Symple Loans launches Qantas points offer

Digital personal loans provider Symple Loans has announced a partnership with Qantas Frequent Flyer, which will allow its customers to earn one Qantas point for every dollar borrowed, and up to 50,000 Qantas points when approved for a personal loan.

The partnership with Qantas Frequent Flyer has formed a part of the company’s growth strategy that is aimed at meeting increased lending demand among borrowers as the economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic downturn, according to Symple Loans.

It has followed a $15 million Series D capital raise by the lender earlier this year, which it said was aimed at accelerating its growth strategy and would be used for “targeted investments”.   

Commenting on the partnership, Symple Loans co-founder and CEO Bob Belan said: “Our partnership with Qantas allows us to further differentiate Symple’s proposition and offer even more value to our customer base. We are very pleased to be partnering with Qantas – clearly a premium brand and category leader – and we are excited to be working with them closely going forward.”

Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth said that the partnership with Symple Loans would provide members with a way to earn Qantas points to redeem on flights, and rewards from hotels and holiday packages to retail offers via the Qantas rewards store.

She said: “We’re always evolving and innovating to help our 13 million members earn even more points towards their next dream trip, whether it’s on their groceries, buying petrol, paying bills or, now, accessing personal loan services.”  

La Trobe Financial extends Qantas partnership

Meanwhile, non-bank lender La Trobe Financial has extended its partnership with Qantas after announcing last year that it was offering Qantas points on some of its investment services and wealth management products.

The lender said that under the alliance with the airline, Qantas Frequent Flyer members who settle a residential loan may earn Qantas points.

Borrowers can earn 10,000 points for every $100,000 borrowed (up to a maximum of 250,000 points).

In addition, borrowers can earn an annual loyalty bonus of 12,000 points for the first five years (provided that the loan balance is $200,000 or more and the loan is not in arrears or default and the loan is not the subject of hardship relief or assistance), La Trobe Financial said.

If an eligible residential loan discharges prior to the anniversary of the settlement date, any points accrued during that part-period would be forfeited, the lender added.  

The points are available across the lender’s residential product range, including its full doc, lite doc, rural, and everyday heroes’ loan, it said.

It added that clients must make an initial loan drawdown amount of $100,000 up to a maximum of $2.5 million.

Qantas points are only available for either a purchase, refinance from another financial institution and/or obtaining an equity release.

However, it is not available for the renewal of an existing residential loan financed by La Trobe Financial, renewal and increase or decrease of an existing residential loan financed by La Trobe Financial, increase of an existing loan financed by La Trobe Financial, refinance of an existing loan financed by La Trobe Financial, and security substitution of an existing loan financed by the lender, it said.

Last year, Qantas Business Rewards launched a platform in partnership with Valiant Finance to enable its business members from any industry to find, apply and earn points on their business loans.

[Related: AFG partners with Symple]

Malavika Santhebennur is the features editor on the mortgages titles at Momentum Media.

Before joining the team in 2019, Malavika held roles with Money Management and Benchmark Media. She has been writing about financial services for the past six years.