Virgin Australia Velocity Flyer card is 1 of Virgin Australia’s 2 semi-official card in the market. This card, issued by Citigroup is currently offering increased sign-up bonus of up to 100,000 Velocity points. These will be awarded in monthly instalment of 25,000 Velocity points for each of the first 4 months where you spend a minimum of $1,500 in eligible spend.

Beyond the initial bonus, the card offers uncapped, tiered earning rate of:

• 0.66 Velocity points per dollar on 1st $1,500 of eligible spend per month.
• 0.50 Velocity points per dollar on eligible spends of over $1,500.

Note that Citigroup have a very strict definition of what constitutes eligible spend. In short, all payments made to Government & Semi-Government bodies, directly or through a payment processor is excluded, as are expenses such as bank fees, card annual fees, ATM charges, cash advance, balance transfers and all kinds of BPAY bill payments.

It is important that you familiarise yourself with these exclusions, so that there are no nasty surprises at the end. For more details, refer to this link.

Prominent Features & Fees

• Annual Fee – $129 (50% discounted in 1st year)
• Foreign Currency Transaction Fee – 3.3%
• Introductory Offers – 3
• Sign-up Bonus – Up to 100,000 Velocity Points
• $129 Virgin Australia gift voucher per year
• Insurance – Guaranteed pricing, Transit Accident Insurance

Annual Fee

First things first, this card has a $129 annual fee which becomes payable when your inaugural monthly statement is generated and each year thereafter. As a sweetener though, Citigroup is offering a 50% discount on annual fee for the 1st year, so you will only pay $64. You could also add an additional cardholder to your account for $39 per year.

On foreign currency spends, there is a 3.3% transaction fee, which is applied to the converted A$ amount. So this isn’t a card to use when you travel overseas or when paying in a non Australian dollar currency if shopping online.

Introductory Offers

Until 29th July, new applicants can pick from any one of the three introductory offers:

• Purchase & Balance Transfer Offer : Under this offer, you will pay a reduced annual fee of $64 in the 1st year, pay no interest on purchases for 14 months and on any balance transfers for 6 months. As I have always maintained, earning points through credit card spend is not worth it if you don’t pay off your statement balances in full, each month. Additionally, there are no bonus points to be had, so don’t bother.
• Balance Transfer Offer: If you opt for this offer (not sure why you would), you will get up to 26 months interest free on purchases made, plus a reduced annual fee of $64 in the 1st year. The fee reverts to $129 from 2nd year on-wards.
• 100,000 Velocity Points Offer The 3rd offer is quite lucrative and the only one worth the time and effort. If you choose this offer, you have the opportunity to earn 25,000 bonus Velocity points each month for 4 months by spending $1,500 or more per month on eligible transactions . You will also receive a 50% discount on the annual fee in the 1st year, as I noted earlier.

If you spend $1,500 exactly, each month for 4 months, you will earn a rather impressive total of 103,960 Velocity points (3,960 regular and 100,000 bonus Velocity points).

Not bad for a net $64 outlay 😉

Now admittedly, there isn’t all that much you can do with such a rich haul of Velocity points at present, but in the longer term, there is no shortage of ways to burn these points. If you are struggling for ideas, here are some of the best flights to redeem with Velocity points.

Redeem Velocity points to fly Virgin Atlantic Upper Class

You can apply for the card over here.

$129 Virgin Australia gift voucher

The card comes with a $129 flight voucher which can be applied towards any Virgin Australia domestic or international flight or selected Virgin Australia Holiday packages. This fully offsets the annual fee, making the card practically free.

Note that the flight voucher is NOT a one-off benefit, but is awarded each card year after the annual fee is paid and at-least one transaction has been made on the card. The voucher is not issued automatically though, but needs to be requested through this link. Once issued, you have 6 months to use it, so its best to hold-off requesting it until you have firm travel plans.

You can find more information on Virgin Australia gift voucher over here.

Insurance

The card offers limited insurance protection:

Guaranteed Pricing

Under this cover, if you were to buy a covered product and subsequently find it selling for a lower price, Virgin Australia may refund you the price difference of up to $500 if you were to meet the terms of the offer.

Transit Accident Insurance

This cover is activated when you charge the full purchase price of your trip to the card, and provides certain benefits in the event of an accidental death of the cardholder, before the trip has commenced.

There are lots of very stringent conditions that apply to both these covers. You can read up the benefits and applicable exclusions on this link.

On the whole, this isn’t the card to get for insurance protection, there are many other cards that do that job a lot better.

Who can apply?

This brings us to the most important question of all, who can apply for this card?

You are eligible to apply for this card if you meet the following conditions:

• You are at-least 18 years old.
• You are a permanent Australian resident.
• You have a before tax income of $35,000 or more.
• You have a good credit rating.

In Conclusion

The Virgin Australia Velocity Flyer Card may suit those on low to middle income, who might otherwise struggle to qualify for more premium cards. There is up to 100,000 bonus Velocity points on the table, provided you can meet the monthly minimum spend each month, for 4 months.

I must stress that while the card offers some basic insurance protection, there is NO provision for travel insurance.

The standard earning rate is acceptable, particularly when you consider that the included annual gift voucher makes the card effectively free. That said, big spenders may find the low’ish threshold at which the earn drops to 0.50 Velocity points per dollar, frustrating. If that’s you, consider getting a different card.

What is your impression of this card? Leave a comment below.