Finance
Expert secrets to navigating your rewards program to get the best bang for your buck!
Reward points
Let’s be honest, who o doesn’td doesn’t love freebies? Whether eth her you want a new laptop pto op or a business-class s flight, reward-points cards can offer you access to those items you wouldn’t normally sp splash plash out on. And while earning ing g points seems like a relatively tively straightforward process, many of us are not reaping all the benefits. Here are some tips on how to work the system to your advantage to get the most out of your rewards cards.
CHOOSE THE RIGHT CARD
Chief executive and founder of iflyflat: The Points Whisperer (iflyflat.com.au) Steve Hui says we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to selecting a rewards card. There are more than 50 Qantas point-earning cards alone, so it’s important to do your research and pick the one that best suits you and your circumstances.
“You might spend $10,000 a year on your card but it only earns you half a point per dollar. There will be another card out there that might earn you one, two or three points per dollar,” says Steve. “It depends on how much money you spend – and if you start spending more it makes a big difference.”
BUY UP BIG
# To increase your points tally, you need to use your card for everything. “Spend as much money as you can on your card,” says Steve. “We’re not saying spend more money overall, but instead of paying electricity bills by Bpay or paying this and that with cash, for example, the more payments like those you run through your card, the more points you’ll get.”
DON’T SEE SURCHARGES AS THE ENEMY
There’s nothing worse than paying unnecessary fees and charges, but sometimes they’re a blessing in disguise because they’re usually linked to cards with the most point-earning potential. “It’s OK to pay a certain amount of surcharge,” Steve tells us. “Otherwise you’re not going to be earning as many points as you can.”
AVOID CAPS
#
While surcharges are OK and reap rewards in other areas, point caps are not, says Steve.
“Some credit cards have a points cap, where after spending, for example, $6000 a month, you either get less points or no more points for that month,” he says. “So why spend money and not get all the points? That’s what generally happens with cheaper costing cards – they have caps.”
LOOK FOR PROMOTIONS
It’s one thing to earn points simply by doing your day-to-day purchasing, but it’s worth looking out for promotions that can give your points a boost.
“The Qantas epiqure wine club, where you buy wine and get bonus points, sometimes earns up to 10,000 points,” says Steve.
Diana Ilbery from Velocity Frequent Flyer says members can up their points by double dipping, such as using their Velocity card to fill up at petrol partner BP and earn points on the fuel, as well as the transaction itself.
Qantas has similar doubledipping features, too, with giants such as Woolworths, where you earn points for every dollar spent in-store and online, as well using your frequent flyer card.
PICK TRAVEL
It’s more beneficial to splash your points on travel rather than material items. “If you have plenty of points, the best use of them is to purchase or upgrade to a business-class flight,” Diana says.
Of course, it takes time and will set you back up to 250,000 points for a return businessclass ticket, so you’d need to have spent up to $250,000 to get there. But it makes sense to be patient and use the points, which essentially give you the flight free, rather than splash out around $8000 of your hard- earned cash on the swanky travel experience.
BE PATIENT
Accumulating points does take time, Steve says. “People can only spend so much money and I think they get bored because they’ve been saving for two years and gotten nowhere.
“But then most people start off small and their careers progress, they make more money and then they spend more money.”
Which means more points, so hang in there!