Bankwest Transaction account [General Discussion]

[benjy]

Got a call from Optus again today, I answered it this time. Wanted to talk to me about $0.01 payments and what's happening. 0.01 payments look suspicious on their end of month reporting and gets flagged as fraud. He asked why there are several people doing it. Gave him a heads that more and more people will do it as more people become aware of the promotion offered by Bankwest.

 

[NoName]

I got a call from Optus about 10min ago as well. He seemed to be we'll aware that it's to do with bankwest which makes me wonder how long this will last for before the terms and conditions are changed.

Also so just got off the phone to bankwest (didn't give account details or my ID) and they confirmed with both the PDS & with colleagues that there should be no limit to the number of transactions per day. Makes me wonder if it is purely a security thing and whether it can be overridden somehow on their end? Or perhaps it's 50 per merchant before they stop you? Has anyone tried paying multiple vendors? Optus and Telstra for instance?

 

[benjy]

Perhaps he called you after he called me lol. Once I get to 50 transactions per day I seem to get declined for anything else, such as an online purchase, pre-auth requests etc, don't know when the reset time is.

I'm using my card later today so I'm not doing my 50 transactions until I get home

Edit: i'm going to change my payments to be $0.02 from now on

 

[kevrosmith]

Edit: i'm going to change my payments to be $0.02 from now on

You should ask them what the minimum value is that won't trigger a flag in the system... perhaps 10c or 50c... ? That's still only $25....

If people believe 1c transactions may cause the T&Cs to be changed, then why push the boundary and cause it to be stopped, especially when you've got the opportunity to change the behaviour slightly (that is, pay a larger transaction value), still reap the benefits and prevent the benefit from being lost.

 

[coles525]

Ive done 50 transactions at home, then 1 supermarket spend (cheap...)...

Supermarket got declined.

 

[BillytheFIsh]

You should ask them what the minimum value is that won't trigger a flag in the system... perhaps 10c or 50c... ? That's still only $25....

If people believe 1c transactions may cause the T&Cs to be changed, then why push the boundary and cause it to be stopped, especially when you've got the opportunity to change the behaviour slightly (that is, pay a larger transaction value), still reap the benefits and prevent the benefit from being lost.

I personally haven't bothered playing this particular game, but I think its only a matter of time before they tighten up the Ts&Cs regardless of what anyone here does. So if I was playing, I'd be going as hard as I could until they do.

Personally, I just signed up for the 10K bonus and to use the card for paypass transactions $3 or less.

 

[Cephalopod]

Where in the online banking page do you go that shows you QFF number?

On your statement.

 

[burmans]

You should ask them what the minimum value is that won't trigger a flag in the system... perhaps 10c or 50c... ? That's still only $25....

If people believe 1c transactions may cause the T&Cs to be changed, then why push the boundary and cause it to be stopped, especially when you've got the opportunity to change the behaviour slightly (that is, pay a larger transaction value), still reap the benefits and prevent the benefit from being lost.

I personally think it's the multiple transactions causing a flag, not the size of the 1c transaction. If anything lots of larger transactions would get noticed.

And I don't think asking is a great idea, asking someone of their fraud settings is in itself something that may be regarded as flag of potential fraudulent behaviour!

 

[benjy]

I personally think it's the multiple transactions causing a flag, not the size of the 1c transaction. If anything lots of larger transactions would get noticed.

And I don't think asking is a great idea, asking someone of their fraud settings is in itself something that may be regarded as flag of potential fraudulent behaviour!

I agree with everything said here. One of the statements the Optus said to me is that the multiple transactions is 'causing reporting issues' and they were just trying to figure out what's going on and why. When I mentioned it was a 'Bankwest Promotion' with transactions, he replied that he'll pass the information on. I'm just going to keep on doing what I'm doing until the option is restricted or removed.

 

[Cynicor]

I haven't done it, but I love seeing how many people game the system. As Cove always says- it's all a game, so we might as well play until they take their bat and ball!

Once I get my 10k I might try this macro, if someone would be so kind as to PM me please?

 

[djchuckles]

Pretty sure the t's and c's say eligible transactions, so I wouldn't be surprised if they make a new definition of eligible transactions to be $5 or over...

 

[N860CR]

Damn Telstra must have some security in place or something

 

[Cephalopod]

Mine still works with Telstra.

Bankwest probably won't confirm the 50 transaction thingo. It won't be in the PDS or anything, it's a system based limitation.

Based on another users experience I'd say they limit you to 50 online, 50 in person. I'm to lazy to do 50 in person though.

Bankwest confirmed my QFF had not been removed, it was a system issue and it's now back. I asked through online banking as well so I can pretty much guarantee they saw my points.

ETA: I scored two accounts by applying for both online.

 

[N860CR]

Works with Telstra using the macro? I get an error both through the my account and the bill payment page.

 

[Cephalopod]

Yep,

What error?

 

[N860CR]

Goes to make a payment and as it does directs to a Telstra "an error has occurred" page before returning to the home page

 

[coles525]

Goes to make a payment and as it does directs to a Telstra "an error has occurred" page before returning to the home page

Gave up on telstra, as I recieved the error message also. Only tried around 3 or 4 times.

 

[AusTraveller]

I personally think it's the multiple transactions causing a flag, not the size of the 1c transaction. If anything lots of larger transactions would get noticed.

And I don't think asking is a great idea, asking someone of their fraud settings is in itself something that may be regarded as flag of potential fraudulent behaviour!

I think you summed Bankwest up nicely in the first sentence. Although a different product, using their platinum card on numerous small foreign currency transactions went through fine. Putting through a larger one (flights for 2 people) resulted in a call from their fraud team.

I personally haven't tried putting through lots of large transactions on this transaction account - the smaller one's are much better value . But I'm sure it would be similar.

Agree re: asking about fraud settings. Why give them any reason to look at them?

 

[gizzard]

Gave up on telstra, as I recieved the error message also. Only tried around 3 or 4 times.

The Telstra bill that I get only mentions credit card payments, for which there is a fee, but not debit cards.
The only way that I can see to pay by debit card is through PayPal. That would avoid any fee, if applicable.

Does anyone know how PayPal might react to lots of small transactions going through? I wouldn't want to risk a PayPal account being closed.

 

[N860CR]

Yep PayPal will suspend after about 10. They're extremely unhelpful when it comes to rectifying it. I almost flew to Phoenix to punch one of the staff in the head...