and states: Points in your points balance must be used to claim a reward within 36 months from the date the transaction which earned those points was processed to your rewards card account. Points that remain unused in your points balance after that period will be forfeited.
The points you earned into your NAB Rewards account first will be used first at the time of redemption, so you have three years from the date of earning the points to when they must be used.
This is a downside to the program for anyone who wants to earn large numbers of points and hold them for an extended period of time.
The NAB Rewards Card Range
NAB Rewards offers three cards – an entry level, low fee card – the NAB Rewards Visa, a higher fee, higher points-earning card – the NAB Rewards Platinum Visa, and a business-focused card – the NAB Rewards Business Platinum Visa.
NAB Rewards Platinum Visa - 60,000 NAB Rewards Points
The NAB Rewards Platinum Visa has 60,000 bonus points on offer. NAB Rewards allows you to transfer points to Velocity, Asia Miles and Air NZ Airpoints, and offers bonus points for overseas spend and purchases at major department and hardware stores.
- 60,000 sign up bonus NAB Rewards points - transfers to 30,000 Velocity Points, or 19,800 Asia Miles
- 0% p.a. on balance transfers for 6 months
- 1 NAB Rewards point earned per $1 spend on everyday purchases
- NAB Rewards points can be transferred to Velocity Points, Asia Miles or Air NZ Airpoints
- 7 complimentary insurances including overseas travel (PDS)
- Annual fee: $195 p.a.
- Spend $2,500 on everyday purchases within the first 60 days to receive sign up bonus points
- Balance Transfer must be applied for during card application, a 2% balance transfer BT fee applies and minimum monthly repayments required.
- Offer unavailable if closing/transferring from another NAB credit card account
Read the NAB Rewards Platinum Visa guide →
Point Hacks receive a range of commissions for applicants of NAB credit cards. More about this →
Card Details
| Card | NAB Rewards Platinum Visa |
| Loyalty program | NAB Rewards |
| Points earned from spend | 1 Rewards point per $1 on everyday spend 2 Rewards points per $1 spend in major department and hardware stores 3 Rewards points per $1 on overseas spend |
| Points Cap | No points cap |
| Included insurances | 7 complimentary insurances including overseas travel (PDS) |
| Overseas transaction fee | 3% of the converted amount |
| Annual fee | $195 |
NAB Rewards Visa - 30,000 NAB Rewards Points
NAB are offering 30,000 bonus points with the NAB Rewards Visa. NAB Rewards allows you to transfer points to Velocity, Asia Miles and Air NZ Airpoints, and offers bonus points for overseas spend and purchases at major department and hardware stores.
- 30,000 bonus NAB Rewards points - transfers to 15,000 Velocity Points or 9,900 Asia Miles
- 0% p.a. on balance transfers for 6 months
- 0.75 NAB Rewards points earned per $1 spend on everyday purchases
- 2.25 NAB Rewards points earned per $1 spend overseas and 1.5 NAB Rewards points in major department and hardware stores
- NAB Rewards points can be transferred to Velocity Points, Asia Miles or Air NZ Airpoints
- Complimentary Purchase Protection Insurance(PDS)
- Annual fee: $95 p.a.
- Spend $1,500 on everyday purchases within the first 60 days to receive bonus points
- Balance Transfer must be applied for during card application, a 2% balance transfer BT fee applies and minimum monthly repayments required.
- Offer unavailable if closing/transferring from another NAB credit card account
Read the NAB Rewards Classic Visa guide here →
Point Hacks receive a range of commissions for applicants of NAB credit cards. More about this →
Card Details
| Card | NAB Rewards Classic |
| Loyalty program | NAB Rewards |
| Points earned from spend | 0.75 NAB Rewards point per $1 on everyday spend 1.5 NAB Rewards points per $1 spend in major department and hardware stores 2.25 NAB Rewards points per $1 spend overseas |
| Points Cap | No points cap |
| Included insurances | Complimentary Purchase Protection Insurance (PDS) |
| Overseas transaction fees | 3% of the converted amount |
| Annual fee | $95 |
NAB Rewards Bonus Point Partners
NAB Rewards offers a “Points Booster” – this allows triple points for spending at Webjet, on overseas purchases, and double points for spending at “major department and hardware stores”. Airlines which are excluded from the points booster program with Webjet include Scoot, Jetstar and Air Asia.
Other NAB Rewards Redemption Options
Outside of NAB Rewards’ frequent flyer program partners, NAB Rewards offers redemptions for gift cards, a range of products, charity donations, 10% discount on AFL travel, and a range of exclusive AFL redemptions thanks to NAB’s commercial relationship with the AFL.
Webjet
NAB Rewards has partnered with Webjet to offer immediate redemption of your NAB Rewards points for any travel booking offered from Webjet. Once you’ve logged in to the NAB Rewards as a cardholder, you then click out to Webjet and you’ll be shown how many points you can redeem and the value of those points in Webjet credit.
In this example, we have 83,639 NAB Rewards on offer, equating to $418.19 in Webjet credit. This offers a redemption value of 0.5c per NAB Rewards point.
Gift Cards
Gift cards are available for Myer, JB Hi-fi, Myer, BP, Coles, Coles Express, Bunnings and many more. The current redemption rate for a $100 gift card is 19,230 points, offering a value of 0.52c per NAB Rewards point.
AFL
AFL redemption options through NAB Rewards include:
- Silver AFL Memberships at most major AFL clubs for 125,000 points
- Signed jerseys, lithographs and other merchandise
Silver AFL membership currently costs $600, so the the 125,000 point redemption offers a value of 0.48c per NAB Rewards point.
Products
A range of technology, lifestyle, and other product category redemption options are available through the NAB Rewards website too. Given prices of these products change frequently we won’t run a comparison of the value on offer here, but these are usually not the best value use of your points.
Other info, offers and benefits
You can access the NAB Rewards website here, but you’ll need to be an account holder to get any real detail about points transfer rates or redemptions.
NAB Rewards is relatively newly launched and their website is simple and fast to navigate to find the redemption option you are looking for – but it works best if you are an existing cardholder to find that info, which makes it harder for prospective cardholders to assess the value of the program.
Given the program is new, we would hope that redemption options will expand as NAB continues to invest and grow its cardholder base – but for now, the value on offer hinges on a small set of frequent flyer partners, plus a decent range of product and gift card redemptions.
Why NAB Rewards? My thoughts
NAB Rewards launches at a time of change in credit card rewards programs in Australia with a range of legislative changes causing banks to reassess how much value they can offer from rewards credit cards.
With Visa cards in the range only, acceptance of the cards shouldn’t be an issue – but the points earn rates on them are also lower. The NAB Rewards card earns rates that are also competitive given the context in which the cards are launched – many banks are yet to push through their changes this year.
What will make NAB Rewards a really appealing program is if they continue to invest in exclusive redemption options such as through relationships with the AFL – it will stand out against the competitors. For now though, with a few key frequent flyer programs plus a set of solid gift cards and product redemptions means, it is an appealing program, but with no standout features.
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Keith Mason
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Hi,
I am just about to come into 350,000 NAB rewards points as I am moving a home loan to them. I also have an AmEx Explorer card that I was fortunate to get the 100,000 sign up points to back in Nov 16 and my current AmEx balance sits at 151,000 points. I don’t plan on spending the AmEx points anytime soon as I was hoping to utilise them in some way as a part payment to a family holiday next year.
My query is what exactly to do with these NAB points. I could go the gift card option and get around $1750 worth which isn’t bad for free or would I be better to potentially transfer to Asia Miles and then do the same with my AmEx points at the appropriate time and then use Asia Miles to fund an overseas trip (2 adults, 2 kids under 10).
Cheers
This article may help you decide.
List of department stores for bonus points below. This is the full list according to NAB. It’s not as long as they make it out to be.
“You can earn double points at the following major department stores:
Myer
David Jones
Kmart
Target
Big W
You can also earn double points at the major hardware stores:
Bunnings
Mitre 10
Total Tools
Stratco
Home Timber and Hardware”
How do you actually login to nab rewards account to transfer points etc. I can’t find any links from my internet banking account and when I google nab rewards and go to its website to login it just says login via internet banking which is back to the usual internet banking portal which doesn’t get me anywhere? Maybe I’m just having a moment.
Ryan I’ve been having the same issue – If anyone figures it out let us know!
Go to My Cards
Then on the right hand side of page click on Redeem Awards under Rewards box
Chrome blocked the pop0up so appeared it wasn’t working for me at first.
Allow pop-up to get access
Be aware that points in this scheme do expire:
Source: https://www.nab.com.au/content/dam/nabrwd/personal/banking/documents/nab-rewards-terms-and-conditions.pdf
Thanks, I should have picked that up. I’ll note it in the guide.