Coles Rewards Mastercard

I pay most of my bills through direct debit to this card and buy as much as possible with card rather than cash. Pay lump sum from pay each fortnight and don't have to pay interest. Bonus is the rewards program which I have used for free or discounted flights to NZ and LA.

Handy card to have, particularly when utilising the Flybuys points discount when grocery shopping at Coles. Associated tag on smartphone works well, as does the app. Have experienced no problems or issues over some years of use. Have not used overseas, but carry it as an additional card.

Pretty good everyday card, pretty easy to navigate the APP. Pretty good rewards for your Flybuys. Had the card for a couple of years, not bad value for a basic card.

The following benefits and changes were made after I signed up:
- Removed free Coles delivery
- Decreased the interest free period
- Late payment fee is now charged weekly.

This aside, the worst thing about this is trying to deal with their overseas customer service with regards to ANY issue or query you have is a joke. They just repeat the same old script (even when it is not appropriate to do so and has nothing to do with what you are talking about) and can't help you with anything. The protocol they follow isn't right either as they don't communicate with Aus. Made the same requests and supplied the same information time and time again and made the same calls 15 times to be told something different each time I call. Extremely frustrating to deal with.

I understand having to make changes to your financial model/table is fair enough but the overseas call centre is a real problem. I will be cancelling this card shortly as I can't deal with the incompetent customer service.

The rewards scheme is of good value: 2 Flybuys points for each dollar spend which equates to 1% return if converting points to Flybuy dollars. Also, no overseas transaction fee and the conversion rate is always better than Paypal's. I had this card before CitiBank took over and it has been declining in terms of value. For example, no points are given for Government payments anymore (e.g. aus post, roads, council, etc) and now recently the free delivery from Coles online (when spending 100+) perk has also been removed. This trend is probably going to continue so be aware. Their online web portal is ok at best, however support is easy to reach (call phillipines call centre 24/7 and live chat). I would be happy if they added Google Pay with this card however they do give you a free mobile paytag sticker. Additional cardholders can be arranged for a fee, however those who had additional holders before Citi don't have to pay this fee. it is easy to redeem points but note that the cents of the transaction round down to the nearest point.

Yearly fee is fair at $50 and interest rate is standard for a points card. Not a good card to use overseas, due to high fees and online conversions fees aren't the best, but a great way to boast fly-buys points. I pay for everything (including rent) on this card and get $1000+ in coles $10 offs per year. Overall I will keep this until I decided on the best frequent flyers card and then change

I've had this card for many years and would recommend it.
It has no annual fee is a big + for me.
Also can link your flybuys, not that you get many points with it but that is not a big deal for me.
Easy to use and whenever I've called their customer service they're always easy to work with.

Very happy with this card. It's good value for money since the annual fee is refunded by way of fly-buys and you actually end up getting more value. No international charges makes it very handy to use it overseas.

Been switched from free fee coles MC to this one after some serious calculation. It definitely worth the switching given I do my daily shopping in Coles 80% of the time. Triple points to shop at Coles related shops incl. KMart. Definitely recommended it.

Have had the card since it came out, changing to this type to get the better points from it. Always pay off at the end of the month and convert to Virgin points when there is a special deal going. Well worth it, in my opinion.

I've had this card pretty much since they first came out...years ago. Historically, it was a better card back then and things have certainly changed since Citibank have taken it over. I also have a Citibank savings account and overall, I have always found they have lots of security hoops to jump through and not the best websites. The Citibank change over had a few teething/website issues, but it's much better now.
The card is still a good one, with great rewards. It's worth the annual fee as I would make that back many times over in Flybuy reward points. I don't go out of my way to collect Flybuys, but with this card, they certainly accumulate quickly.
I think a more recent change however, is that they don't award points on EVERY purchase...so read the small print. I've done the maths and even when some companies change a percentage fee, it often works out I'll make more by paying with credit card. I learnt the hard way more recently, as you no longer get reward points on Govt. type payments...eg ATO, possibly the local council rates, etc. I thought I was being smart and getting heaps of points paying a $10,000 tax bill with credit card, only to find out...no points now and I also copped a separate fee for paying via credit card.
Redeeming points is easy, from as low as $10. I generally just convert to Flybuy dollars and use them that way, or as $$$ off my shopping at Coles.
As a long standing customer, I have found they treat me well. A few times I have rung to query an odd fee or charge and they have usually waived it....rewarding my good custom!
To summarise.....I don't go out of my way chasing rewards, but with this card, I'll make more money from rewards than the costs of having the card, so I'm winning.

We live on this credit card but always pay it off in full.
Doing that we mange to get well over $1,500 off shopping at Coles every year.
Use it right and it is fantastic. Have found the transition to CitiBank to be pretty painless. Have spoken with them a couple of times with minor issues which they handled well.
From my perspective this card is way better than the free one but that is only because we put a lot on it and pay it back. Don't use it for Bpay as you get no points but this had already started before CitiBank.
I can't comment on the application process as we did it years ago. I would imagine all credit card applications are tricky, not just Coles. Using the points for flights is just stupid when you can convert them to $$ to spend at the supermarket, afterall ya gotta eat!!

I have been a Coles Mastercard customer for approx. 7 years now. I have read all the negative reviews and can't understand where they come from. I find the Flybuys rewards program very useful and cannot tell you how many nights out, home appliances, trips away, xmas presents, etc. Customer service has always been excellent.

I was a long standing Coles Credit Card holder in the past for more than 5 years and was very happy with the service previously offered.

I closed the old Card last year since I was not using it much anymore.

In January 2019 I was sent an offer by Coles for a New Card with a 24 month Interest free offer which I thought at the time was a good Idea so I made an application.

All went well and I was approved and sent a new Mastercard.

I tried to activate the card but was unable to so I contacted the Customer Service phone number and that’s when things started to go south…

I further provided more financial information as requested and was advised that the Card was activated (I also have a text message on my phone which verifies this information)

The Card is still not activated… I have spoken over 10x times with the Card activation team and supervisors who give me a different answer every single time I ring…

Service is beyond a joke!!!

Ridiculous. Worst credit card application process in history. Everyday for a week now I've received numerous emails and sms messages requesting 'proof of balance transfer' (I didn't even apply for a BT). Click on the link to nowhere. Call them and after verifying your details with at least two different departments, they say "oh it's just a generic email, just ignore it". The offshore verifications team then, on day 5, tells me I DO need to provide documentation for employment, unless employer can verify wages and address etc... they call my employer, done. Next day, more emails and sms messages requesting documentation. Call them... "oh just ignore". WTH? It's been a week, and it's STILL in progress is all they can tell me. I give up. Please don't shop at Coles, don't support companies like this.

One star is WAY too many for this review.

What a bunch or morons these guys are. Applied for a Coles MC, submitted every bit of paperwork requested, they called up a few days later and asked for another pay slip after supplying 2, said that was all they needed, then rang again after 2 days to ask for the previous years tax return after supplying them this years one.

I just got sick of the red tape, and told them the shove their card into their cavity and cancelled the application.
Seems like like that even if you earn double of what they require, its still not enough to get it over the line.

I also think that if you're in the top 1% of FlyBuyers in your state, they will do anything to keep you from getting a Cole MC as they fear that you will earn too many points and cost them too much money.

I was only asking for a $2K card too, just to buy groceries with, but no, it was too much for them.

Fork you Coles MC. (rude gesture)

So have been a fan of the coles master rewards card up until a week ago. So what happened was I disputed an unauthorised transaction a month ago which resulted in the card being blocked; cancelled and reissued. That was fine, got a credit against that fraudulant transaction. Last week, i discovered to my horror that another unauthorised transaction was made against that same "blocked" and "cancelled" card. When i called to ask how that is possible, i was told because the highest block hadnt been applied. Anyway, so I lodged a dispute and 6 days later, received a call from a staff from coles with a rude tone interrogating me as if I was the one committing the fraud! That aside, how someone can still commit fraud against a blocked and cancelled card does not give much assurance as a consumer. Do not trust these idiots with your money!

Coles Mastercard (now with Citi) - folks with >>primary<< and >>additional<< cards to one account should check their accounts online. In my case it can show 'balance available' over $5000 different for both cards (on one account). I've lodged a complaint with the ombudsman, Citi called - said that's how it is, and quotations:
--- "Ombudsman cannot tell them how to display available balance"
--- "It is their accounting and it will stay that way" as "online account login is only supplementary information to monthly statements"
--- "If I wanna avoid one card showing $4K available while the other card (>>again, on the same account<<) shows >>account overdrawn by $1500 please send payment now" - I should be paying the card with the other card details (= not using the primary card details as shown on statement)
--- both cards have different 'expiry date' which the guy on the phone offered 'to look into' - couldn't however answer what has 'valid to' date to do with the issue of wrong 'balance available' shown online
--- apparently as a 'additional' card holder I cannot check the correct 'funds available' figure. So I'm ment to keep spending - until they whack some fees at us??

Only a tip of the iceberg since Citi took over - absolute rubbish, a bunch of drunk monkeys would do better. We've had 1 primary + 1 additional card setup in the house for the last 20 years, with several banks - never seen such a mess. Coles better ask them to delete their name from the card, doesn't look good.

I've been a Coles credit cardholder for many years but I was recently told that my wife's card would be disabled soon unless they could get all her ID details again. These were all previously supplied but I guess they've lost them in the move to Citibank. I asked whether I could provide them over the phone and they said that she would have to create an online login and fill in the details there or call back herself. I'd had enough. We moved all our transactions to another card. Interestingly my wife accidentally used the card a couple of days ago and the transaction still went through. I guess they don't know how their own product works.

This card has gone from being our family main credit card averaging $2K a month to just being used as a flybuys barcode. Also, the call centre is terrible, they pause and um and ahhh, they don't seem to know anything about the customers specific accounts or the product in general. I had very little trust in what I was told. Who-pay-who in this corporate arrangement, does Coles pay Citibank or does Citibank pay Coles? Puts me off other Citibank products.

I have had Coles Mastercard for some time, and in this time, they have sold the card out to three different companies. Now trying to deal with CitiGroup with a terrible experience, to outsourcing to the cheapest international call centre possible. Communication is extremely difficult, as they are unable to understand very clear instructions.

Because I didn't activate my new card prior to being sold off to Citibank, i was unable to active the online service to check account balances, and because i called to complain they advised me that i am now barred from having an active card?? Even though the account was in order. I just gave up trying to deal with them. Twice i called trying to change my address (unable to do online), and i just terminated my call twice, firstly after 35 minutes waiting on hold, and secondly, because the operator couldn't understand why i was asking. Luckily i'm paying out the account and closing, thats one less drama.

Oh if you would like to waste 30 minutes of your life, try and find on the Coles Mastercard website how to close the account or cancel the card. It doesn't exist!! There are better rewards cards out there.. All Coles have done is shift clients around to the highest bidder!!!!