ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[baggas]

Still waiting until the 24th for the statement to drop and I'll hopefully see it listed. I can't find anywhere using online banking that lists the points balance.

No you have to wait for your statement. My statement comes mid-month, but the points seem to be credited on a calendar month basis. So I've already received points for a payment late July, even though it won't show on my statement til mid August.

 

[Obi-run Kenobi]

Log into your QFF account.

It's a new account and BW t&cs say that QFF points won't transfer until the account has been open for 2 months. So, I'll have to wait and see what's listed in the points summary on the next statement.

 

[Obi-run Kenobi]

EBP transactions have paid points on every card I've tried, including that one. I wouldn't worry.

FYI, I just tried paying ATO via EBP on my Citi card and it didn't pay points.

 

[cove]

I overpaid the BAS because we were travelling this month. All ok and the credit just carries forward to next month. I could ask for a refund but I won’t bother. Mrscove uses her miles earned at a pretty good rate.

 

[Obi-run Kenobi]

I overpaid the BAS because we were travelling this month. All ok and the credit just carries forward to next month. I could ask for a refund but I won’t bother. Mrscove uses her miles earned at a pretty good rate.

What card are you using for your BAS payments at the moment?

 

[33kft]

FYI, I just tried paying ATO via EBP on my Citi card and it didn't pay points.

Which Citi card, and does it break down the points per transaction or were you calculating it some other way?

EBP pays for my Citi card no issues (Qantas Premier Plat).

 

[cove]

I gather you are not ready to read 440 pages so I sent you a PM. Don’t go broadcasting it as Bankwest World fell over in May. Citi has been gone for about 3 years I think.

 

[Obi-run Kenobi]

Which Citi card, and does it break down the points per transaction or were you calculating it some other way?

EBP pays for my Citi card no issues (Qantas Premier Plat).

Using the Citi Rewards Platinum.

I just added up the dollar spend and compared it with the points balance. The points balance is down by exactly the amount I paid to Canberra via EBP.

 

[33kft]

I just added up the dollar spend and compared it with the points balance. The points balance is down by exactly the amount I paid to Canberra via EBP.

Interesting. I think this would be the first report I've seen showing this happening. Anyone else with the same card able to check? There is no way Citi is doing this based on the payee, since EBP does not provide that information to them as part of the transaction, so this can only be a global exclusion of EBP from points earn.

 

[Obi-run Kenobi]

...There is no way Citi is doing this based on the payee, since EBP does not provide that information to them as part of the transaction...

Are you sure about that? This is what's displayed on the transactions page:

 

[33kft]

Are you sure about that? This is what's displayed on the transactions page:

Did you use BPay from within Citi's internet banking to make that payment? If so, that wouldn't be expected to earn points

That certainly isn't what an EBP payment looks like on any card I've ever used

 

[Obi-run Kenobi]

Did you use BPay from within Citi's internet banking to make that payment? If so, that wouldn't be expected to earn points

That certainly isn't what an EBP payment looks like on any card I've ever used

Yes, that's right. Is there another way to make an EBP payment with the card? What am I missing?

 

[Obi-run Kenobi]

Scratch that. I'm confusing things here. Yes, I used BPay, not EBP. I can see how that would be the issue. !!!

 

[cove]

Yes if you want to get zero points on ATO then BPay with Citi will get you that result.

 

[downloadingdata]

Is there any way to turn off the automatic top up for EBP? It seems to try to top up an entire month of bills in 4-5 weeks in advance into the account

 

[Obi-run Kenobi]

Is there any way to turn off the automatic top up for EBP? It seems to try to top up an entire month of bills in 4-5 weeks in advance into the account

I manually set each of my bills to 'one off payments'. Gives me control over when stuff gets paid and what card I want it to come off.

 

[downloadingdata]

I manually set each of my bills to 'one off payments'. Gives me control over when stuff gets paid and what card I want it to come off.

Makes sense. However, I have a fixed rent payment every week. Is there an easy to to set this up in EBP without them trying to draw the rents up to 4 weeks in advance?

I guess setting it to "top-up"every fortnight would reduce the advance payments to 2 weeks max, but its still not ideal to have prepayments

 

[BillytheFIsh]

Makes sense. However, I have a fixed rent payment every week. Is there an easy to to set this up in EBP without them trying to draw the rents up to 4 weeks in advance?

I guess setting it to "top-up"every fortnight would reduce the advance payments to 2 weeks max, but its still not ideal to have prepayments

No. EBP doesn't have that functionality. B2Bpay, for example, does, but the surcharge is more than double what EBP charge.

The reality is the price to pay for EBP's low fees is having to deal with its convoluted system which is not set up for how I (and I suspect most people) want to use it.

On the positive side, in my experience EBP's funds clear the quickest. I can set up a payment at lunchtime today and a payment by EFT will hit an account by lunchtime tomorrow and Bpay payment by late tomorrow night. B2B for example takes at least 3 business days.

 

[Bell21]

That's a really interesting comparison actually - I agree 100%. Having used RP, EBP and B2Bpay, I'd say that EBP isn't sophisticated but its cheap and fairly efficient once you get used to it. RP was a nice middle ground when I used to use it pre-April AMEX deval. B2Bpay is a bit of a pain, b/c they separately authorise each new biller with the actual biller before approving them to be a biller on their platform, so that can be painful at times, although their site seems more sophisticated in its functionality than either RP or EBP.

 

[downloadingdata]

So... it looks like everyone using EBP is setting up their tx one by one manually? And leave the recurring payments to RP and B2B?