Let’s not beat around the bush…Bendigo’s Red credit card is decidedly average. You could even say it was average to poor.

While the annual fee is not especially high at $45, there is only (up to) 44 days interest free, no balance transfer information to speak of, and the interest rate charged on this rewards credit card is extreme, at 18.99% p.a. for both purchases and cash advances. At a guess, we’d say that the reasoning behind this is to compensate for the rewards program, which isn’t even that rewarding!

When you’re approved for a Bendigo credit card you’re automatically enrolled into the Bendigo Rewards program. You can earn one point for every dollar spent on purchases, up to 6 points at Bendigo Rewards’ bonus partner retailers, and 3 points for every dollar spent on travel through Bendigo’s own FlightPoints travel agency.

We have to admit, this a good start but it all goes downhill from here. The redemption value for rewards is just ridiculous. To get a $100 reward you have to fork over 36,667 rewards points – that’s $36,667 worth of spending (without bonus points) and is at least three to four times the number of points needed to get a $100 voucher on other credit cards’ rewards programs. So you’ll have to do a lot more spending on this credit card than you would on others to get a decent credit card reward.

While we’re on the topic we should probably let you know what the rewards are, you know…just in case. With your rewards points you can choose from a wide range of rewards including cash back, movie tickets, gift vouchers, magazine subscriptions, travel and accommodation (to name just a few).

What is odd is that this credit card with rewards doesn’t offer any other benefits to help people out when they’re travelling. Even just a little bit of purchase protection or an extended warranty on credit card purchases wouldn’t go astray. The one good thing we can say about this is that interest is calculated from the statement date, not the purchase date, so you will save a bit of money there. Not enough however to cover the cost of the high interest rate and outrageous rewards program criteria.

After some of the other cards that have been put out by Bendigo, it was surprising to see how bad this credit card really is. It seems as if the rewards program on the Bendigo Red credit card was meant to be the be-all and end-all of credit card reward programs (considering the price that is paid for it). You’d think maybe if they took out the rewards program the card would be a little bit more reasonable, but due to the lack of other features or benefits on offer, all you’d be left with is just a very expensive piece of plastic.

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FEATURES SUMMARY

• Annual fee: $79
• Purchase rate: 20.89% p.a.
• Cash Advance rate: 20.89% p.a.
• Balance Transfer rate: 1.9% p.a. first 12 months (20.89% p.a.)
• Interest-free days: Up to 55
• Extras:
  • Apply online

• • Cash Back
  • Fraudshield
  • Purchase protection
  • MasterCard Applause
  • Phone/Internet banking
  • Citibank World Privileges

In terms of rewards, the BP-Citibank MasterCard is a good simple credit card that offers cash back on a regular expense for anyone that drives a vehicle.

For the first $600 you spend in each statement period at BP, you’ll receive a 5% cash back rebate. All other purchases (up to $5,000) made using the BP-Citibank MasterCard will get a 0.5% cash back rebate.

As an added bonus, if you happen to rent an Avis rental car before November 4th 2009 and use your BP-Citibank credit card to pay for it, you’ll receive an extra 2% discount. You’ll receive all of these cash back rebates monthly as a direct credit to your account at the beginning of your next statement period.

These are all great benefits when looked at as a whole, but when it comes down to it, the card is let down by its interest rate. Cash advances and purchase interest rates on this cash back credit card are identical at 20.89% p.a. While this is pretty standard for a cash advance rate, this is really high for purchases. However if you can pay off your monthly balance in full you’ll be able take advantage of up to 55 days interest free and won’t be stung by these high interest rates.

The balance transfer offer on this rebate credit card is excellent value at just 1.9% p.a. for the first 12 months. Not a lot of cards offer such a long introductory period, especially when there are cash back rewards on offer so it is a worthwhile consideration.

Teamed with the high interest rate, this card’s annual fee of $79 leads you to expect maybe a few more benefits that you may get on other cards of this price. Nevertheless, used wisely, it can be quite a beneficial cash back credit card.

While fuel prices are not as expensive as they were in the last year or so they are still not cheap, so the benefits and discounts that this card offers are still great value for anyone that drives a car. Although to make the most of this card it would be wise to use the BP-Citibank MasterCard card purely for your fuel and use another low interest credit card for other purchases.

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

The Bankwest More MasterCard is the most basic of the Bankwest credit cards with rewards.

On any purchases you make you’ll be charged 18.24% p.a. in interest, unless of course you pay your balance in full each month and can take advantage of up to 55 days interest free. Cash advances earn a little more interest at 20.99% p.a. which is unfortunately at the higher end of the cash advance interest rate scale. Balance transfers are available; however there isn’t an introductory rate like on a lot of other balance transfer credit cards. Instead Bankwest just offers the same interest rate as purchases, 18.24% p.a.

The Bankwest More MasterCard has over 2,800 rewards (including cash back) available for redemption with Bankwest’s More Rewards points and to boost your initial points total, Bankwest gives all new More MasterCard holders 5,000 bonus More rewards points when you activate your credit card.

Every dollar spent on your More MasterCard will earn you 1.5 rewards points. While there is no set rate at which rewards are priced (as some rewards with the same values have varying points prices), a $100 voucher on the Bankwest More Rewards program will in most cases cost you 22,150 points.

That’s a spend of just under $15,000. A point to take note of however is that it seems as if the more ‘expensive’ the rewards are the more value you’ll get from your points. For example, you can redeem 12,000 More Rewards points in exchange for a $50 Woolworths voucher. So by standard logic you would then expect a $100 voucher to cost 24,000 points, but this is not the case. It is actually cheaper, at $22,150.

If you are spending a lot of money on your credit card quite regularly then it might be worth holding out for the higher value rewards. If not then opt for the lower points more regularly as the general redemption rate is quite high in comparison to other credit cards’ rewards programs.

For a basic credit card with rewards, Bankwest’s More Rewards credit card has quite an expensive annual fee and interest rates, without any other benefits to justify these prices. And despite there being a huge range of rewards to choose from, the redemption rate is not quite competitive enough to make this card a valuable addition to your wallet.

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