Qantas Credit Union upgrades home loan rewards
Qantas Credit Union has upgraded its home loan rewards in a bid to capitalise on the positive response to the package.It has removed the $290 annual package fee and is offering bonus points on new business for a limited period.In November the credit union launched a suite of products - a home loan, car loan and savings account - on which Qantas Frequent Flyer members could earn points.Qantas points are credited according to the balance of the account. For a home loan customer the earn rate is 150 points a year for every A$1000 on the balance. A borrower with a $350,000 loan would earn 52,123 points a year (which is almost half way to an overseas flight).The only other financial institutions offering Qantas Frequent Flyer points with products other than credit cards are Macquarie Bank, which offers points on a home loan, and Bankwest, which offers points on a transaction account.Qantas Credit Union's executive manager of strategic marketing, Joff Stevens, said take-up of the offer had been strong.Three years ago, only one in five Qantas Credit Union members with a home loan had that loan with Qantas Credit Union. Today that ratio is one in three.Stevens said the improvement was not all due to the Qantas points program, but described the take-up as "very good" and said he was now aiming to take the offer to a wider market.Qantas Credit Union's variable home loan rate is 5.18 per cent, its secured car loan rate is 8.99 per cent and its savings account rate is 2.5 per cent.The credit union has 90,000 members and $2.9 billion of assets. Stevens said he expected to see reward programs being developed for a wider range of financial products."This is still pretty new. We only started talking to Qantas in 2012. We have plans and it is inevitable that others will get into it," he said.