Bankwest Transaction account [General Discussion]

[Radio8tiv]

Yes I suspect I got a particularly officious chat operator. Interestingly I received a letter today from the local government (have been paying rates) apparently unimpressed with the "thousands of one cent payments" that have hit my rates account. Time to find something else to pay!

I was paying my electricity bill for a few weeks this way, then they rang me and asked me to stop paying such small payments, after doubling the value and halving the payments to 25 per day I hadn't heard from them again, that is until one day I tried to make a payment and the minimum is now $5 lol.

 

[hossein_au]

I used to do this but this trick doesn't work if you only have 1 service with multiple cards (i.e. you overpay)

Need to come up with an alternative.

Some would be happy to just pay for the points (i.e. you basically buy 5 points for the 1c or 2c etc). Paying one's actual account is just icing on the cake. If you are still not convinced the points are worth the money and do not like to idea of overpaying your account, why not upgrade your service to a better plan so that you do not end up overpaying the account?

 

[mitwg]

Some would be happy to just pay for the points (i.e. you basically buy 5 points for the 1c or 2c etc). Paying one's actual account is just icing on the cake. If you are still not convinced the points are worth the money and do not like to idea of overpaying your account, why not upgrade your service to a better plan so that you do not end up overpaying the account?

As much as I value accruing points, that's one thing I don't want to do.

I always try to ask myself 'would I have done this purchase if it wasn't for the points' and tend to refrain against the purchase if I don't feel I can say yes.

In saying that, I have been eyeing to switch my plan to Telstra so perhaps there is another way

 

[coles525]

What's $1 per day on a $80+ phone bill?

Depends how many family members help out

All up I'm on $3 per day, which means I don't have to worry about the bills (can forget a month), I can eventually cancel my contract, or I can just keep on going on flights!

 

[mitwg]

The 0.01~0.05 pattern let me accrue ~$46 worth of payments each month, which was $4 short of my normal phone bill ($50) so anything extra would be literally be on top. I guess I could go on a contract plan with a phone (I currently buy iPhones outright each year) but I like having the ability to switch plans whenever I see an attractive deal.

I also live alone and will not have family until my gf & I get married so there's nobody to help out either

I missed out on re-qualifying CX DM this year because I was short 700 miles from renewal. I figure a lot of people would have done a short mileage run or alternatively, routed a flight a bit longer to get that. But for me, I've always had the mentality that this is just a hobby and I cannot let it influence my spending pattern hence at the moment, I'm a bit reluctant to do something differently to fix this situation.

I figured an extra $30 here and another extra $70 there will eventually add up and come back to bite me.

 

[burmans]

I always try to ask myself 'would I have done this purchase if it wasn't for the points' and tend to refrain against the purchase if I don't feel I can say yes.

You cant be a true AFF'er then! There have been a fair few things I have done just for the points, e.g. would I pay ATO by credit card and incur a surcharge if it weren't for the points? And then there was the US Grand Slam!

I do know where you are coming from and in fact agree with the general theory. But there are some purchases where I think I could throw away the goods/service and still be happy with what I have spent, knowing I only got points out of it, so there are definite exceptions.

 

[mitwg]

You cant be a true AFF'er then! There have been a fair few things I have done just for the points, e.g. would I pay ATO by credit card and incur a surcharge if it weren't for the points? And then there was the US Grand Slam!

I do know where you are coming from and in fact agree with the general theory. But there are some purchases where I think I could throw away the goods/service and still be happy with what I have spent, knowing I only got points out of it, so there are definite exceptions.

Hehe I had a change of mentality recently.

Me and my group of friends aim to travel to at least 2 formula 1 events each year and to schedule that in between work (most of us work in private equity and travel a lot for work, without the ability to 'disconnect') we would literally fly from London to Abu Dhabi for a 2 day personal trip to the F1 and then quick fly to Hong Kong for work, then back to Abu Dhabi to do the rest of the trip.

It was hellish fun when we did it but a few of us are hitting the age where marriage is now a serious question (we're in late 20s/early 30s) and even for myself, my girlfriend (a.k.a the future CFO) started to question how it is that I justify spending a BMW on personal travel each year. It's a bit ironic that my gf would say that though, considering that I met her while she was working as an FA when I was on one of these trips.

So the joys of seeing my membership rewards balance hit 7 figures is now truly over although this Bankwest thing is a new minor joy I've found in the meantime.

Now I just have to work out how I can pay my bills 'better'.

 

[thehound]

I always try to ask myself 'would I have done this purchase if it wasn't for the points' and tend to refrain against the purchase if I don't feel I can say yes.

I was previously on my wife's family's Telstra business mobile phone plan, and was contributing my share via 1c payments x 50 across 3 accounts. Now we've moved overseas, but I'm continuing to contribute the same payments just for the points! That's a gift of more than $500 per year to the in-laws, and in return I get about 270k QF points.

 

[DanZilla]

Is anyone else having issues with Optus payments atm? Can only get 10 payments (incremented by 1c each loop) going today and yesterday.

 

[ETA_2022]

... That's a gift of more than $500 per year to the in-laws, and in return I get about 270k QF points.

$500 for a OW RTW fare (in economy) seems like a pretty good deal to me.

 

[thehound]

$500 for a OW RTW fare (in economy) seems like a pretty good deal to me.

Actually that would be almost 2 OW RTW awards in economy. Y is 140000, J is 280000. Even better value for $500!

 

[ETA_2022]

Actually that would be almost 2 OW RTW awards in economy. Y is 140000, J is 280000. Even better value for $500!

Oops, in that case, it's an awesome deal!

 

[craiglm]

Is anyone else having issues with Optus payments atm? Can only get 10 payments (incremented by 1c each loop) going today and yesterday.

Yep I'm also having issues.
I've done some testing and my results allow 10 Optus transactions per hour ..... which would be a killer.

 

[ETA_2022]

Is anyone else having issues with Optus payments atm? Can only get 10 payments (incremented by 1c each loop) going today and yesterday.

Yep I'm also having issues.
I've done some testing and my results allow 10 Optus transactions per hour ..... which would be a killer.

I had issues with Optus yesterday. From around 11:45am my payments were rejected, and when it was still rejecting them an hour later, I gave up and paid Telstra instead. For the last 13 of my 15 payments, I paid 1¢ every 10 minutes (over 130 minutes). I can't work out what the problem was. 15 payment limit? 21 payment limit (including the 6 payments after 6pm the night before)? No more than 10 payments of the same amount per day?

Just encountered the same problem today. I did 10 1¢ payments over 100 minutes and the 11th payment was rejected.

We'll have to work out how many hours you need to wait to do another payment and if the trigger is 10 payments or 10 payments of the same amount.

Could someone using iMacro (with firefox) please tell me the secret to avoiding errors when paying Optus.

 

[craiglm]

10 payments of the same amount.

It's definitely not this. I'm doing variable amounts with the same problem.

 

[ETA_2022]

Hopefully the RBA proposals, announced today, won't kill the golden goose, that lays the golden eggs, that are this account's QFF points earn rate for all.

 

[ETA_2022]

... Another friend phoned to get a second card and was asked to call once they received it, so the first card could be cancelled, and was warned that the higher amount would still need to be deposited if they didn't call. Both still work, though it's only been a few days, so the first card may still be cancelled.

Keep us updated! ...

Four months later and both cards still working.

 

[ETA_2022]

It's definitely not this. I'm doing variable amounts with the same problem.

Waiting 2.5 hours didn't allow payments again. Optus must have decided it's time to deal with us extreme payers again.

I wonder what the TIO would have to say (this time)!

 

[benjy]

Is anyone else having issues with Optus payments atm? Can only get 10 payments (incremented by 1c each loop) going today and yesterday.

Yep I'm also having issues.
I've done some testing and my results allow 10 Optus transactions per hour ..... which would be a killer.

I had issues with Optus yesterday. From around 11:45am my payments were rejected, and when it was still rejecting them an hour later, I gave up and paid Telstra instead. For the last 13 of my 15 payments, I paid 1¢ every 10 minutes (over 130 minutes). I can't work out what the problem was. 15 payment limit? 21 payment limit (including the 6 payments after 6pm the night before)? No more than 10 payments of the same amount per day?

Just encountered the same problem today. I did 10 1¢ payments over 100 minutes and the 11th payment was rejected.

We'll have to work out how many hours you need to wait to do another payment and if the trigger is 10 payments or 10 payments of the same amount.

Could someone using iMacro (with firefox) please tell me the secret to avoiding errors when paying Optus.

Waiting 2.5 hours didn't allow payments again. Optus must have decided it's time to deal with us extreme payers again.

I wonder what the TIO would have to say (this time)!

I'm getting the same issues with Optus - I got through all 50 payments yesterday cycling from 0.01 to 0.25 and repeat. Now today, I've paid 0.01 to 0.10 then stopped, can't pay anything else.

Guess I'll have to wait for another 30 minutes or so to see if it will let me make some more payments. Will report back.

 

[benjy]

I'm getting the same issues with Optus - I got through all 50 payments yesterday cycling from 0.01 to 0.25 and repeat. Now today, I've paid 0.01 to 0.10 then stopped, can't pay anything else.

Guess I'll have to wait for another 30 minutes or so to see if it will let me make some more payments. Will report back.

Waited an hour and Optus won't let me make any more payments - Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. 50 points a day is still good.