Rent is a significant recurring expense, so you might be thinking about paying it on a credit card for rewards points and for better cash flow. After all, keeping money in a savings account for an extra month can even more compounding interest.
Paying regular bills such as rent, insurance, groceries and more can also be an achievable way to meet the minimum spend requirements of a new credit card offer to unlock a card’s sign-up bonus. When it comes to rent, bank transfers and BPAY are often the preferred methods of payment, as fees are minimal (or zero) for everyone. But you won’t earn rewards this way.
Rent can be one of the most significant recurring expenses that a household faces. And with many ways to pay rent by credit card to earn reward points, it’s worth considering whether the fees could be worth it.
Can I pay my rent by credit card?
It depends on what options are provided by the landlord or their agent. While direct debits and BPAY are usually preferred, you may be offered the option to pay your rent via credit card directly, or through a third-party company.
Fees almost always apply for card payments in this industry. With that in mind, it pays to consider how much more you’d end up paying for the convenience of using a credit card, compared to the benefits that could be gained from earning more reward points. Here are a couple of popular ways to pay your rent (and other bills) with a credit card. You might also consider providers like Rental Rewards, although fees can vary.
Using DEFT
Managed by Macquarie, DEFT is a simple way to pay registered billers (yes, the real estate agent will need to be signed up to DEFT). You don’t need an account to do one-off payments by credit card.
For rewards credit cards, Mastercard has the lowest rate at 1.2%. Both Visa and American Express credit cards are charged a reasonable 1.5% fee.
- Visa Debit: 0.4% surcharge
- Visa Credit: 1.5% surcharge
- Visa International: 4% surcharge
- Mastercard Debit: 0.4% surcharge
- Mastercard Credit: 1.2% surcharge
- Mastercard International: 4.8% surcharge
- American Express: 1.5% surcharge
- Diners Club: 3.773%
Qantas Money Platinum
Paying business rent with Pay.com.au
If you have a business with an ABN that’s paying rent, you could unlock even more options by paying the fees on a credit card with Pay.com.au. Plus, transaction fees could be tax-deductible under some circumstances (talk to your accountant). Fees are dependent on what type of account you have with Pay.com.au.
With the Premium tier (free for the first 30 days, $165/month after), you’ll get the lowest rates mentioned below. These rates exclude GST.
- Mastercard fee: from 0.80% to 1.00%
- Visa fee: from 1.00% to 1.20%
- American Express fee: from 1.90% to 2.10%
You can also opt-in to earn PayRewards Points on top, for a higher fee. The current charge is 1% + GST for 1 PayRewards Point per dollar, or for the best value, 1.8% + GST for 2 PayRewards Points per dollar. These can be converted into frequent flyer and hotel reward points with a range of partners. For instance, transfers to Qantas and Velocity now take place at a 2:1 rate. This means paying 1.98% (including GST) per Qantas or Velocity
Disclaimer: Point Hacks is affiliated with Pay.com.au
Is it worth paying rent by credit card?
Ultimately, that’s your decision to make. For most readers here, the influence would largely be to earn reward points. That is, where there’s a fee to accrue those points, but where the value of the rewards could be greater, to justify the expense. For others, the main benefit could simply be the cash flow benefits of having interest-free days.
Speaking of fees, let’s look at an example where you pay $800 in rent a week for 52 weeks — that’s a spend of $41,600 a year.
A look at credit card fees and rewards
For a quick comparison, here’s an estimate of the fees you’d pay if charging that weekly amount to the Qantas Premier Platinum Mastercard, which earns one Qantas Point per dollar spent before reaching monthly tiering.
| Ongoing fees | Transaction fee on $800/week | Total fees paid per year | Total points earned per year* | Cost per Qantas Point earned (incl. GST) | |
| DEFT | Nil | $9.6 per payment | $499.20 | 42,099 | 1.18 cents |
| Pay.com.au (including GST) | Nil (assuming base tier) | $8.80 per payment | $457.60 | 42,057 | 1.08 cents |
For context, we roughly value Qantas Points at 1.90 cents each. But it ultimately depends on how you spend those rewards. Here’s a look at a few ways you could spend those points, and the value that can be gained from doing so. Rates given are those that apply for new flight bookings made from 5 August 2025.
| Total cash value | Reward value after co-pay | Value per Qantas Point | |
| Return Perth-Sydney flight in Economy (41,400 points + $149) | ~$858 | $709 | 1.71 cents |
| One-way Sydney-Nadi flight in Qantas Business (43,600 points + $126) | ~$1,555 | $1,429 | 3.27 cents |
| $250 Bunnings digital gift card (58,050 points) | $250 | $250 | 0.43 cents |
Essentially, if the reward you get with your points is worth more than the fees you’re paying, then it could be worth pay rent by credit card, even with the fees involved. If you tend to only use points for gift cards, the numbers don’t stack up.
When it comes to flying Economy, the numbers can make sense. Just because Point Hacks values each point higher than 1.71 cents doesn’t necessarily make that a bad redemption. After all, using the methods above, the cost to earn those points could be as little as 1.08 cents each. Pay $0.0108 for something delivering $0.0171 in value still delivers 58% more in value compared to the cost of earning that same reward. (It’s just that you could be getting over 300% more value compared to the cost of acquiring those points when redeeming for Business Class).
As a general reminder, points-earning cards tend to have the highest interest rates in the industry. This makes them generally impractical for those who need to carry a balance from month to month, as the interest costs would outweigh the benefit of earning the points. Instead, savvy points collectors may use credit cards to pay their everyday expenses to accrue rewards. Then, repaying the full statement balance every month to maximise interest-free days and avoid interest charges.
Summing up
Paying rent by credit card isn’t as easy as direct debit or a quick bank transfer, but you could make it work to your advantage.
The main issue is that you could be at the mercy of whichever payment processor that your real estate agent or landlord is partnered with. If it’s one with very high fees, you might want to reconsider your strategy. It’s only worth paying the fees if you’re disciplined and know what rewards you want to get. But if they accept payments through EFT or BPAY, third party platforms like Pay.com.au could help navigate around that.
Remember, there’s nothing wrong with passing up a points-earning opportunity if the fees outweigh the benefits that you would get.
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s important to check the fees chargeable and decide if the benefits received by paying with a credit card would outweigh the costs incurred.
Most often, rent payments made by credit card are processed as a ‘purchase’ rather than a ‘cash advance’. Check the T&Cs provided by the credit card issuer to make sure.
Check with your landlord or real estate agent on what payment methods they accept. Some may offer PayPal as an option.
Additional reporting by Chris Chamberlin.
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