How can I maximise the value of my 100,000 HSBC points?

I have almost reached 100,000 points with my HSBC credit card.  I am planning to switch to a CBA diamond card soon because I get annual fee waived through a wealth package (I also got the wealth package fee waived at least for the first year).

If I use the HSBC points, I could get a $500 Coles/Woolies GC.  I looked at transferring the points to Velocity, but it doesn't seem that I can get $500 worth of value from these.  Is there a better way to use these points or should I just take the gift cards?

Exchanging your points for Coles gift cards is very, very poor value for your points! You are basically getting 0.005c per point. That’s half a cent each!

From what I can see, your are able to transfer your HSBC points into Velocity, Krisflyer or Asia Miles at a 2:1 ratio (i.e. your 100,000 HSBC points is worth 50,000 airline points). In general, you receive the greatest value from points by making business/first class bookings.

Some of examples of what one-way flight those points could buy you include:

  • Melbourne>Hong Kong in business class (Asia Miles) - $5000 = 0.05c per points
  • Melbourne/Sydney>Singapore in business class (Krisflyer) - $2700 = 0.027c per point
  • Three (3) Melbourne>Sydney in business class (Virgin) - $2250 = 0.025c per point.
These are just some examples of flights you could take and provide between 5 to 10 times more value than the Coles gift cards.

Of course, if you have no intention/need to fly, then these values mean nothing and you’d get the most personal value by redeeming for Coles vouchers.

If you do want to use them to fly, I would do some more research on Velocity, Krisflyer and Asia Miles (particularly on this website) before transferring them, as you could lose a lot of value!