Reward yourself with card deals

Using credit card reward programs wisely helps you take off sooner. Picture: Marc McCormack Source: News Corp Australia

CREDIT card rewards and frequent flyer point programs often cop a bit of flak from money experts who claim they're not worth the cost or effort.

However, an army of savvy Aussies are making the most of them by following some simple rules to enjoy free flights, gift cards and other goodies.

Combining credit card and supermarket reward programs delivers the biggest bang for your buck, and anyone who doesn't at least think about this is probably throwing money down the drain.

We saw the value of these programs illustrated last week in reports that some Coles check-out staff were being monitored for swiping their own flybuys cards to collect points unwanted by customers.

Yep, those check-out staff are pretty cluey, realising that you need just 2000 points for a $10 shopping voucher. And with a typical family weekly shopping bill costing more than $300, it doesn't take too many weeks — or swipes — to get some handy cash.

Shopping with both a rewards credit card and a supermarket rewards card can get you two or three points for every dollar spent, which could equal 1000 points per week from groceries alone. Over a year, that's enough for a return flight for two people between most capital cities.

Flights are only part of the fun. Major reward programs have big online stores with thousands of ways to redeem points, ranging from 127 different electronic items at flybuys.com.au to a Unicef donation that vaccinates 90 underprivileged children for 5800 points at qantaspoints.com.

Here are five ways to make the most of reward programs:

1. Use the cards for every expense possible but avoid being slugged big surcharges, which are becoming common for American Express cards and usually offset any points benefit you may get. Small business owners — who have more expenses than regular consumers — can get huge benefits from this strategy..

2. Look for special deals through partnerships. Reward points are a big business and a growing number of corporate partners are joining each program, offering deals to secure bonus points on anything from car hire to banking.

3. Offer your card to pay the final bill at group dinners or other events with friends or family. You get the benefit of the points, plus some cash in your purse or wallet to help you avoid ATM withdrawal fees in future. Just make sure everyone pays you their share.

4. Cash in for Christmas. You still have a few days to save some money for Christmas through buying gift vouchers and other presents with reward points. The cut-off date for delivery of these items before Christmas seems to be around December 17 for most sites, so act fast.

5. Pay the debt off within its interest free period, usually about 55 days. If you don't, the anti-card crowd are correc in saying that it's not worth it. At interest rates near 20 per cent, a credit card with an ongoing $10,000 balance will slug you $2000 a year in interest on top of the card fee — much more than the value of any benefits you get.

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