Stolen or damaged mobile phones and delayed flights are both covered in the NAB Rewards Signature card revamp.
By David Flynn, June 19 2024 Share this article:
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Mobile phones have become such a deeply ingrained part of our everyday life, and perhaps nowhere more so than when travelling.
Maps and navigation to find your way around, city-specific guides, tickets, itineraries and of course instant access to the Internet, email and messaging have become things we take for granted when on the go.
That’s why one of the worst things to happen on a holiday or business trip is to have your phone stolen or even seriously damaged, perhaps beyond repair.
And that’s also why the NAB Rewards Signature card now counts mobile phone insurance among its travel-friendly features.
The package offers up to $1,650 against your phone behind stolen or damaged within Australia or overseas, provided it’s on a monthly plan paid with the NAB Rewards Signature card.
And while overseas, the NAB Rewards Signature card now comes with zero international transaction fees, with the bank axing the previous 3% surcharge.
“When we started to talk to our customers, and particularly our more affluent base, travel was a key desirability element,” explains Tim Peters, NAB’s Executive for Personal Lending Experience.
“We’ve gone through a lot of research on this journey to understand what's most important to this particular customer,” he tells Executive Traveller, citing conventional international transaction fees as “one of the key pain points for travel cards.”
“$0 international transaction fees positions the NAB Rewards Signature card amongst the very best in market and means customers can use it as an everyday card and as their go-to travel card.”
In another nod to the jet-set, the NAB Rewards Signature card now includes airport lounge access in the event of domestic or international flights being delayed by more than one hour.
A more sweeping change to benefit every card-holder is an increase to the earning rate of NAB Rewards Points.
Instead of a flat 1.25 points per dollar, the rate is boosted to 1.5 points per dollar on spends up to $15,000 per month, after which it’s reduced to an uncapped 0.5 points per dollar.
NAB is also moving from an annual card fee of $295 to a monthly fee of $24 (which totals 288 per year), with that fee waived if a customer spends $5,000 or more per monthly statement cycle.
Peters says both moves were about “making sure we had a proposition that not only was compelling for the traveller, but equally rewarded our existing customers for their everyday spend.”
NAB Rewards Points can of course be redeemed with partners such as Flybuys (at a straight 1:1 transfer rate), Virgin Australia (where the exchange rate is 2:1), plus and Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines (all 3:1).
