Visa / MasterCard That Earns Points While Paying for Council Rates, Vicroads or Equivalent, and Australia Post

burningrage on 20/02/2019 - 22:35
Last edited 20/02/2019 - 22:35

Hi all,

Just recently paid my council rates and got a credit card statement.

I would never understand how Citibank calculates their points earning but you would expect you can somehow work it out that if you spend say $10,000 a month, then in the statement, you would expect 10,000 points at least.

Nowadays, I noticed the points are always lower than this ratio. This is including the fact that there are "bonus points" earned as well. Combining normal earn and bonus points still wouldn't make up the total spend at 1:1 ratio.

In other words, you could be forgiven thinking Citibank is cheating in earning points… until you realized Council Rates or maybe Vicroads are not counted towards points. If you login into Citibank Rewards, they do have activity statement but unlike what it used to be, they didn't allocate the vendor name against the points earn. Just pure Earn 10 points, bonus 10 points, etc etc.

Because points earning is not identifiable to the vendor in the activity statement, I can't list the vendors to avoid… OR… worked around if only there is a MC/VISA that can still earn points on these type of expenses.

I've looked and the closest I can find is Pointhacks article but that's mainly AMEX.

My question to the community is this. Is there any MC/VISA that can earn points on Council Rates, Vicroads (or its interstate equivalent), and Australia Post or even ATO perhaps?

Thanks in advance

Zz

Financial Credit Card

Comments

  • DogGunn on 20/02/2019 - 22:42

    Government interchange rates are substantially lower than most other interchange rates which means very limited margin to make money and pay for points.

    These days, there are no cards out there that will grant points for government spending of any sort.

    Basically anything related to the government (PT) or is a government agency (VicRoads, Council), will not net you points.

    • serpserpserp on 20/02/2019 - 22:45
      +1

      Not 100% on this, I think some cards do by mistake. My Qantas card (which is through Citi) gives me points for my rates. I'm pretty sure in the T&Cs it says it shouldn't, but maybe their filters don't catch all councils or something.

      We'll see what happens when I pay again this month!

      • DogGunn on 20/02/2019 - 22:49

        Yeah the Qantas card has the same restriction word for word regarding government spending and points as the Citibank card does.

        I know for a fact that expenditure at my council doesn't net me points with Citi. I guess it all depends on what their setup with the council's bank is.

      • jellykingdom on 21/02/2019 - 08:33

        I believe my Macquarie Platinum card does $1 = 1 point for ALL transactions

        • endolphin on 23/02/2019 - 21:02

          Yep, just looked at my first Macquarie statement and I earnt points for every dollar spent, which included council rates and ATO spend.

          • burningrage on 24/02/2019 - 21:46

            @endolphin: Thanks man. Will look into this. Still searching for more options.

    • burningrage on 21/02/2019 - 07:21
      +1

      What I am annoyed is that Council / Vicroads charge us surcharges but don't award points on it. I am not even sure if infringement notices have surcharges too.

      I mean, it's an effective hit on cost of living and for some council, they really want you to pay credit card and make it super hard to pay it cash or even via debit. I take an example Vicroads which specifically wants you to pay by credit card if online (not debit, credit card).

      From my point of view, it is a service from the Government and form part of our taxes (or rates) lest our rates should have gone down by the amount of surcharges if paid by cash but that is not the case.

      • Presence on 21/02/2019 - 08:13

        Why the hell should government departments have anything to do with points at all?

      • orangetrain on 21/02/2019 - 08:33
        +1

        Surcharges are by card provider being passed onto you by merchant (council etc). Its up to card provider if they want to give you points even if surcharge is huge. It looks like the card companies don't want to. I know Amex does although reduced (check their conditions)

        • burningrage on 21/02/2019 - 09:58

          Which is why this thread exists. Being a true Ozbs, hunting for better card that does give points for these sort of expenses.

          • orangetrain on 21/02/2019 - 12:57

            @burningrage: Bank transfer was best value. For card with best value, Amex because its only card that gives points.

    • djkelly69 on 21/02/2019 - 09:25

      These days, there are no cards out there that will grant points for government spending of any sort.

      Might be true for Victroia, but I have ANZ FF Black, spent over $1k on ACT car rego earlier in the month, and got the points for it ($1 spend = 1pt).

  • serpserpserp on 20/02/2019 - 22:48

    they didn't allocate the vendor name against the points earn. Just pure Earn 10 points, bonus 10 points, etc etc.

    Yes but your council rates will be a high number and fairly specific for that month, you should be able to see if you are getting them for that payment or not.

    • burningrage on 21/02/2019 - 07:12

      Oh yes. For that, I know Council Rates and Vicroads didn't net me points. This is why I am now searching for a credit card that still does.

      Unfortunately, other than AMEX, I can't find anything else that does and my council / Vicroads (but not Aus Post) don't take AMEX.

      • fishball on 21/02/2019 - 10:19
        +2

        Do they take postbillpay? Depending on the setup I've managed to pay government bills (eg. council) with postbillpay then use paypal through that using an AMEX.

        • burningrage on 21/02/2019 - 10:46

          Oooh… thats an idea.

          • Poolprouk on 28/02/2019 - 13:01

            @burningrage: I've used postbill pay but some CC's are wise to that. e.g. I used my HSBC qantas card via Paypal on postbillpay to pay my rates and they spotted it and gave me zero points for that transaction.

            I've used that method with my Qantas premier card and st george card in the past and it worked. (12 + months ago).

            I paid my rates yesterday using the above method but with my amex discovery card (worked when it was the qantas ultimate card) and I will see if that gets points. I paid $10 on my St George card via that method also to see if that attracts points (St george card is brand new so want to pay my May rates with that card if i can to meet spending requirement for bonus points).

            • Poolprouk on 28/02/2019 - 13:05

              @Poolprouk: I'm in banyule by the way. They don't charge a surcharge for postbillpay payments by any method (CC, Debit or paypal).

            • burningrage on 02/03/2019 - 23:09

              @Poolprouk: I thought rates are due on the 15th? Are councils pretty trigger happy if you are late?

              • kerfuffle on 03/03/2019 - 07:03

                @burningrage: Maybe it's just your council. My council in Sydney has their rates due at the end of the month

          • Poolprouk on 01/03/2019 - 16:31

            @burningrage: Just to confirm, A few days ago I paid my rates using post bill pay - via Paypal - with my Amex discovery qantas card as my funding source.

            Amex have given me the Qantas points for this transaction.

            • burningrage on 02/03/2019 - 23:08

              @Poolprouk: Awesome! Thanks. I have just realized I will be stung with Land Tax in Vic for the first time because of the effing new land valuation took place in 2018.

              This will be handy

        • burningrage on 21/02/2019 - 20:58

          I have checked. Casey Council DOES accept Postbillpay Online and there is a link to Paypal. Obviously I haven't tried this but that might sort the points earning. However, Casey Council does not charge CC surcharge.

          City of Boorondara however, does accept Postbillpay but NO Paypal (but yes, to Diners Club lol).

          Knox City Council does not accept postbillpay online and that council charges 0.4% surcharge.

    • burningrage on 21/02/2019 - 07:13

      This must be a new credit card in the town coz I've never heard of this one. Usually latitude is just 28 degrees, GoMastercard, etc.

      I'll have a check. Thanks man.

      • bdl on 21/02/2019 - 20:59
        +1

        No worries dude! I've used it for Vicroads and council rates and gotten the 1%. I get it free for holding a Coles Myer Credit card in the past so no annual fee. Anytime the vendor surcharge fee is <1%, I'm ahead. Hell, a free coffee here and there is good :)

        As you said below, as long as you spend $6900 a year on Government, you'll break even. The way rego and rates are going up these days, that shouldn't be difficult :)

        Oh, they've just added it to Google/Samsung/Apple Pay too, if that's important.

    • firestormx on 21/02/2019 - 10:15

      I currently have a Coles Rewards Card that returns 1% on purchases in Flybuys points. Since Flybuys points were no longer rewarded for payments made to government entities since early last year, I have been looking to change to a different card. I am considering switching to this card and cancelling the Coles card.

    • burningrage on 21/02/2019 - 20:43

      I had a look at this card. It has an annual fee of $69.

      Technically speaking if you spend $6,900 on Government, then you could argue breakeven.

      You could spend that much but not for sure until I can find out what vendors Citibank doesn't reward points. Until I get a comeback on that one, it's hard to say. I will report back once I have an update.

  • spal on 21/02/2019 - 05:10
    +2

    Just checked, Westpac Altitude Black Master Card is giving 1.25 points per $. This is for Telstra, water bill, two different council rates.

    • burningrage on 21/02/2019 - 07:15

      I think Citibank still awards points for utilities and Telstra. THis is why I kind of hate it when my points summary don't show vendors name.

      I will give them a ring and update here. Then we may have another list like this one.

      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/436632

    • burningrage on 21/02/2019 - 07:16

      Oh. And I'll have a look at this Westpac Altitude Black Master Card. Could be interesting.

      THanks man

      • spal on 21/02/2019 - 09:16

        Westpac also shows points earned against each spend. That would be handy too. Be a true ozbargainer though, look for the best offer on the card (free points, annual fee free)before you apply. The card is free on Westpac homeloans.

        • burningrage on 21/02/2019 - 20:51

          I had a look at this card. The 45 days and $250 are the killer. $250 cannot be recouped by points.

          Thanks for the info though.

  • burningrage on 21/02/2019 - 15:49
    +1

    Okay. Rang Citibank.

    For context, this month I spend around say $10k of which the statement I got said earned only say 5k in normal points.

    Taking into account council rates, there's no way I would have paid $5k in council rates.

    So something is wrong.

    So Citibank confirmed something looks odd. God knows how long it has been happening but as I said, I have always been suspicious for a while.

    They will look into it. Once I heard something, I will return with news but the thing is, they don't offer rewards statement vendor by vendor. I said they used to be able to do it so they will come back to me on that one too.

  • jsheroes on 21/02/2019 - 21:50

    ANZ black - seems to award 2 ANZ pointymathingies (equiv 1 velocity pt) for everything I do, including rates, postbillpay etc. Haven't tried ATO.

    • burningrage on 21/02/2019 - 22:55

      I will check this. Thanks.

      Interestingly, the pointhacks article said ANZ does exclude "government" payments but I will peruse this.

      • jsheroes on 21/02/2019 - 23:02

        Yeah, I read the same before applying. But my council and postbillpay payments definitely earn points.

  • bdl on 22/02/2019 - 10:26

    OP, another trick is if you can pay any of the payments via Paypal, they count towards point earn because in the eyes of the card issuer, Paypal is the vendor (rather than the issuer of the bill that you are paying). You can use this for Telstra bills to avoid having to pay the credit card surcharge.

    • burningrage on 22/02/2019 - 12:01

      Thanks man.

      With Telstra, I have already done this.

      I find that not all council accepts Paypal (Boroondara council VIC for example doesn't) but Casey Council does. Where it can be paid via paypal, I think we could completely avoid the surcharge AND earn the points at the same time (eg: Telstra)

      However, where it offers payment via postbillpay, the postbillpays screen will declare if the biller wants to apply payment fee or not. In the case of Boroondara council, it did have that declaration.

      I am still waiting for a callback from Citibank and will post for any update.

  • burningrage on 23/02/2019 - 11:46

    Suncorp credit card follows Citibank so does not earn points on council rates etc.

    Just checked.

    Curious increasingly a lot of companies use citibank credit cards. Coles and now Suncorp.

  • burningrage on 23/02/2019 - 12:19

    Bank of Melbourne doesnt quite define government charges and usually that opens to possibility that council rates vicroads spend may earn points.

    The drawback is this card is expensive. $279pa

    But the extra 10% extra points on your birthday calculated from the last 12mth spend may be more than compensate..

    If people dont have FFFL Citibank this would be a go to card.

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