The Bendigo Gold credit card is a bit of a trick. It appears to have the characteristics of regular Gold credit cards, but really it’s just the Bendigo Red credit card in disguise!

The annual fee on the Gold credit card is almost double that of the Red credit card. But what do you get for that? Well, the interest rate is a little more reasonable on a Gold credit card at for both cash advances and purchases, along with up to 55 days interest free on purchases, which is a nice change.

Rewards points have a marginally better earn rate at 1.5 points per dollar spent, but the reward redemption rate is of course exactly the same. So to get a $100 reward you need to spend just under $24,500 which is still a truck load of money for that kind of reward value.

Rewards available under the Bendigo Rewards program include gift vouchers, discounts, movie tickets, cash back, magazine subscriptions, travel and accommodation. Speaking of travel, this credit card does actually offer two benefits for Gold credit card holders who are planning on travelling – commission-free traveler’s cheques and travel assistance.

Travel assistance at Bendigo gets you emergency ticket replacement, legal and medical assistance, lost luggage assistance, and emergency transport assistance. This is available for you, your spouse and any dependent children under the age of 22 when they are travelling with you. While it’s good to see on the Gold credit card it’s not up to the standard of other gold credit cards, so is no reason to be singing from the roof tops, that’s for sure.

If after all that you’re still hell-bent on getting a Bendigo credit card then we think the Basic Black is probably your best bet in terms of price. Otherwise we’d recommend looking to another bank, plain and simple.

See our top credit card picks in the Editor’s Choice category