Limit to how many FF-Credit Cards you can sign up?

[nn31]

Hey, first time poster so go easy on me if this is in the wrong area, though I believe it is correct...

I currently have the BMW Gold AMEX and the Woolworth Everyday Select cards (both received bonus points for starting up) and they have been great to me.
Pretty happy with them, but would love to earn some more extra points...

That anyone knows of, if there any danger in me say applying for the ANZ deal to get bonus 16k points and then cancel, as possible the AMEX Edge as well?

Does anyone know if doing this kind of thing is monitored by any entity and does it effect your credit rating history to have had a lot of different cards? (im only 26 and don't wanna screw it up)


THANKS EVERYONE! Love the forum!

 

[Duffa]

Hey, first time poster so go easy on me if this is in the wrong area, though I believe it is correct...

I currently have the BMW Gold AMEX and the Woolworth Everyday Select cards (both received bonus points for starting up) and they have been great to me.
Pretty happy with them, but would love to earn some more extra points...

That anyone knows of, if there any danger in me say applying for the ANZ deal to get bonus 16k points and then cancel, as possible the AMEX Edge as well?

Does anyone know if doing this kind of thing is monitored by any entity and does it effect your credit rating history to have had a lot of different cards? (im only 26 and don't wanna screw it up)


THANKS EVERYONE! Love the forum!

I currently have Westpac Singapore Amex, woolworths , citi mastercard, citi emirates. I was on a roll with freebie cards and then got knocked back applying for ANZ card last year.
I applied for my credit file ( as you are legally entitled to do, for free, when refused credit) and was none the wiser about how they decided on my credit-worthiness. I pay off every card in full every month, as I have done for the last 20 years, so even that didn't stop me being refused
However, even I could see that I have had a lot of card applications in past 5 years, including the cancelled (by me) CBA Amex and BMW card! Maybe that put them off.
Subsequently, I applied for Amex plat charge and Amex reserve as upgrade from BMW card and was successful, so they also use your spend history to make decisions.

You could try upgrading the BMW Amex to Platinum - but at $900 p.a. you need a big card spend to justify it.
If you just keep changing cards to get the freebies you will eventually get rumbled. I don't how long you'd have to wait to apply for another card in that instance.

Good luck!

 

[cove]

The Big4 Banks only have an enrollment deal ....other than that you will find yourself wanting to cancel their cards pretty quickly so I would not go there when there are so many better options.

 

[nn31]

hey guys

thanks first up

Im asking because i don't want the card like ANZ to keep - i just want the bonus points haha.
I know thats pretty petty but for me, i dont have massive spends, and i don't get to fly a lot for work or anything so the bonus points can help a lot. This year from bonus points and paying my uni fee's up front on the Woolies card i managed to wrack up 49, 000pts.

anyways - just a quiery.

 

[cove]

nn31 let me make a simple suggestion to get you thinking about points so you get your chance.
In your circle of friends and family there would be taxpayers who put a payment through to the Tax Office to pay some taxes by electronic transfer or cheque at the Post Office but don't want to fly anywhere. If you were to pay some taxes on your point a dollar credit card you would be making points at 0.48 cents each and travel becomes your oyster.
The Qantas site gives you a list of credit cards they are affiliated with and the earning rate if you want to travel One World. You only need one card or maybe two that earn you points.

 

[nn31]

nn31 let me make a simple suggestion to get you thinking about points so you get your chance.
In your circle of friends and family there would be taxpayers who put a payment through to the Tax Office to pay some taxes by electronic transfer or cheque at the Post Office but don't want to fly anywhere. If you were to pay some taxes on your point a dollar credit card you would be making points at 0.48 cents each and travel becomes your oyster.
The Qantas site gives you a list of credit cards they are affiliated with and the earning rate if you want to travel One World. You only need one card or maybe two that earn you points.

Thanks for the info!~
But can you explain how you would be earning 1 point per 48c?? im confused...
Both my CCs are point per dollar so thats sorted - but yeah confused what you mean by the 48c scenario...

 

[cove]

The Tax Department processing fee to pay any tax bill is 0.48% so if you paid a tax bill on a point a dollar Visa or MasterCard of $1000 the fee for this would be $4.80 to get the 1,000 points.

 

[nn31]

The Tax Department processing fee to pay any tax bill is 0.48% so if you paid a tax bill on a point a dollar Visa or MasterCard of $1000 the fee for this would be $4.80 to get the 1,000 points.

Cove, i really don't want to p**s you off cos your being really kind to me here but it's just not computing in my head. :shock:

Are you saying that is my sister had to pay, say $1000 tax debt... and i pay it on my credit card, get charged the $4.80 free... then get 1000pts... whats gained?
OR are you saying she pays the $1000 herself, then i pay the processing fee and somehow get 1000pts...

I used to work for Qantas in their FF dept as a senior consultant, so I'm not a total knob-head (in fact i probably can give some insight into a few things from the inside) but i'm really feelin like one here haha -

Can i risk annoying you further to ask you to dumb it down more for me???

 

[bronzed and ready]

I believe he means the .48 percent is a surcharge for paying by credit card. So in his example of a $1000 tax bill the surcharge will be $4.8 and total payment will therefore be $1004.80 to the ATO!

 

[cove]

Yes that is the deal. On some cards you will get 1000 points or even 1005 points if you are using a point a dollar card.....the Qantas website lists which cards do the best Visa or MasterCard earning.

 

[Duffa]

Cove, i really don't want to p**s you off cos your being really kind to me here but it's just not computing in my head. :shock:

Are you saying that is my sister had to pay, say $1000 tax debt... and i pay it on my credit card, get charged the $4.80 free... then get 1000pts... whats gained?
OR are you saying she pays the $1000 herself, then i pay the processing fee and somehow get 1000pts...

I used to work for Qantas in their FF dept as a senior consultant, so I'm not a total knob-head (in fact i probably can give some insight into a few things from the inside) but i'm really feelin like one here haha -

Can i risk annoying you further to ask you to dumb it down more for me???

nn, there are two different types of "credit card" frequent flyer.
There are those who accumulate points through their everyday purchases, pay their bills on time and never pay a penalty for credit card transactions. These flyers can typically clock up 20,000 to 50,000 per year.
Then there are those serious card users, like cove, who chose to "buy" points by paying for EVERYTHING on their card, even if it comes with a surcharge. These really smart users pay a small penalty (in the case of the ATO - 0.48%) when they pay their tax or other bills. This surcharge is, in effect, the cost of "buying" the points. The bigger your bills the more points you can "buy".
If you are lucky (unlucky) enough to have a $100,000 tax bill each year, you could earn 100,000 points for just $480!. Lucky cove!!!!

 

[cove]

Ok once you run up points by paying some family taxes using say a point a dollar Visa or MasterCard and you have the points transferred into your account you could go looking at business class seats from one coast to the other coast. If that chews up 45,000 points the real cost of your seat going one way is $216 or about half that in economy for half the number of points.

 

[Stephen65]

Cove, i really don't want to p**s you off cos your being really kind to me here but it's just not computing in my head. :shock:
Are you saying that is my sister had to pay, say $1000 tax debt... and i pay it on my credit card, get charged the $4.80 free... then get 1000pts... whats gained?
OR are you saying she pays the $1000 herself, then i pay the processing fee and somehow get 1000pts...

You can pay your sister's tax bill using your credit card. In fact you can pay anyone's tax bill using your credit card provided they give you the correct account details. So if your sister had a $1000 tax bill you could pay it for her via the government portal and a total of $1004.80 would be charged to your card (assuming its a Visa or MC) and you would earn 1004 FF points (on a point per dollar card). Hopefully your sister then reimburses you the $1000...

The more tax you pay the more points you can earn. If you value points at more than the surcharge its an easy way to come out ahead. This really works best for self-employed taxpayers because we pay our tax (and GST and PAYG for our employees) out of our own pockets instead of having it deducted from our salaries and because the surcharge is probably tax deductible for us when we pay our own tax. There can also be a time value of money benefit in that you can delay having to pay your tax for up to 55 days.

 

[nn31]

THANK YOU!

Sorry the problem was i wasn't getting the idea of the "cc fee" being a buy for points.

But makes perfect sense.

At the moment I'm the first type of credit card holder, i pay most things on cc and pay off every month.
Usually shy away from things that have a surcharge thinking I'm losing out - but have to admit, with an international holiday coming up in JAN, i was thinking it would be worth buying everything on cc (TK, insurance, etc)

So that pretty much sums up my choice. I already had offered to pay all tickets etc on my card and have friends pay me back (i trust they will )
So hopefully this could be a good little point earner, especially since I'll be flying CX BNE>HKG>NRT, KIX>HKG>BNE
Not phenomenal point earner compared to you guys hehe but hey!

With Cove shaking me and getting me to realise what i should have realised already - and thx everyone for helping break it down! definitely a warm welcome to the forum.

 

[Stephen65]

You're welcome. What I said about paying someone else's tax bill applies equally to paying any other bill or charge for someone else on your CC and if there are no surcharges all the better.

The next step is to ensure that you are getting maximum points earn per dollar spent on your CC and this forum has a wealth of information about which are the best CC for that.

 

[iaaleanne]

It would be possible to take the ATO billing to another level. The payment slips you get are not coded to only accept the amount on them. You could accidentally overpay your tax bill/BAS and then once cleared call the ATO and ask for a refund of the excess. It will be in your bank account within 28 days but the points stay.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

It would be possible to take the ATO billing to another level. The payment slips you get are not coded to only accept the amount on ...

Doesn't work. I overpaid the last BAS to try this exact same thing and now I'm in credit with the ATO.





Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app

 

[cove]

Finally you have to value your funds you use.
I am running with less cards but for more generous points earning.
I am wanting long term relationships rather than a six month flip so if bad times ever come I think "member since 1970 something" may carry some weight.
Economic downturns occur so you should have 9 months safety money IMHO.

 

[Duffa]

Doesn't work. I overpaid the last BAS to try this exact same thing and now I'm in credit with the ATO.





Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app

So did I. A genuine accident though. Paid a BAS over two cards and got my sums wrong. My accountant had the money back in about 10 days - before visa bill due.
I thought, hmmm this could be an angle but my accountant wouldnt have a bar of it!!
End result. No go!

 

[Craigie]

Doesn't work. I overpaid the last BAS to try this exact same thing and now I'm in credit with the ATO.

You can stay in credit or request a refund. The ATO will process the refund if you're up to date with your tax obligations.

I'd say you could get away with this once or twice but you would raise a few flags if you kept doing it....