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What is Points Hacking? · She's On The Money

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello.
0:01
Speaker 2: My name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr the
0:05
Speaker 2: Order KERNI Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we
0:08
Speaker 2: get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would
0:11
Speaker 2: like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of
0:14
Speaker 2: which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging
0:18
Speaker 2: the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through.
0:23
Speaker 2: As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and
0:27
Speaker 2: the storytelling of you to make a difference for today
0:31
Speaker 2: and lasting impact for tomorrow.
0:33
Speaker 1: Let's get into it.
0:34
Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
0:57
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
1:00
Speaker 1: Millennials who want to Financial Freedom. My name is Jessica
1:04
Speaker 1: Ricky and as always I am joining finance expert Victoria Devine.
1:09
Speaker 1: Hello is jessicari G. How are you You say your name?
1:12
Speaker 1: Really weird?
1:13
Speaker 3: Do I?
1:14
Speaker 2: Yeah?
1:14
Speaker 1: You don't say it correctly? Not Ricky. Come on, someone
1:17
Speaker 1: actually DMed me the other day. We went to school
1:19
Speaker 1: together and she's like, I didn't know that was how
1:20
Speaker 1: you said your name, And I'm like, I mean potato, Potato,
1:22
Speaker 1: it's the same same. But if somebody calls me Victoria Devine,
1:26
Speaker 1: I get real salty. So I don't know how you
1:28
Speaker 1: don't get salty. And the fact that peer pressure has
1:31
Speaker 1: gotten you to a point where you literally just accept
1:34
Speaker 1: the wrong version of your name because it's easier. She's
1:37
Speaker 1: a doormat. What can we say? But today we're not
1:39
Speaker 1: talking about me. We are talking about points hacking, which
1:42
Speaker 1: is kind of fun. Is this real left field for
1:45
Speaker 1: she's on the money, I know. And it's not what
1:46
Speaker 1: you think. V It's not an episode about getting your
1:48
Speaker 1: rewards points stolen? Am I run? No, It is not
1:52
Speaker 1: about that. Albeit if you want to donate your Velocity
1:55
Speaker 1: points to me, you're more than welcome to. It's actually
1:58
Speaker 1: about maximizing the benefits of your points to get free stuff,
2:02
Speaker 1: which is obviously a money win for things like flights
2:05
Speaker 1: and upgrades and hotels and household goods and Jessica, you
2:09
Speaker 1: literally got a free entire kitchen aid. So we're gonna
2:13
Speaker 1: talk about that. We absolutely are. And with many of
2:16
Speaker 1: the biggest programs based around credit cards, I do want
2:19
Speaker 1: to preface something at the very top of this episode.
2:22
Speaker 1: We always, always, always say that credit cards are not
2:25
Speaker 1: for everybody. In fact, listen back to our most recent episode,
2:28
Speaker 1: it was on September twenty eighth, on the pros and
2:31
Speaker 1: cons of credit cards before going any further into this episode,
2:34
Speaker 1: because we're not here to promote you getting a credit card,
2:38
Speaker 1: but there are so many people in our community who
2:40
Speaker 1: have questions about points, and when you ask, we deliver
2:43
Speaker 1: one hundred percent. So for those who are inclined and
2:46
Speaker 1: do want to know more, we know that tons of
2:48
Speaker 1: people in our community are always talking about the best
2:50
Speaker 1: way to leverage their points, which is what we're going
2:52
Speaker 1: to chat all about today. And look, it's not about
2:55
Speaker 1: changing what you buy, how much you spend, or signing
2:58
Speaker 1: up for something that you actually can't forward. We don't
3:00
Speaker 1: do that in this house. It is not an option.
3:02
Speaker 1: This is about looking at these systems to see if
3:05
Speaker 1: there's a way of them not only suiting you, but
3:07
Speaker 1: benefiting you. And today's an introduction to how some of
3:11
Speaker 1: these systems operate and where you can get more information. Now,
3:15
Speaker 1: these deals are changing all the time, so the best
3:18
Speaker 1: thing that you can actually do is just check yourself.
3:20
Speaker 1: We will link a few point hack sites that have
3:23
Speaker 1: really good information and cross comparisons of credit card perks
3:26
Speaker 1: and loyalty programs for you. These sites will also list
3:30
Speaker 1: the top deals that they have found that run for
3:32
Speaker 1: a limited time. And we're going to look at the
3:34
Speaker 1: ways that you can earn points and break them down
3:36
Speaker 1: into some of the big things that you can use
3:38
Speaker 1: them on, so flights, online, shopping, hotel, loyalty programs, and
3:43
Speaker 1: we're going to look at flexible points, which really interests me.
3:46
Speaker 1: And then Jesse Garci in the second half of the show,
3:49
Speaker 1: we're also going to share your top point hacks that
3:51
Speaker 1: you sent in to us. Sounds great. Let's start by
3:54
Speaker 1: talking about those flexible points programs. What exactly are they? Okay,
3:59
Speaker 1: so simply flexible points programs, which actually is a mouthful
4:03
Speaker 1: to say, is a scheme where you earn points in
4:06
Speaker 1: a central account so later you can transfer the points
4:09
Speaker 1: to a range of different loyalty schemes such as frequent
4:12
Speaker 1: flyer programs, credits and gift cards. Most of the flexible
4:16
Speaker 1: programs in Australia are run by financial institutions like American
4:19
Speaker 1: Express Member Rewards and Z Rewards and City Rewards, but
4:23
Speaker 1: supermarket loyalty schemes like Woolworths Everyday Rewards and fly buyers
4:27
Speaker 1: are also flexible points programs, and each flexible points program
4:31
Speaker 1: has a transfer rate between their own points and their
4:34
Speaker 1: partner's points or miles, which actually lets you send your
4:38
Speaker 1: points over to a partner program at fixed rates whenever
4:41
Speaker 1: you want to. So, for example, Jess two Amex points
4:44
Speaker 1: actually transfers over to one Velocity points, so it's basically
4:48
Speaker 1: like a two to one ratio. And most frequent flyer
4:50
Speaker 1: programs themselves don't offer flexible points. Once you earn points
4:55
Speaker 1: in that program, you can't move your balance between other programs,
4:58
Speaker 1: which is what makes flexible wis wards program so appealing. Yeah,
5:02
Speaker 1: let's talk about one of my favorite kinds of points,
5:05
Speaker 1: which is the two major supermarkets and their programs with
5:07
Speaker 1: the two major airlines. So it's your favor though flybys. Yeah,
5:11
Speaker 1: No Surprises, which just conveniently links to Virgin, which is
5:14
Speaker 1: our preference for flying, and then Willworth's Everyday Rewards which
5:18
Speaker 1: links to Quantests. Why have we got a preference for Virgin?
5:21
Speaker 1: I feel like I've been DMed this a lot of
5:23
Speaker 1: times just and it's literally just because the food in
5:25
Speaker 1: the lounge is better. They're really good, and I really
5:27
Speaker 1: like their This is so off topic, but they recently
5:31
Speaker 1: changed the uniform requirements to really inclusive, which I loved.
5:35
Speaker 1: I feel like that just really validated why we already
5:38
Speaker 1: flew with them, because people are just nicer, full stop.
5:40
Speaker 1: End of story. Sorry, sorry, sorry, but that contract tell
5:42
Speaker 1: me about Flybys all right. So Flybys is a very
5:45
Speaker 1: big and very long standing loyalty program that actually connects
5:48
Speaker 1: Coles and Virgin Australia, but it actually has so many
5:51
Speaker 1: more partners like Bunning's and Kmart and literally basically everything
5:56
Speaker 1: under the sun from my perspective, Earning Flybys points allows
5:59
Speaker 1: you to redeem them for a whole heap of rewards.
6:02
Speaker 1: So these include transferring them to Velocity points, or discounts
6:06
Speaker 1: on your next coals shop or retail items that you
6:08
Speaker 1: buy from the Flybys store Jess, which you would know
6:11
Speaker 1: a fair bit about the value of the points is
6:14
Speaker 1: not equal when spending them in different places though, so
6:17
Speaker 1: there are a lot of people who do these, like
6:19
Speaker 1: points hacking websites where they tell you where you get
6:21
Speaker 1: the best bang for your buck and they are the
6:24
Speaker 1: highest when you use them for Virgin flights. The you go, yeah,
6:28
Speaker 1: but did you know the best part about all of
6:29
Speaker 1: this what it's free. Like, you don't even have to
6:32
Speaker 1: have a credit card to start collecting Flybys points. You
6:35
Speaker 1: literally just get a card and scan it every time
6:38
Speaker 1: you check out. That's a dream, It's actually a dream.
6:40
Speaker 1: And I think that so many people think that they
6:42
Speaker 1: need a credit card to have any type of rewards points.
6:45
Speaker 1: But jess, why did you get your free kitchen aid
6:47
Speaker 1: mixer because I shopped a cult But like, did you
6:50
Speaker 1: pay anything for it?
6:51
Speaker 2: No?
6:51
Speaker 1: I used completely points, no credit card, no credit card,
6:54
Speaker 1: and no extra spending either. Tried and true. She just
6:57
Speaker 1: bought a whole heap of Ben and Jerry's. So then
7:00
Speaker 1: we've got Wilworths and Quantus and Everyday Rewards is the
7:03
Speaker 1: loyalty program of Wilworth Supermarkets BWS, Big w and Coltext,
7:07
Speaker 1: Willlworst Fuel and you earn points for each dollar spend,
7:10
Speaker 1: which can then later be redeemed for money off your
7:12
Speaker 1: Willworth's shop money win, or can be converted into Quantus points. Now,
7:17
Speaker 1: Everyday Rewards only has a few partners and set earn rates,
7:21
Speaker 1: so it's pretty simple and at the moment, you can
7:23
Speaker 1: get one point for every dollar that you spend at
7:25
Speaker 1: will Worth Supermarkets BAWS, so participat in cowtexs and cowtext,
7:29
Speaker 1: Willworths outlets and big w and online. That sounded like
7:31
Speaker 1: an ad and it absolutely wasn't. None of this is sponsored.
7:34
Speaker 1: How amazing would it be if we got paid to
7:37
Speaker 1: talk about points? Oh my god, that would be like
7:39
Speaker 1: the ultimate points hack. Anyone knows? Someone hit us up
7:42
Speaker 1: fly Bys please, I'm your biggest fan. Literally. So with
7:47
Speaker 1: the everyday rewards as well, you get rewards at every
7:50
Speaker 1: two thousand reward points that you earn, and there are
7:53
Speaker 1: three different ways that you can actually redeem your award
7:56
Speaker 1: so you can convert them to quantus points. You could
7:58
Speaker 1: get ten bucks off your next will Work shop or
8:00
Speaker 1: bank the value to Christmas and get multiples of ten
8:03
Speaker 1: dollars off your shop from December onwards, which happens to
8:06
Speaker 1: be a very very popular one in our community. Jess. Yeah. Now,
8:09
Speaker 1: I'm a creature of habit and I generally like to
8:11
Speaker 1: shop at one supermarket, but I know a lot of
8:14
Speaker 1: people like to shop at multiples that they can get
8:17
Speaker 1: the best to deal. Literally, can't be bothered. Now I go.
8:20
Speaker 1: There is a coals and an Audi basically side by side.
8:23
Speaker 1: Swing into Audi, get all of my favorite things because
8:25
Speaker 1: as you know, you can only get the good small
8:27
Speaker 1: cucumbers at the AUDI. Of course, we need to pick
8:31
Speaker 1: up a bottle of La mule Rose, not sponsored, honest
8:34
Speaker 1: to god, just good, and then I go get everything
8:37
Speaker 1: else are in coals and we are done. Like, I'm
8:38
Speaker 1: not going to multiple too. So that's better than the
8:41
Speaker 1: average bear, I'd say, I think so. If that's the case,
8:44
Speaker 1: if people are shopping multiple places, is it a bit
8:46
Speaker 1: cheeky to sign up for multiple programs? Absolutely not, jess
8:50
Speaker 1: You've got to be in it to win it. And
8:51
Speaker 1: if it was me, I would be signing up to
8:53
Speaker 1: all of the different programs that are offered by different
8:56
Speaker 1: places and just picking and choosing the offers that work
8:59
Speaker 1: for you. Honestly, from my perspective, I think so too.
9:02
Speaker 1: And a little pro tip from one Flybys user to another.
9:06
Speaker 1: If you have a Flybys card and you don't use
9:08
Speaker 1: it for a few months, generally speaking, you'll get a
9:10
Speaker 1: special loyalty prompt where it's like, spend seventy dollars in
9:14
Speaker 1: store and you get four thousand points to get you
9:16
Speaker 1: to come back. Oh that's genius. But like you would
9:19
Speaker 1: never know about that, Jessica, because you literally always use
9:21
Speaker 1: your flybys points. And do you know what happens guys?
9:24
Speaker 1: When we check out and she's with me and I
9:26
Speaker 1: don't have my card, she takes my points, not even
9:29
Speaker 1: sorry about it. But let's go to a really quick break,
9:32
Speaker 1: and when we come back, I want to talk through
9:34
Speaker 1: flights because I feel like that's something a lot of
9:36
Speaker 1: people that's interesting here for which is why we put
9:38
Speaker 1: it on the second side of the episode. Just it's
9:40
Speaker 1: called hook in the industry, smart from us. Don't go anywhere, guys,
9:43
Speaker 1: We'll see you in a minute. All right, thanks for
9:49
Speaker 1: sticking around, everybody. Let's chat all things flights. Victoria. You
9:54
Speaker 1: just mentioned flights as a reward for supermarket loyalty and
9:57
Speaker 1: flexible points programs, But how do the loyalty programs that
10:01
Speaker 1: are specifically for airlines work. So flights are a major
10:05
Speaker 1: across the board incentive for all of the programs that
10:08
Speaker 1: we are actually looking today, especially credit cards sadly, which
10:11
Speaker 1: are coming up next. But let's look into the airlines thing. So,
10:15
Speaker 1: frequent flyer programs are a massive source of revenue for airlines.
10:19
Speaker 1: In some cases, frequent flyer programs are more profitable than
10:23
Speaker 1: the actual airline itself. That's crazy, yeah, crazy right. The
10:28
Speaker 1: way frequent flyer programs make their money is by selling
10:30
Speaker 1: the points to companies who will then use them the
10:33
Speaker 1: points as a marketing tool to get you the consumer
10:36
Speaker 1: to use their service or buy their product. So if
10:39
Speaker 1: you and you to the points hacking game, your first
10:41
Speaker 1: step is to join a free frequent flyer program. So
10:44
Speaker 1: you need to decide which frequent flyer program you want
10:46
Speaker 1: to align yourself with. In Australia there are two main ones,
10:50
Speaker 1: so we've got Quantus Frequent Flyer and Velocity Frequent Flyer,
10:53
Speaker 1: which is with Virgin Australia. Arguably I wouldn't be signing
10:56
Speaker 1: up for both because flights are expensive, Jess. And then
11:00
Speaker 1: you're just dividing the ability to get to a higher
11:03
Speaker 1: status sooner. But you do, you boo. It's free and
11:06
Speaker 1: easy to join Virgin Australia and if you go on
11:08
Speaker 1: the Quantus website, it will tell you that it's ninety
11:11
Speaker 1: nine dollars fifty as a fee to sign up, but
11:14
Speaker 1: there are many different ways that you can actually join
11:16
Speaker 1: for free. There are some links in our show notes.
11:18
Speaker 1: You're welcome and if you've forgotten just google it. It
11:21
Speaker 1: is very very easy. Yeah, there are definitely tons of
11:24
Speaker 1: airlines out there, though not just in Australia that probably
11:27
Speaker 1: have programs that might benefit us as well. Right, yes,
11:29
Speaker 1: And we have just recently reaped the benefits of this ourselves, Jess,
11:33
Speaker 1: when we went to the US for work, and so
11:35
Speaker 1: we're not here all day. We're just going to really
11:37
Speaker 1: focus on Quantus and Virgin in this episode. But there
11:39
Speaker 1: are obviously lots and lots of different airlines that have
11:42
Speaker 1: lots of good opportunities for Australians to earn and transfer points.
11:46
Speaker 1: But remember when we traveled, Virgin had so many partner
11:49
Speaker 1: airlines that if we had lounge access with Virgin, we
11:53
Speaker 1: would get it somewhere else in a big capital airport.
11:56
Speaker 1: So money win from my perspective, absolutely, Now, if I
12:00
Speaker 1: can't afford to fly, or if I maybe just don't
12:02
Speaker 1: fly all that often, isn't it a bit of a
12:05
Speaker 1: waste of time joining a frequent flyer program? Haha? You
12:08
Speaker 1: might think so, But there are actually so many opportunities
12:11
Speaker 1: to collect points without flying. You can actually boost your
12:14
Speaker 1: frequent flyer balance pretty fast, Jess. In fact, it is
12:18
Speaker 1: actually possible to earn hundreds of thousands of miles per
12:21
Speaker 1: year without ever flying or setting foot into the sky,
12:25
Speaker 1: and you don't even need to spend points on those
12:27
Speaker 1: flights either. You do this by making your purchases through
12:30
Speaker 1: either the Quantus Shopping website or the Velocity Eastore portal
12:34
Speaker 1: or wherever the equivalent of the program's online stories. If
12:38
Speaker 1: you've been using our friends at shop back, then these
12:40
Speaker 1: actually work pretty similarly with both Quantus Shopping and Velocity
12:44
Speaker 1: E stores. You can actually just go to the homepage,
12:46
Speaker 1: log in, click on the retailer that you want to
12:48
Speaker 1: shop at, and you'll be told how many points you
12:50
Speaker 1: have per dollar, and then you'll be redirected to the
12:52
Speaker 1: retailer through the loyalty program's portal. It's honestly really easy.
12:56
Speaker 1: You then complete your purchase as normal and make sure
12:59
Speaker 1: once you've checked out, you sit tight wait for a
13:01
Speaker 1: few weeks for the points to transfer to credit and
13:03
Speaker 1: your stuff to arrive in your mailbox. You're locked mailbox
13:06
Speaker 1: after last week's episode. Absolutely, Now can you run me
13:10
Speaker 1: through VD? What are the affiliated airlines that you can
13:12
Speaker 1: get points through with quantusm Virgin There are a fairview
13:15
Speaker 1: so Quantus you can earn in redeem points with airlines.
13:18
Speaker 1: For example, you can do it with Emirates, Cathe Pacific
13:21
Speaker 1: and American Airlines, as well as a whole heap of
13:23
Speaker 1: non airline partners. And then Virgin they partner with airlines
13:27
Speaker 1: like Singapore Airlines, Eddie Had and Delta. Yeah. Incredible. Now
13:30
Speaker 1: let's get into it. Arguably the biggest rewards scheme out
13:34
Speaker 1: their credit cards. And again we're just giving you a
13:37
Speaker 1: really brief overview and then you can go and do
13:39
Speaker 1: your own research, because we're definitely not recommending that you
13:42
Speaker 1: get a credit card just for points, because not only
13:45
Speaker 1: do you need to make sure that choosing a credit
13:47
Speaker 1: card aligned with your values, but the offers available and
13:50
Speaker 1: the nuancewers of how they work and how long they're
13:52
Speaker 1: available for are all so specific and they change constantly
13:57
Speaker 1: depending on the card. But there are some unif buying
14:00
Speaker 1: themes out there that we can touch on right there. Yeah,
14:02
Speaker 1: of course, so we won't really talk about the specific cards,
14:05
Speaker 1: but more what they generally offer and how they work.
14:08
Speaker 1: So most banks and credit card companies will try and
14:11
Speaker 1: compete in the market to win you over by offering
14:13
Speaker 1: really big sign up points. You've probably seen it before,
14:15
Speaker 1: like sign up and spend X y Z in your
14:17
Speaker 1: first three months, and you get like one hundred and
14:19
Speaker 1: fifty thousand points, which is just worth a return trip
14:22
Speaker 1: to New York. Like it's really interesting, also really sexy.
14:26
Speaker 1: But this means that you can also earn hundreds of
14:28
Speaker 1: thousands of Frequent Flyer points with a single sign up,
14:31
Speaker 1: and that's kind of a money win if you're already
14:33
Speaker 1: going to do that. So if you're looking at a
14:35
Speaker 1: credit card and you're like, oh, I just really don't
14:38
Speaker 1: know what one to go with, like maybe look at
14:40
Speaker 1: the features and benefits of systems like this that could
14:44
Speaker 1: actually help you with a goal that you're working towards anyway,
14:47
Speaker 1: Like if you've got a New York trip on your
14:48
Speaker 1: goal list, maybe that's something that can get you there quicker.
14:51
Speaker 1: They also often offer, depending on the level of the card,
14:54
Speaker 1: either free ongoing lounge access or several passes per year.
14:58
Speaker 1: So I know, through the Quan credit cards, like they
15:01
Speaker 1: absolutely give you a few passes per year if you've
15:03
Speaker 1: gotten AMEX. Usually it's just unlimited access for you and
15:07
Speaker 1: a partner, which is kind of cool if you fly
15:09
Speaker 1: all the time, and that's a value to you. Some
15:12
Speaker 1: offer money for free flights and dining, and some offer
15:15
Speaker 1: insurance and other perks like phone screen replacements and reduced
15:18
Speaker 1: or free account fees for the first year, or they
15:20
Speaker 1: offer cash back, which is obviously a great money win.
15:23
Speaker 1: Plus points of course, don't have to be used just
15:26
Speaker 1: on flying, Like you literally bought a kitchen aid mixer
15:28
Speaker 1: for your kitchen during lockdown, you know, like we didn't
15:31
Speaker 1: need to fly anywhere, and she's still reaping the benefits absolutely.
15:35
Speaker 1: So let's say I've done my research, I'm like, oh,
15:37
Speaker 1: i want to go to New York, and I've decided
15:39
Speaker 1: that signing up for a credit card works for my
15:41
Speaker 1: budget and my lifestyle, and I want to get into
15:43
Speaker 1: the whole points hacking thing. What do I need to
15:46
Speaker 1: be keeping in mind?
15:46
Speaker 3: All right?
15:47
Speaker 1: So the first thing that question gives me mad anxiety
15:50
Speaker 1: because I feel like so many times people are like, oh,
15:53
Speaker 1: I'm going to do it so I can budget and
15:54
Speaker 1: cash flow better, and then it just doesn't work out
15:56
Speaker 1: so well. So we need to be really, really really cautious,
15:58
Speaker 1: and we need to make sure that we stay in
16:00
Speaker 1: control of our finances and our budget. So we are
16:03
Speaker 1: going to prioritize our budget and cash flow and paying
16:06
Speaker 1: everything off and only putting really necessary purchases on a card.
16:11
Speaker 1: It's really really easy, and I feel like I'm just
16:13
Speaker 1: getting a bit randy here, but it's really easy to overspend.
16:16
Speaker 1: So it is honestly so vital that you know what
16:19
Speaker 1: you can afford and you pay your credit card balance
16:22
Speaker 1: in full every single month and you're not spending beyond
16:25
Speaker 1: your means. So if you are, and you are a
16:28
Speaker 1: responsible human adult, which I am not jes A GRICI,
16:31
Speaker 1: you could choose to spend every single dollar on your
16:33
Speaker 1: card and then transfer from your account to pay that
16:35
Speaker 1: balance off in time. You can also put it on
16:38
Speaker 1: direct debit so it happens automatically, so you don't even
16:40
Speaker 1: have to remember. It will just you know, if you
16:42
Speaker 1: spend five hundred dollars on groceries this month, it will
16:45
Speaker 1: automatically pay it off. Or every time you spend on
16:48
Speaker 1: your credit card, you could actually just log in and
16:50
Speaker 1: pay that amount off, so that you are, you know,
16:53
Speaker 1: making sure that you're aoka and all good, but it
16:56
Speaker 1: kind of keeps you accountable to make sure that with
16:58
Speaker 1: each purchase you actually have that cash there to transfer immediately.
17:02
Speaker 1: And if you set that system up, it's very unlikely
17:06
Speaker 1: that if you transfer for every single purchase, ever, you're
17:09
Speaker 1: very unlikely to put yourself in a position where it's
17:12
Speaker 1: getting beyond your control. So by doing this, it makes
17:15
Speaker 1: sure that you're not paying any interest, Jess. It's basically
17:18
Speaker 1: like shooting yourself in the foot, because if you're paying
17:21
Speaker 1: interest on a card where you're collecting frequent flyer points,
17:24
Speaker 1: it's probably going to render them absolutely useless. You'll also
17:28
Speaker 1: want to make sure that you're using the right card
17:30
Speaker 1: for the right transaction, so that you get the maximum
17:32
Speaker 1: points for every single dollar that you spend. I can
17:35
Speaker 1: imagine you just getting down and like calculating what is
17:37
Speaker 1: the best card to use and when at what period
17:40
Speaker 1: of year, and what benefits you're going to get, and
17:42
Speaker 1: what value and bonus there is. I just personally, not
17:46
Speaker 1: my circus, not my monkey's. Like, I know people do it.
17:49
Speaker 1: I know people enjoy it. I just don't have the time, energy,
17:52
Speaker 1: your effort for it. But for example, some cards will
17:55
Speaker 1: actually pay you one point five points per dollar if
17:58
Speaker 1: you're shopping at a super market. Well, others might only
18:01
Speaker 1: pay zero point five, So you want to be shopping
18:04
Speaker 1: with the one point five Yeah, exactly, And Jess would
18:06
Speaker 1: be all over that. Another thing that I have looked
18:09
Speaker 1: at before is check out pointshack dot com dot au,
18:12
Speaker 1: where there is honestly a great cross comparison of all
18:15
Speaker 1: of the credit cards that are out there. It shows
18:17
Speaker 1: you a whole heap of different offers that are available
18:19
Speaker 1: from like American Express and Visa and MasterCard and branded
18:22
Speaker 1: credit cards, along with a whole heap of in debth
18:25
Speaker 1: guides to each of the cards and the benefits and
18:27
Speaker 1: some of the cons. And I have a final little
18:30
Speaker 1: sneaky hot tip for you, miss just Gricci. Next time
18:34
Speaker 1: you're out, pick up the tap tell me more. Well,
18:36
Speaker 1: your friends will think you're fantastic because you're like, oh,
18:38
Speaker 1: don't worry, I'll pop it on my card and we'll
18:40
Speaker 1: work it out later obviously, then get them to repay
18:43
Speaker 1: you in cash and you walk away with the points.
18:46
Speaker 2: Gene.
18:47
Speaker 1: Yes, actually you mentioned that. I have a couple of
18:48
Speaker 1: friends who I reckon a're doing exactly and I'm not
18:50
Speaker 1: mad about it. I don't want to pay for a
18:51
Speaker 1: five hundred or a tab on my card and they're
18:54
Speaker 1: so happy to do it. It takes the stress out
18:56
Speaker 1: of it for everyone because we just figure it out,
18:58
Speaker 1: you know later, who over if you want. I've got
19:00
Speaker 1: to make sure that you've got trustworthy friends, because like
19:03
Speaker 1: offering to pick up the tab, like if I did
19:05
Speaker 1: that with you, I know I'm gonna get paid back.
19:07
Speaker 1: It's yes, she's good for it. She's not a douche.
19:11
Speaker 1: But you know, those friends, I don't know if you've
19:13
Speaker 1: still got them, but I left them all behind in
19:15
Speaker 1: university where it'd be like, oh, you owe me ten
19:17
Speaker 1: dollars because I picked up your XYZ and they're like,
19:19
Speaker 1: oh yeah, yeah, I'll get to it. I'll get to it.
19:21
Speaker 1: They never get to it, and then I get awkward
19:23
Speaker 1: and then I stop talking about it and yeah, anyway, yeah,
19:27
Speaker 1: And if you pick up ten dollars for ten friends,
19:28
Speaker 1: that's one hundred dollars that yell and it just adds up.
19:31
Speaker 1: I think that you're a little bit like me, where
19:33
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, I just grab it, few no worries,
19:35
Speaker 1: like there needs to be some ebb and flow here,
19:37
Speaker 1: And I feel like there are some people out there
19:39
Speaker 1: that you would not pick up the tab for. So
19:40
Speaker 1: it's a good tip if you've got wholesome friends, all right,
19:44
Speaker 1: talk to me VD about hotel rewards programs. Okay, so
19:47
Speaker 1: again there are so many here, but to capture the
19:51
Speaker 1: gist of this. Hotel loyalty programs are often useful to
19:54
Speaker 1: look at and engage with, as they are usually more
19:56
Speaker 1: flexible than frequent flyer programs by allowing you to train
20:00
Speaker 1: further points out to a range of different frequent Flyer partners,
20:03
Speaker 1: so you'll be able to redeem the points for hotel
20:06
Speaker 1: stays or credit for future travel. And Jess, we travel
20:10
Speaker 1: a fair bit and we usually stay in the same hotels,
20:13
Speaker 1: so it doesn't matter which state or territory we were in.
20:17
Speaker 1: We usually just pick the same branded hotel one because
20:20
Speaker 1: I have a point system with them, and it's just
20:22
Speaker 1: easier to we know what we're going to get, Like yeah,
20:24
Speaker 1: just you and I. We're creatures of habits, so we
20:27
Speaker 1: don't actually want to try a new fancy hotel. Usually
20:30
Speaker 1: we just want the tried, true, and tested. But because
20:33
Speaker 1: we do that and we've stayed so many different times
20:35
Speaker 1: at different places, we often get like welcome drinks, like
20:38
Speaker 1: we're going on a holiday instead of a work trip.
20:41
Speaker 1: We often get room upgrades or like do you know
20:43
Speaker 1: how they always leave like chocolates in our room. Oh
20:46
Speaker 1: my god, it's so good. Ten out of ten. Oh
20:48
Speaker 1: irish Yet Va, you actually did that recently, didn't you? You
20:50
Speaker 1: transferred points out of your hotel for our FLA I did.
20:54
Speaker 1: And then reason I did that was because when we
20:57
Speaker 1: travel for work, and this is like very niche. It
20:59
Speaker 1: might work for some people, it might not work for
21:00
Speaker 1: other people, but when we travel, Jess, for work, it's
21:03
Speaker 1: obviously a work expense, so like I can deduct the
21:06
Speaker 1: tax off that, but you know what, I can't deduct
21:08
Speaker 1: the tax off my honeymoon. So I'm a transfer those
21:12
Speaker 1: points out and then pay for my honeymoon flights, which
21:14
Speaker 1: are business class flights that I have gotten literally entirely
21:18
Speaker 1: on points to and from our honeymoon location, because like
21:21
Speaker 1: that's just a money win, Jess. That is now I
21:24
Speaker 1: have free flights, and it didn't make sense to like
21:26
Speaker 1: spend all of the points on work stuff if I
21:28
Speaker 1: can transfer it out newsic personally, because otherwise I would
21:31
Speaker 1: have had to pay a fair bit per dollar that
21:33
Speaker 1: we earned in tax. So I'd worked it all out.
21:36
Speaker 1: I felt very just GRICI that is a straight genius,
21:39
Speaker 1: And before we skid out off, I thought I'd share
21:41
Speaker 1: a few other hot tips that we got from the
21:43
Speaker 1: shees in the money community. Genius are arguably a lot
21:45
Speaker 1: smarter than us, honest story. Sometimes they just run rings
21:49
Speaker 1: around us. Remember that time we spoke to a moneyed
21:51
Speaker 1: diarist who worked out that she got like five points
21:54
Speaker 1: per transaction. So she broke her bill up into like
21:56
Speaker 1: one cent increments and made that algorithm to just like
22:00
Speaker 1: transfer one cent till her bill was paid. Yes, a
22:05
Speaker 1: genius Like here, I am thinking I'm a wizard because
22:07
Speaker 1: I transferred my Hotel points to pay for a flight,
22:10
Speaker 1: and she's out here being like you were basic. Oh
22:13
Speaker 1: my goodness. Well, our first hot tip comes from Anne,
22:16
Speaker 1: who said time getting a credit card with a big
22:20
Speaker 1: bonus points reward. So like you were saying before, where
22:22
Speaker 1: you sign up and spend xout time that with an
22:25
Speaker 1: upcoming large expense like your red Joe oh smart, or
22:29
Speaker 1: like your insurance is a jew or something, So you
22:32
Speaker 1: hit that minimum spend really easily. It's not a lot
22:35
Speaker 1: of addmin work for you, and you don't have to
22:37
Speaker 1: go out of your way to spend more money smart.
22:39
Speaker 1: What else have you got? This feels like a Friday
22:41
Speaker 1: Drinks Money Win edition. I know, next one is meet
22:45
Speaker 1: the minimum spend, earn the points, and then call and
22:48
Speaker 1: cancel the card, And a lot of the times you'll
22:50
Speaker 1: be able to get your annual fee refunded. What the heck,
22:53
Speaker 1: why would you? That sounds dodgy, but like I know,
22:55
Speaker 1: it's completely fine. Yeah, And I think it would a
22:58
Speaker 1: lot of the times be done incrementally. If you've signed
23:00
Speaker 1: up for the card and you had to pay every
23:02
Speaker 1: three months, for example, to get your sign up bonus,
23:04
Speaker 1: and you close your card after the three months, I
23:07
Speaker 1: think a lot of companies would maybe just go ahead
23:09
Speaker 1: and refund the difference, so if you're not using the
23:11
Speaker 1: card for another nine months, you get the nine months back. Yeah, okay.
23:14
Speaker 1: And the other thing I'd say there though, is just
23:16
Speaker 1: obviously I've got my little finance hat on, and I
23:19
Speaker 1: get a little bit angsty with things like this. If
23:22
Speaker 1: you're planning on signing up to credit cards and then
23:24
Speaker 1: canceling them just for points, I'd be really cautious of
23:27
Speaker 1: your credit report and your credit score, because that is
23:31
Speaker 1: not a good thing. Like a lot of turnover on
23:33
Speaker 1: your credit report is not that sexy. And if you're
23:36
Speaker 1: going for a mortgage or you need finance like, that's
23:38
Speaker 1: maybe not the best idea you've ever had, something really
23:41
Speaker 1: really good to keep in mind. Our next tip says,
23:45
Speaker 1: I get a new Quantus Frequent Flyer card every year
23:48
Speaker 1: because I look at the sign up fee versus the
23:51
Speaker 1: amount of points that I get in bonus, and so
23:53
Speaker 1: they've obviously worked out that it's better for them cost
23:56
Speaker 1: wise to spend that money again but get a larger
23:59
Speaker 1: bonus secondary time. Yes, smart, I know, very clever. I
24:03
Speaker 1: feel like by doing that as well, you might also
24:06
Speaker 1: be able to take advantage of I know that when
24:09
Speaker 1: I signed up for my insurance, I got free access
24:13
Speaker 1: to the Quantus Frequent fire program, So you might be
24:16
Speaker 1: able to stack things that way so that you don't
24:18
Speaker 1: pay the fee and you get a sexy sign up bonus.
24:20
Speaker 1: To be honest, I don't think Conscious are going to
24:22
Speaker 1: be all of that happy with me. But if you
24:24
Speaker 1: google Quantus Frequent Flyer sign Up Free, it usually comes
24:28
Speaker 1: up with a discount code. Oh I didn't give you
24:31
Speaker 1: that information on this podcast. I love that. And the
24:34
Speaker 1: very last tip that we have here is from Aaron
24:36
Speaker 1: and she says that she follows a lot of credit
24:38
Speaker 1: card hacking groups and websites like the points hack one
24:42
Speaker 1: because people share up to date tips and tricks there
24:44
Speaker 1: all the time. Like we said, it's always changing. So
24:46
Speaker 1: if you're somewhere where you're seeing it all the time,
24:48
Speaker 1: you're thinking about Facebook groups for this stuff, Jess, people
24:52
Speaker 1: get obsessed over it. It's like the came up Mum's
24:54
Speaker 1: Facebook groups. They go off points hacking exactly the same.
24:59
Speaker 1: And some of these points hacking websites have like comment
25:01
Speaker 1: sections and forums, and like, if you really want to
25:03
Speaker 1: get really deep, you absolutely can. I Mean, the one
25:06
Speaker 1: thing I would say to wrap this episode though, Jess,
25:09
Speaker 1: is just be really careful that you're not spending beyond
25:12
Speaker 1: your means and you're not signing up for things that
25:14
Speaker 1: are gonna put you in a compromising position in the
25:17
Speaker 1: long term, because nobody ever signs up to a credit
25:20
Speaker 1: card with the intention of getting insignificant debt that they
25:23
Speaker 1: can't get on top of. Like, no one is going
25:25
Speaker 1: to do that because that just sounds silly, right, Like
25:27
Speaker 1: I'm not going to be like, hey, just have this
25:29
Speaker 1: credit card. It's really going to ruin your life, and
25:31
Speaker 1: then you're gonna have this debt that's going to take
25:33
Speaker 1: you more than seven years to pay back. You'd be like, no,
25:36
Speaker 1: thank you, Victoria. That sounds terrible. Yeah, So I think
25:40
Speaker 1: we need to just really reflect on our thoughts, our values,
25:42
Speaker 1: our beliefs, and our behaviors and whether a credit card
25:45
Speaker 1: is going to work. But as we covered in this episode,
25:48
Speaker 1: there are a whole heap of points programs that you
25:50
Speaker 1: can sign up to that don't require a credit card.
25:52
Speaker 1: And maybe that's more akin to you, or maybe you
25:55
Speaker 1: want to go the whole hog and have absolutely everything
25:57
Speaker 1: you do you booth. Well, I'm gonna put a thread
25:59
Speaker 1: in the Facebook group today, so go check it out
26:02
Speaker 1: where you can share your top tips and tricks four
26:04
Speaker 1: points hacking if you have any to share. I feel
26:06
Speaker 1: like that's gonna be a fun thread that's going want
26:08
Speaker 1: to know, it's gonna put me to shame. I'm going
26:10
Speaker 1: to be like remember that time I got flights for
26:12
Speaker 1: my honeymoon business class for free and they're like, Babe,
26:15
Speaker 1: that was to Queensland. I got them to New York.
26:18
Speaker 1: I'll sit down the back buye. Speaking of the Facebook group,
26:21
Speaker 1: if you're not a member, we would love for you
26:23
Speaker 1: to come and join us. The community shares tips and
26:26
Speaker 1: tricks every single day, free of judgment, and you can
26:28
Speaker 1: search She's on the Money on Facebook to join us.
26:31
Speaker 1: If Facebook's not your thing, We're on Instagram. It's cute,
26:33
Speaker 1: it's educational, it's a great time where She's on the
26:36
Speaker 1: Money a US, don't forget. Lastly, if you enjoyed the app,
26:40
Speaker 1: leave us a review, give us a rating, a star,
26:43
Speaker 1: I love a star. I was that child, and we'll
26:45
Speaker 1: put your rewards shot back on the fridge next week.
26:48
Speaker 1: Jo oh my god. Please. But I think that's about
26:50
Speaker 1: it for today. All from us today, See you later, guys, fine,
26:53
Speaker 1: happy points hacking. The advice shared on She's on the
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