On the face of it, the Commonwealth Gold is nearly identical to its little brother, the Commonwealth Awards. Both have a purchase rate of 20.49%, a cash rate of 21.49%, 55 days interest free, membership to the Commonwealth
Awards program and 5.99% for five months on balances transferred. The only difference seems to be you'll pay almost double the annual fee ($144 or $114 for qualifying customers, instead of $89 or $59 for qualifying customers).
However, It's worth every cent.
Let me explain why: the additional $55 entitles you to free international travel insurance (with the clever caveat that you must purchase your tickets on your Commonwealth Gold card), purchase security (covering lost, stolen or damaged items purchased on your card) and extended warranty.
You might be thinking that's a lot of insurance cover. There are five different types of insurance on the card (two of them optional) not including the standard MasterCard protection.
One of them, Secure Sentinal (which is available optionally) provides you with an immediate $1,000 cash advance if you lose your wallet. Plus, they'll take care of cancelling all of your cards, your passport and your mobile phone.
The rewards program is almost the same as the Commonwealth Awards. The Gold comes with two cards - a MasterCard and an American Express (at no extra cost, linked to the same account). You earn one point per dollar spent (more at bonus partners) on the MasterCard, however the Amex earns 2 points per dollar spent (up from 1.5 on the standard Commonwealth Awards). You can redeem your points on travel, shopping, charity donations or cash back. The cash back rate is 200 points per dollar, so you'll need to earn 28,800 point per year to completely cover the annual fee.
You can also choose to redeem your points on the Qantas Frequent Flyer program (for an additional $10 per year) or Virgin Blue Velocity.
Overall, if you're considering the Commonwealth Awards, the extra $55 buys you a lot of value. Families and travellers are likely to get the most value from this card, but the interest rate (20.49% on purchases) will remain a deterrent for some.
