It's difficult to evaluate the Westpac Singapore Airlines Gold without dwelling on the obvious comparisons with its sibling, the
Westpac Singapore Airlines Platinum. But by its own right, the Gold is a good card.
Like many mid-range credit cards, the emphasis is on the rewards program. As we mentioned in our review of the Platinum, it's surprising that no-one has released a Singapore Airlines reward card, given the abundance of Velocity and Frequent Flyer cards and the popularity of Singapore Airlines.
If nothing else, the point accumulation structure is simplified in the Gold. Like the Platinum, it comes with two cards - an American Express and a Visa. You'll earn one point per dollar spent on the American Express and half a point per dollar spent on the Visa. Unlike the Platinum, there is no difference if the purchase is made domestically or overseas and the Gold does not come with a honeymoon period of double reward points.
You still receive bonus points for booking flights leaving Australia on the Singapore Airlines website and you'll receive 5,000 bonus KrisFlyer miles upon joining (the Platinum offers 10,000).
Many of the features found in the Platinum are still found in the Gold, but their value is approximately halved. The card includes international travel insurance, but only on trips up to three months instead of the six months coverage offered on the Platinum. The same applies to the transit accident insurance ($250,000 cover instead of $500,000), extended warranty protection (one year instead of two) and purchase security (three months instead of four).
It should be noted that although these values are halved from the Platinum, they are still in line with other mid-range cards. If anything, the range of features is more than we would expect for this annual fee and purchase rate.
The annual fee is $125 (instead of $250 on the Platinum) and is reduced to $75 for the first year.
The core features remain the same as the Platinum. The interest rate is still 17.99% on purchases and 19.24% on cash advances, which is reasonably high for a mid-range card but not exorbitant given the range of features. The interest free period is 45 days, which we still think is too low.
The card also offers 0.99% for six months on balances transferred.
Verdict: The Gold is a genuine alternative to the Platinum and offers a reduced feature set for a correspondingly reduced cost. For international travellers, this is one of the few mid-range cards with a rewards program from an international airline and comes with all the associated travel features such as insurance and transit cover.
