MyCard has become the latest credit card issuer to announce sweeping changes ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interchange reforms, with updated earn rates and reward redemption values taking effect from 1 October 2026.
The changes affect all cards that earn MyCard Rewards or Qantas Points. One top-tier card is being axed, while there are also changes to earn and redemption rates. But in some cases, you could come out slightly ahead, depending on your circumstances.
MyCard Prestige axed, changes to earn rates
MyCard’s top-tier offering, the Prestige card, will be discontinued from 1 October 2026. Applications for the card have been unavailable for the past few weeks. For existing members, nothing changes until 30 September 2026. But from 1 October onwards, they will effectively be moved to a MyCard Premier card.
MyCard Premier changes
For MyCard Premier cardholders, one of the major changes is to the points-earning structure. Currently, the card earns (capped at 200,000 points a year):
- 2 points per $1 spent online
- 1 point per $1 spent everywhere else
- 2 points per $1 on international transactions
From 1 October 2026, this will change to:
- 2 points per $1 spent on eligible travel purchases booked directly with airlines, hotels, cruise lines, taxis and rideshare providers
- 2 points per $1 on eligible international transactions
- 1.5 points per $1 spent on all other eligible domestic purchases
Notably, the yearly cap of 200,000 points will be removed. The base earn rate is also improving from 1 point per dollar to 1.5 points per dollar (though the ‘online’ bonus will be removed).
MyCard Premier Qantas changes
The Qantas Points variant currently earns 1 Qantas Point per dollar spent online and overseas, and 0.5 Qantas Points per dollar spent domestically, capped at 100,000 points a year.
From 1 October, this will be reduced to a flat 0.5 Qantas Points per dollar across all categories. It’ll also be capped at $7,000 per transaction period (effectively only 3,500 points a month).
As the non-Qantas MyCard Premier variant above doesn’t have caps, you may want to transition to that.
MyCard Rewards changes
MyCard is making several changes to its entry-level rewards card, starting with an annual fee increase from $199 to $249. The earn rate is improving across most spending categories:
- International transactions will double from 1 point to2 points per $1.
- Supermarket and petrol purchases made directly with eligible merchants will also earn 2 points per $1, up from the current 1 point per $1.
- All other eligible domestic spending will increase from 1 point to 1.5 points per $1.
There will also no longer be a monthly cap on points earnings (currently $10,000/month).
Reward redemptions are becoming more expensive
MyCard has confirmed that the number of points required for reward redemptions will increase from October. To soften the impact, the issuer says it will make a one-off adjustment to customers’ existing points balances so previously earned points retain broadly similar value.
One significant change affects Velocity Frequent Flyer transfers. The transfer rate (at least on the base-level MyCard Rewards) will change from 2.5 to 3 MyCard Rewards points per 1 Velocity Point. At this stage, MyCard has not confirmed if the rate for MyCard Premier cardholders will similarly change from 2:1.
If you’re using points for gift cards, expect a $100 gift card to increase from 20,900 points to 33,700 points (that’s 61.24% more).
Summing up
Like many Australian card issuers, MyCard cites the Reserve Bank’s upcoming interchange reforms as the reason for the overhaul. We’ve now seen the result of this. The top-tier Prestige card has been discontinued, while the mid-tier and entry-level cards will remain, but with changes.
From October 2026, banks will receive significantly less interchange revenue from consumer credit card transactions. That revenue has traditionally helped fund generous rewards programs, prompting many issuers to review earn rates, sign-up bonuses and redemption values.
While the higher redemption costs – particularly the move to a 3:1 transfer ratio for Velocity Frequent Flyer, at least for MyCard Rewards – are concerning, you could still come out ahead after the changes.
For example, if you currently spend $10,000 on a MyCard Rewards card domestically, you’ll earn 10,000 points that can convert to 4,000 Velocity Points (2.5 to 1). But after 1 October, that same spend would earn 15,000 points, which can be converted to 5,000 Velocity Points (3 to 1).
If you’ve been saving MyCard Rewards points for a future redemption, it may be worth reviewing your options before the new rates take effect on 1 October 2026. And while there’s no confirmation on how sign-up bonuses will look from 1 October, now might be a good time to lock in a current offer.
MyCard Rewards Credit Card (Velocity)
- Bonus points
- Up to 90,000 bonus Velocity Points¹
- Annual fee
- $199 p.a.
- Earn
- 1 MyCard reward Point per $1 on eligible Domestic Spend up to $10,000 per statement period. 1 MyCard reward Point per $1 on eligible international spend uncapped
MyCard Rewards Credit Card (Velocity)
- Bonus Points
- Up to 90,000 bonus Velocity Points¹
- Annual Fee
- $199 p.a.
- Earn
- 1 MyCard reward Point per $1 on eligible Domestic Spend up to $10,000 per statement period. 1 MyCard reward Point per $1 on eligible international spend uncapped
Earn up to 90,000 Velocity Points (converted from 225K MyCard Reward Points) with a MyCard Rewards Velocity Credit Card.⁷ Receive 60,000 Velocity points when you spend $5,000 in the first 90 days of card approval, and 30,000 Velocity Points on your first anniversary of card approval. Automatically transfer Points to Velocity Frequent Flyer each month with Points Autoredemption. Get 0% p.a. for 12 months on balance transfers. Balance transfer must be applied for during card application; a 3% BT fee applies. Balance Transfer rate reverts to Cash Advance rate after the promotional period.⁸
This article states that the for the Premier Card, the cap of 200,000 points per year is removed after 1st October. However, I cannot see anywhere on the MyCard website that this is explicitly stated. It just does not mention the cap for the new earn rates from 1st October. Can anyone verify if there is anything written in official documentation that the cap has been removed?
Never mind.
Found it in the terms and conditions PDF where it does state points are uncapped
https://www.mycard.com.au/content/dam/mycard/documents/terms-and-conditions/rewards-program-tcs.pdf
So am I right in saying any MyCard points currently accumulated should be transferred to Velocity before the deadline otherwise they are significantly devalued. Seems worthless to keep the premier card now if I’m using it for Velocity only
That’s an obvious goodbye from me…
I have had my Prestige Card ($0.00 rated ie: free) for well over 10 years + an annual bonus of 30,000 points). Aah for the good old days of Citibank Gold Customer relationships.
Now I am totally unrecognised by NAB and have just gone through the KYI nightmare, which thanks to Citi not transferring physical documents, was an absolute poop show. Three accounts took months and at one stage the due date was reached so NAB shut an account. Finally had that fixed but the $ have yet to reappear. More phone calls!
So from a ‘free’ Prestige card with all those original fantastic benefits like unlimited Priority Pass access, hotel stays, events etc (reduced each year recently) down to cancelled card and downgraded to a dramatically inferior product, which of course will now cost me $300pa.
Well thank you NAB, not sure who or why you ‘bought’ us but I am not going to take up your kind offer of a crappy card and will reconsider my banking in due course aka as large TDs expire.
Hopefully they also change their poor application system. I failed the online ID verification (this never happens to me) and was told bad luck, you can’t even apply for a card! There is no other way to confirm ID with them
So are they going to credit us for the pro rata amount of the annual fee? $700 was already way too high.
Especially as the ‘benefits” had reduced year on year.
Oh no I’m so sad to hear about this ! I’ve made such great use of their 4th night for free and other discounts on luxury escapes as well as 15 lounge passes… I got the annual fee’s worth ! Also got the bonus sign up points too
I have 376000 mycard rewards points which I accumulated from my citi rewards card , I will be closing the account before October , what is the best value redemption ?
After the pay all loophole was closed, the last remaining good perk of the prestige cards was the luxury escapes stay 4 pay 3 night deal- I’m sad to see that go- no reason to have it now.