Fine prints below does not mention govt related transactions but there's also a link to 'Terms and Conditions of the Citi Rewards Program' which when clicked on, does mention govt related transactions are excluded as eligible transactions.
Anyone who has held this card and used it to pay govt related transactions and still get the bonus points?
It is very different jv, because these dudes maintain that they are not a commercial entity.
I earned points when I paid my council rates.
Which card do you have?
Oh nice! Your council accepts Amex.
Not only that, but the fee they charge for Amex if far less than Visa and Mastercard.
The surcharge for each card type we accept is:
1.14% for Visa
1.14% for Mastercard
0.88% for Amex.
@jv: In the past I have found that the surcharge for paying council rates with an American Express card in both VIC and QLD is almost 5% (compared to less than 2% for VISA or Mastercard). Regardless, given that 'points' are very seldom 'worth' more than 1% of the actual purchase/amount paid, you are just better off paying via bank transfer or B-Pay; which incurs no surcharge.
you are just better off paying via bank transfer or B-Pay; which incurs no surcharge.
It is 0.88% for Amex.
There's a pop-up under Eligible Transactions on the page you linked. My Mastercard CSV export doesn't include the categories but when I had a Visa council rates were categorised as Services | Government so I expect you will have the value excluded as an ineligible spend.
All sorts of changes have been happening over the years/decades in this sphere. It used to be—for example—that even paying a large ATO 'bill' (debt) via certain credit cards could score you bulk 'points'. Those days are long gone. That lark was fun while it lasted though …
I guess its gone for the same reason that it was too good for us.
Use your Citi card to buy prepaid cards, use the prepaid cards to pay the council. There's a deal on at Coles this week.
For what benefit?
Spend at Coles counts, whereas spend at the council may not.
I have been advised that the purchase of 'prepaid cards' does not give you any points of any kind, at all. I asked about it way back after my young son asked if I could just 'buy cards and get the points' (he was talking about Woolworths and Coles points), then 'use the cards to buy stuff and get the points again'.
So, does the purchase of prepaid cards accrue points?
Buying or loading value on gift cards or prepaid cards
Wouldn't that classify as cash advance and charge the high interest rate?
Not on all the cards I've bought them with
Yeah, that's one way and I assume you're referring to the Coles Mastercard gift card?
This one, but only for the truly desperate people. Otherwise I would wait for 2k flybuys or 10% off
They'll count.
You will receive 150,000 bonus Citi reward Points when you spend a minimum of $7,000 on eligible purchases using your new card within 3 months from approval. Eligible purchases exclude Cash Advances, Balance Transfers, Special Promotions, interest, fees, refunds and Charge backs.
The terms and conditions refer to "eligible transactions" which are different to "eligible purchases", and are for rewards earning purposes.
So you won't earn points on your purchases, but they count towards your spend.
Virgin has the same on their credit card promos and I just cleared them using bpay payments which don't earn points but do count towards spend.
If you don't get the points you have very reasonable grounds to contest.
The only thing you may run into trouble is if they treat paying rates as a cash advance but that has not been my experience in any credit card churns.
Thanks for the pointers.
paying rates is an eligible purchase but it does not attract the transaction points earn as they're deemed government services
Pay with Zip Bpay and you will earn full points if a credit card is the payment method. I paid the ATO that way.
Thanks for the suggestion. I had a look at it and certainly looks good to get those points from govt payments including ATO. Looks like $2.50 fee per transaction and monthly $9.95 if account not settled in full. Is that it? Any more hidden fees?
Why wouldn't it be?
How is it different to pay any other bill?