What are cash equivalent transactions?

Hi all

Am new to frequent flyer points accumulation. (Qantas)

I am on a low income, my partner on a relatively high income. So he will accumulate points via his normal credit card spending. (lucky him) :slight_smile:

I have just been approved for a credit card with bonus points with a $2500 min spend over next 90 days. Most of my spend is on utilities and rates. How do I go about making bill payments without this being a ‘cash equivalent’ transaction as I presume it would be?

Any help or pointers would be much appreciated

Cheers
Helen

Hi Helen,

Most everyday spend counts as eligible spend. The list is endless but I will try and illustrate some examples:

Shopping at Woolies/Coles, buying coffee at the cafe, paying for lunch at the foodcourt/restaurant, paying utilities (they may charge a credit card surcharge), paying for parking at the shopping centre, shopping online (either paying directly with credit card or paypal), paying for flights/hotels, paying for uni fees, buying giftcards from supermarket/shopping centres, loading a public transport card, paying for fuel, etc.

Basically, as long as you avoid withdrawing money at the atm with the credit card, depositing money in an account with a credit card (e.g. depositing into a TAB lotto account), anything that you have to extract from a credit card to an equivalent of cash, you will be charged a cash advance fee (commonly up to 20% or more).

If you get charged the cash advance fee, not only are you not earning points (generally do not qualify for points), you will be charged a fee for every cash advance and possibly some interest on top of it.

In short, avoid cash advance. Anything you can pay as an expense, you are safe. Anything that you usually have to deposit cash to perform that process/transaction-> cash advance.

Another thing to help you reach the $2500 spend is to get a supplementary card for your partner to use temporarily or get him to use your card if you are with him. If you keep your financials separate, he can pay you back in cash. If you have friends or relatives that have an upcoming bill or big purchase, ask them whether you could use your credit card to pay and they pay you back. There are all sorts of strategy to get to the target spend. Paying insurance in advance also works.

Hope that helps.