When did credit cards become an insurance delivery mechanism? It seems the only way premium cards can be differentiated anymore is by the level of complementary insurance cover they provide.
It seems kind of mismatched – trying to sell a product with an exciting, jet-setting, luxury image like a platinum credit card by slapping some insurance coverage on it. Why can’t these cards be more like the
Emirates City Platinum and dream up luxury gimmicks like the free limousine ride? Or at the very least, offer some original or useful insurance, like comprehensive car or home insurance.
The HSBC Platinum Visa seems to be more insurance policy than credit card. Even the product website spruiks the included insurance on the front page. You need to go into the credit card comparison table to find irrelevant little details like the interest rate.
In case you had difficulty locating it, the interest rate is 19.25% on purchases and 20.50% on cash. It’s not like they had to hide it – 19.25% is quite good from a premium card offering this range of features. Actually, most of the core features are good. The annual fee is only $129 (try getting international travel insurance for that) and there is a balance transfer offer of 0% for six months.
The interest free period is only 55 days, which is standard for a premium card. We were disappointed by the $75,000 minimum income requirement. It’s like the expensive boutique on The Simpsons with the slogan ‘Our prices discriminate because we’re not allowed to’.
All the usual included insurance products are here. Extended warranty protection (adding an additional twelve months coverage to the manufacturer’s expressed Australian warranty), purchase protection (covering your newly purchased items against loss, theft and damage for up to 90 days) and guaranteed pricing (which will refund the difference if you find an item you’ve purchases advertised cheaper).
There is also international travel insurance (when you purchase your return tickets using your card) and transit accident cover (which covers you for injury or death while travelling on public transport such as trains, buses or ferrys). These policies, coupled with
HSBC’s leading exchange rates, makes the Platinum a worthwhile option for any traveller.
The card also has a rewards program (HSBC Rewards Plus). You’ll earn one point per dollar spent and the range of redemption options is broad. Unfortunately, the redemption value isn’t great. A $100 gift voucher will require 16,000 points. You can also redeem points on travel, cashback (redemptions) and consumer products.
There is also the HSBC Vine Plus program (HSBC suffer from a strange compulsion which seems to cause them to append everything with ‘Plus’. Sadly, the compulsion does not extend to explaining what ‘Plus’ is. Was there ever a ‘HSBC Vine’ program that was expanded somehow?) but it’s quite awful. In this context, it seems the ‘Plus’ means ‘36,000 of your hard-earned reward points for twelve bottles of non-descript plonk’.
The verdict: the HSBC Platinum Visa is quite a good premium card. It may not offer the best range of features, but the value is impressive. If you’re a traveller, the included insurance plus the competetive exchange rates and HSBC’s worldwide network of branches and ATMs means this card is worth considering.
