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

Episode Date: November 29, 2022

Points hacking is not about having anything stolen, it's all about maximising the benefits of your points to get free things like flights, upgrades, hotels and household goods. So on today's show we introduce you to how some of these systems operate and where you can get more information!And as we ALWAYS say on SOTM, credit cards are NOT for everyone so it is important to do your due diligence and see if these systems work for you.Here are some handy links:Point Hacks - Credit CardsFlight Hacks - Credit CardsPoint Hacks - CalculatorFree Qantas Membership LinkPoint Hacks - Hotel ProgramsAcknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements.The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708, AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kernai, Wolperi and Awadjeri woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on Awadjeri country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through. As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it. She's on the money. She's on the money.

Hello and welcome to She's On The Money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. My name is Jessica Ricci and as always, I am joining finance expert Victoria Devine. Hello, Miss Jessica Ricci. How are you? You say your name really weird. Do I? Yeah, you don't say it correctly. It's Ricci, not Ricci. Come on. Someone actually DM'd me the other day. We went to school together and she's like,

I didn't know that was how you said your name. And I'm like, I mean, potato, potato. It's the same, same. Yeah, but if somebody calls me Victoria Devine, I get real salty, so I don't know how you don't get salty and the fact that peer pressure has gotten you to a point where you literally just accept the wrong version of your name because it's easier. She's a doormat, what can we say? But today we're not talking about me, we are talking about points hacking, which is kind of fun.

Is this real left field for She's On The Money? I know, and it's not what you think, V. It's not an episode about getting your rewards points stolen, am I right? No, it is not about that. Albeit, if you want to donate your velocity points to me, you're more than welcome to. It's actually about maximizing the benefits of your points to get free stuff, which is obviously a money win for things like flights and upgrades and hotels and household goods. And Jessica, you literally got a free entire KitchenAid. So we're going to talk about that. We absolutely are. And with many of the biggest programs based around credit cards,

I do want to preface something at the very top of this episode. We always, always, always say that credit cards are not for everybody. In fact, listen back to our most recent episode. It was on September 28th on the pros and cons of credit cards before going any further into this episode, because we're not here to promote you getting a credit card, but there are so many people in our community who have questions about points. And when you ask, we deliver. A hundred percent.

So for those who are inclined and do want to know more, we know that tons of people in our community are always talking about the best way to leverage their points, which is what we're going to chat all about today. And look, it's not about changing what you buy, how much you spend, or signing up for something that you actually can't afford. We don't do that in this house. It is not an option. This is about looking at these systems to see if there's a way of them not only suiting

you, but benefiting you. And today's an introduction to how some of these systems operate and where you can get more information. now these deals are changing all the time so the best thing that you can actually do is just check yourself we will link a few point hack sites that have really good information and cross comparisons of credit card perks and loyalty programs for you these sites will also list the top deals that they have found that run for a limited time and we're going to look at the ways that you can earn points and break them down into some of the big things that you can use them on so flights online shopping

hotel loyalty programs. And we're going to look at flexible points, which really interests me. And then Jessica Ricci, in the second half of the show, we're also going to share your top point hacks that you sent in to us. Sounds great. Let's start by talking about those flexible points programs. What exactly are they? So simply put, flexible points programs, which actually is a mouthful to say, is a scheme where you earn points in a central account. So later you can transfer the points to a range of different loyalty schemes, such as frequent flyer programs, credits and gift cards. Most of the flexible programs in Australia are run by financial institutions like American Express

Member Rewards, ANZ Rewards and Citi Rewards. But supermarket loyalty schemes like Woolworths Everyday Rewards and Flybuys are also flexible points programs. And each flexible points program has a transfer rate between their own points and their partner's points or miles, which actually lets you send your points over to a partner program at fixed rates whenever you want to. So for example, Jess, two Amex points actually transfers over to one Velocity point. So it's basically like a two to one ratio. And most frequent flyer programs themselves don't offer flexible points. Once you earn points in that program, you can't move your balance between other programs, which is what makes flexible rewards programs so appealing.

Yeah, let's talk about one of my favorite kinds of points, which is the two major supermarkets and their programs with the two major airlines. Which is your fave though. Flyby's. Yeah no surprises there. Which conveniently links to Virgin which is our preference for flying and then Woolworths Everyday Rewards which links to Qantas. Why have we got a preference for Virgin? I feel like I've been DM'd this a lot of times Jess and it's literally just because the food in the lounge is better. They're really good and I really like their, this is so off topic, but they recently changed their uniform requirements to be really inclusive, which I loved. I feel like that just really validated why we already flew with them because the people are

just nicer. Full stop, end of story. Sorry, sorry, sorry. But that contract, tell me about Flybuys. All right. So Flybuys is a very big and very longstanding loyalty program that actually connects Coles and Virgin Australia, but it actually has so many more partners like Bunnings and Kmart and literally basically everything under the sun from my perspective. Earning Flybuys points allows you to redeem them for a whole heap of rewards. So these include transferring them to Velocity Points or discounts on your next Kohl's shop or retail items that you buy from the Flybuys store, Jess, which you would know a fair bit about. The value of the points is not equal when spending them in different places though. So there are a lot of people who do these like

points hacking websites where they tell you where you get the best bang for your buck and they are the highest when you use them for Virgin Flights. There you go. Yeah. But did you know the best part about all of this? What? It's free. We love free. You don't even have to have a credit card to start collecting Flybuys points. You literally just get a card and scan it every time you check out. That's a dream. It's actually a dream. And I think that so many people think that they need a credit card to have any type of rewards points. But Jess, why did you get your free KitchenAid mixer? Because I shopped at Coles. But like, did you pay anything for it? No, I used completely points. No credit card? No credit card and no extra spending either. Tried

and true, she just bought a whole heap of Ben and Jerry's. So then we've got Woolworths and Qantas and Everyday Rewards is the loyalty program of Woolworths Supermarkets, BWS, Big W and Caltech's Woolworths Fuel. And you earn points for each dollar spend, which can then later be redeemed for money off your Woolworths shop, money win, or can be converted into Qantas points. Now, Everyday Rewards only has a few partners and set earn rates. So it's pretty simple. And at the moment, you can get one point for every that you spend at Woolworths supermarkets, BWS, or participate in Caltechs and Caltechs, Woolworths outlets, and Big W and online. That sounded like an ad and it absolutely wasn't.

None of this is sponsored. How amazing would it be if we got paid to talk about points? Oh my gosh. That would be like the ultimate points hack. Anyone know someone? Hit us up. Fly by us. Please. I'm your biggest fan. Literally. So with the everyday rewards as well, you get rewards at every 2,000 reward points that you earn. And there are three different ways that you can actually redeem your reward. So you can

convert them to Qantas points. You could get 10 bucks off your next Woolworth shop or bank the value to Christmas and get multiples of $10 off your shop from December onwards, which happens to be a very, very popular one in our community, Jess. Yeah. Now I'm a creature of habit and I generally like to shop at one supermarket, but I know a lot of people like to shop at multiples so that they can get the best deals. I literally can't be bothered. Where I go, there is a Coles and an Aldi basically side by side. Swing into Aldi, get all of my favorite things. Because as you know, you can only get the like good small cucumbers at the Aldi. Obviously, I need to pick up a bottle of Lemuel Rose, not sponsored, honest to God, just good. And then I go get everything

else from Coles and we are done. Like I'm not going to multiple. I choose though, that's better than the average bear, I'd say. I think so. If that's the case, if people are shopping multiple places, is it a bit cheeky to sign up for multiple programs? Absolutely not. Jess, you've got to be in it to win it and if it was me I would be signing up to all of the different programs that are offered by different places and just picking and choosing the offers that work for you. Honestly genius from my perspective. I think so too and a little pro tip from one Flybuys user to another if you have a Flybuys card and you don't use it for a few months generally speaking you'll get a special loyalty prompt where it's like spend $70 in store and you get 4,000 points to get you to

come back. Oh, that's genius. But like you would never know about that, Jessica, because you literally always use your flyby points. And you know what happens, guys, when we check out and she's with me and I don't have my card, she takes my points. Not even sorry about it. But let's go to a really quick break. And when we come back, I want to talk through flights because I feel like that's something a lot of people are interested in. That's all people are here for, which is why we put it on the second side of the episode, Jess. It's called a hook in the industry. Smart from us. Don't go anywhere, guys. We'll see you in a minute. All right. Thanks for sticking around, everybody. Let's chat all things flights. Victoria,

you just mentioned flights as a reward for supermarket loyalty and flexible points programs, but how do the loyalty programs that are specifically for airlines work? So flights are a major across the board incentive for all of the programs that we are actually looking today, especially credit cards, sadly, which are coming up next, but let's look into the airlines thing. So frequent flyer programs are a massive source of revenue for airlines. In some cases, frequent flyer programs are more profitable than the actual airline itself. That's crazy. Yeah, crazy, right? The way frequent flyer programs make their money is by selling the

points to companies who will then use them, the points, as a marketing tool to get you, the consumer, to use their service or buy their product. So if you are new to the points hacking game, your first step is to join a free frequent flyer program. So you need to decide which frequent flyer program you want to align yourself with. In Australia, there are two main ones. So we've got Qantas Frequent Flyer and Velocity Frequent Flyer, which is with Virgin Australia. Arguably, I wouldn't be signing up for both because flights are expensive, Jess. And then you're just dividing the ability to get to a higher status sooner. But you do you, boo. It's free and easy to join Virgin Australia. And if you go on the Qantas website, it will

tell you that it's $99.50 as a fee to sign up, but there are many different ways that you can actually join for free. There are some links in our show notes. You're welcome. And if you've forgotten, just Google it. It is very, very easy. Yeah. There are definitely tons of airlines out there though, not just in Australia that probably have programs that might benefit us as well. Yes. And we have just recently reaped the benefits of this ourselves, Jess, when we went to the US for work. And so we're not here all day. We're just going to really focus on Qantas and Virgin in this episode, but there are obviously lots and lots of different airlines that have lots of good opportunities for Australians to earn and transfer points. But remember when we traveled,

Virgin had so many partner airlines that if we had lounge access with Virgin, we would get it somewhere else in a big capital airport. So money win from my perspective. Absolutely. Now, if I can't afford to fly or if I maybe just don't fly all that often, isn't it a bit of a waste of time joining a frequent flyer program? Haha, you might think so, but there are actually so many opportunities to collect points without flying. You can actually boost your frequent flyer balance pretty fast, Jess. In fact, it is actually possible to earn hundreds of thousands of miles per year without ever flying or setting foot into the sky. And you don't even need to spend points on those flights either. You do this by making your purchases through either the Qantas shopping

website or the Velocity eStore portal or wherever the equivalent of the program's online store is. If you've been using our friends at ShopBack, then these actually work pretty similarly. With both Qantas Shopping and Velocity eStores, you can actually just go to the homepage, log in, click on the retailer that you want to shop at, and you'll be told how many points you have per dollar. And then you'll be redirected to the retailer through the loyalty programs portal. It's honestly really easy. You then complete your purchase as normal and make sure once you've checked out, you sit tight, wait for a few weeks for the points to transfer to credit and your stuff to arrive in your mailbox, your locked mailbox after last week's episode. Absolutely.

Now, can you run me through, VD, what are the affiliated airlines that you can get points through with Qantas and Virgin? There are a fair few. So, Qantas, you can earn and redeem points with airlines. For example, you can do it with Emirates, Cathay Pacific and American Airlines, as well as a whole heap of non-airline partners. And then Virgin, they partner with airlines like Singapore Airlines, Etihad and Delta. Yeah, incredible. Now let's get into arguably the biggest rewards scheme out there, credit cards. And again, we're just giving you a really brief overview and then you can go and do your own research because we're definitely not recommending that you get a credit card just for points because not only do you need to make sure that choosing a

credit card aligns with your values, but the offers available and the nuances of how they work and how long they're available for are all so specific and they change constantly depending on the card. But there are some unifying themes out there that we can touch on, right, V? Yeah, of course. So we won't really talk about the specific cards, but more what they generally offer and how they work. So most banks and credit card companies will try and compete in the market to win you over by offering really big sign up points. You've probably seen it before, like sign up and spend X, Y, Z in your first three months and you get like 150,000 points, which is just worth a return trip to New York. Like it's really interesting, also really sexy. But this means that

you can also earn hundreds of thousands of frequent flyer points with a single sign up. And that's kind of a money win if you were already going to do that. So if you're looking at a credit card and you're like, oh, I just really don't know what one to go with. Like maybe look at the features and benefits of systems like this that could actually help you with a goal that you're working towards anyway. Like if you've got a New York trip on your goal list, maybe that's something that can get you there quicker. They also often offer, depending on the level of the card, either free ongoing lounge access or several passes per year. So I know through the Qantas credit cards, they absolutely give you a few passes per year. If you've got an Amex, usually it's just unlimited

access for you and a partner, which is kind of cool if you fly all the time and that's a value to you. Some offer money for free flights and dining and some offer insurance and other perks like phone screen replacements and reduced or free account fees for the first year or they offer cash back which is obviously a great money win plus points of course don't have to be used just on flying like you literally bought a KitchenAid mixer for your kitchen during lockdown like we didn't need to fly anywhere and she's still reaping the benefits absolutely so let's say I've done my research I'm like oh I want to go to New York and I've decided that signing up for a credit card works for my budget and my lifestyle and I want to get into the whole points

hacking thing. What do I need to be keeping in mind? All right. So the first thing, that question gives me mad anxiety because I feel like so many times people are like, oh, I'm going to do it so I can budget and cash flow better. And then it just doesn't work out so well. So we need to be really, really, really cautious and we need to make sure that we stay in control of our finances and our budget. So we are going to prioritize our budget and cash flow and paying everything off and only putting really necessary purchases on a card. It's really, really easy. And I feel like I'm just getting a bit ranty here, but it's really easy to overspend. So it is honestly so vital that you know what you can afford and you pay your credit card balance in full every single month

and you're not spending beyond your means. So if you are, and you are a responsible human adult, which I am not, Jessica Ricci, you could choose to spend every single dollar on your card and then transfer from your account to pay that balance off in time. You can also put it on direct debit, so it happens automatically. So you don't even have to remember. It will just, you know, if you spent $500 on groceries this month, it will automatically pay it off. Or every time you spend on your credit card, you could actually just log in and pay that amount off so that you are, you know, making sure that you're A-OK and all good. But it kind of keeps you accountable to make sure that with each purchase, you actually have that cash there to transfer immediately.

And if you set that system up, it's very unlikely that if you transfer for every single purchase ever, you're very unlikely to put yourself in a position where it's getting beyond your control. So by doing this, it makes sure that you're not paying any interest. Jess, it's basically like shooting yourself in the foot because if you're paying interest on a card where you're collecting frequent flyer points, it's probably going to render them absolutely useless. You also want to make sure that you're using the right card for the right transaction so that you get the maximum points for every single dollar that you spend. I can imagine you, Jess, getting down and like calculating what is the best card to use and when and at what period of the year and what benefits

you're going to get and what value and bonus there is. I just personally, not my circus, not my monkeys, like I know people do it. I know people enjoy it. I just don't have the time, energy or effort for it. But for example, some cards will actually pay you 1.5 points per dollar if you're shopping at a supermarket, while others might only pay 0.5. So you want to be shopping with the 1.5. Yeah, exactly. And Jess would be all over that. Another thing that I have looked at before is check out pointshack.com.au where there is honestly a great cross comparison of all of the credit cards that are out there. It shows you a whole heap of different offers that are available from like American Express and Visa and MasterCard and branded credit cards,

along with a whole heap of in-depth guides to each of the cards and the benefits and some of the cons. And I have a final little sneaky hot tip for you, Miss Jess Grucci. Next time you're out, pick up the tab. Tell me more. Well, your friends will think you're fantastic because you're like, oh, don't worry, I'll pop it on my card and we'll work it out later. Obviously, then get them to repay you in cash and you walk away with the points. Genius. Actually, now that you mention that, I have a couple of friends who I reckon are doing exactly, and I'm not mad about it. I don't want to pay for a $500 tab on my card. No. And they're so happy to do it. It takes the stress out of it for everyone because we just figure it out, you know, later who owes who what.

You've also kind of got to make sure that you've got trustworthy friends because like offering to pick up the tab, like if I did that with you, I know I'm going to get paid back. It's Jess. She's good for it. She's not a douche. But you know those friends, I don't know if you've still got them, but I left them all behind in university where I'd be like, oh, you owe me $10 because I picked up your XYZ

and they're like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll get to it. I'll get to it. They never get to it. And then I get awkward and then I stop talking about it. and yeah anyway yeah and if you pick up ten dollars for ten friends that's a hundred dollars and it just adds up i think that you're a little bit like me where you're like oh just grab it for you no worries like there needs to be some ebb and flow here and i feel like there are some people out there that you would not pick up the tab for so it's a good tip if you've got wholesome friends

all right talk to me vd about hotel rewards programs okay so again there are so many here but to capture the gist of this hotel loyalty programs are often useful to look at and engage with as they are usually more flexible than frequent flyer programs by allowing you to transfer the points out to a range of different frequent flyer partners. So you'll be able to redeem the points for hotel stays or credit for future travel. And Jess, we travel a fair bit and we usually stay in the same hotels. So it doesn't matter which state or territory we were in. We usually just pick the same branded hotel. One, because I have a point system with them and it's just easier, but two, we know what we're going to get. Like just you and I, we're creatures

of habit. So we don't actually want to try a new fancy hotel. Usually we just want the tried, true and tested. But because we do that and we've stayed so many different times at different places, we often get like welcome drinks. Like we're going on a holiday instead of a work trip. We often get room upgrades or like, do you know how they always leave like chocolates in our room? Oh my God. So good. 10 out of 10. Oh my gosh. Yeah. V, you actually did that recently, didn't you? You transferred points out of your hotel for our flights. Yeah, I did. And the reason I did that was because when we travel for work, and this is like very niche, it might work for some people, it might not work for other people. But when we travel, Jess, for work, it's obviously

a work expense. So like I can deduct the tax off that. But you know what I can't deduct the tax off? My honeymoon. So I'm going to transfer those points out and then pay for my honeymoon flights, which are business class flights that I have gotten literally entirely on points to and from our honeymoon location because like that's just a money win Jess. So now I have free flights and it didn't make sense to like spend all of the points on work stuff if I can transfer it out and use it personally because otherwise I would have had to pay a fair bit per dollar that we earned in tax. So I'd worked it all out. I felt very Jessica Ricci. That is straight genius and before we skedaddle off I thought I'd share a few other hot tips that we got from the Shares

and the Money community who are arguably a lot smarter than us. Honestly sometimes they just run rings around us. Remember that time we spoke to a money diarist who worked out that she got like five points per transaction. So she broke her bill up into like one cent increments and made that algorithm to just like transfer one cent till her bill was paid. Oh my God. Yes. Like what a genius. Like here I am thinking I'm a wizard because I transferred my hotel points to pay for a flight. And she's out here being like, you were basic. Oh my goodness. Well, our first hot tip comes from Anne who said, time getting a credit card with a big bonus points reward. So like you were saying before where you sign up and spend X amount, time that with an upcoming

large expense like your rego. Oh, smart. Or like your insurance is due or something. So you hit that minimum spend really easily. It's not a lot of admin work for you and you don't have to go out of your way to spend more money. Smart. What else have you got? This feels like a Friday drinks money win edition. I know. Next one is meet the minimum spend, earn the points and then call and cancel the card. And a lot of the times you'll be able to get your annual fee refunded. What the heck? Why would you? That sounds dodgy, but like I know it's completely fine. Yeah. And I think it would a lot of the times be done incrementally. So if you've signed up for the card and you had to pay every three months, for example, to get your sign up bonus and you close your card after

the three months, I think a lot of companies would maybe just go ahead and refund the difference. So if you're not using the card for another nine months, you get the nine months back. Yeah. Okay. And the other thing I'd say there though, is just obviously I've got my little finance hat on and I get a little bit angsty with things like this. If you're planning on signing up to credit cards and then canceling them just for points, I'd be really cautious of your credit report and your credit score, because that is not a good thing. Like a lot of turnover on your credit report is not that sexy. And if you're going for a mortgage or you need finance, like that's maybe not the best idea you've ever had. Something really, really good to

keep in mind. Our next tip says, I get a new Qantas frequent flyer card every year because I look at the signup fee versus the amount of points that I get in bonus. And so they've obviously worked out that it's better for them cost-wise to spend that money again, but get a larger bonus a secondary time. Ah, smart. I know, very clever. I feel like by doing that as well, you might also be able to take advantage of, I know that when I signed up for my insurance, I got free access to the Qantas frequent flyer program. So you might be able to stack things that way so that you don't pay the fee and you get a sexy sign up bonus. To be honest, I don't think Qantas are going to be all of that happy with me. But if you Google Qantas frequent flyer sign up free, it usually

comes up with a discount code. I didn't give you that information on this podcast. I love that. And the very last tip that we have here is from Erin and she says that she follows a lot of credit card hacking groups and websites like the Points Hack one because people share up-to-date tips and tricks there all the time. Like we said, it's always changing. So if you're somewhere where you're seeing it all the time, you're thinking about it. There are Facebook groups for this stuff, Jess. People get obsessed over it.

It's like the Kmart Mums Facebook groups. They go off. Points Hacking, exactly the same. And some of these Points Hacking websites have like comment sections and forums and like if you really want to get really deep, you absolutely can. I mean, the one thing I would say to wrap this episode though, Jess, is just be really careful that you're not spending beyond your means and you're not signing up for things that are going to put you in a compromising position in the long term because nobody ever signs up to a credit card with the intention of

getting insignificant debt that they can't get on top of. Like no one is going to do that because that just sounds silly, right? Like I'm not going to be like, hey, Jess, have this credit card. It's really going to ruin your life. And then you're going to have this debt that's going to take you more than seven years to pay back. You'll be like, um, no, thank you, Victoria. That sounds terrible. Yeah. So I think we need to just really reflect on our thoughts, our values, our beliefs, and our behaviors and whether a credit card is going to work. But as we covered in this episode, there are a whole heap of points programs that you can sign up to that don't require a credit card. And maybe that's more akin to you, or maybe you want to go the whole hog and have absolutely

everything you do you boo well I'm going to put a thread in the Facebook group today so go check it out where you can share your top tips and tricks for points hacking if you have any to share I feel like that's going to be a fun thread that's going to pop off it's going to put me to shame I'm going to be like remember that time I got flights for my honeymoon business class for free and they're like babe that was to Queensland I got them to New York oh my gosh sit down the back bye speaking of the Facebook group if you're not a member we would love for you to come and join us the community shares tips and tricks every single day free of judgment and you can search she's on the money on facebook to join us if facebook's not your thing we're on instagram

it's cute it's educational it's a great time where she's on the money aus don't forget lastly if you enjoyed the app leave us a review give us a rating a star i love a star i was that child and we'll put your rewards chart back on the fridge next week oh my god please but i think that's about it for today guys all from us today see you later guys bye happy points hacking the advice shared on she's on the money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances she's on the money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision if you do choose to buy a financial product read the pds tmd and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards

your needs. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289.