This article was produced in partnership with pay.com.au
As both a business owner and a keen collector of reward points, I love paying business expenses with a credit card to earn those valuable points.
This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to stockpile points that I can later redeem for rewards like business class flights.
The problem is, many suppliers and billers don’t accept card payments, and many card issuers don’t award full points on certain transactions, like payments to the ATO. In addition, some large expenses, like payroll, typically require sending funds by bank transfer.
That’s where the payment platform pay.com.au comes in. With pay.com.au, you can pay almost all expenses with a credit card and earn full reward points, including rent, tax, payroll, superannuation, supplier invoices and other bills. You can also earn points on bank transfer payments. For many businesses, that adds up to a lot of points.
In this article I’ll describe how the platform works, including all the costs and benefits, so you can decide if it’s right for your business.
Right now, there’s also an exciting opportunity to earn 10,000 bonus points when you sign up to pay.com.au via our partner link and transact $10,000 in the first month (more on that later).
What is pay.com.au?
Pay.com.au is an Australian-based payment platform that helps businesses turn bills into rewards.
It’s very secure and easy to use.
Any business with an ABN can sign up and pay all their expenses via the platform. If you choose to pay by card, pay.com.au simply charges your card and then sends money to your payee by BPay or funds transfer, which they typically receive within two business days.
Since your card issuer treats the transaction as a purchase (not a cash advance), it earns full points, like other regular card purchases.
Pay.com.au accepts Mastercard, Visa and American Express cards and its transaction fees are the cheapest in the market. You can also link your bank account for fee-free payments if there are certain expenses you don’t want to pay by card.
Pay.com.au also offers additional services to help your business maximise points earning and redemptions.
Earn more card reward points
Pay lets you earn those sought-after card reward points faster so you can use them for high-value redemptions like flights.
Consider how many expenses you currently have that aren’t earning points and where you could travel with that extra boost to your points balance.
For example, did you know that you can fly from Australia’s east coast to London return with Qantas in business class for 289,200 Qantas Points plus taxes and fees? Or that you can upgrade from premium economy to business class on this route for just 130,800 points return? Earning those points is easy with pay.com.au.
Use your points to travel in Qantas business class
In terms of the cost, pay.com.au charges a flat fee for card transactions, which varies depending on your plan and type of card.
There are three plans to choose from:*
| Free $0 / Month Basic plan with no monthly subscription fee. | Regular $85 / Month Lower rates and baseline access to additional services. | Premium $165 / Month The best rates and additional services. Free 30-day trial. |
| ✔ Mastercard fee of 1% ✔ Visa fee of 1.20% ✔ AMEX fee of 2.10% ✔ Bank Account transfer fee of 0% ✔ Access to PayRewards | ✔ Mastercard fee of 0.90% ✔ Visa fee of 1.10% ✔ AMEX fee of 2.05% ✔ Bank Account transfer fee of 0% ✔ PayTravel points bookings (1x domestic, 1x international per year) ✔ Points advice ✔ Access to PayRewards | ✔ Mastercard fee of 0.80% ✔ Visa fee of 1% ✔ AMEX fee of 1.9% ✔ Bank Account transfer fee of 0% ✔ PayTravel points bookings (2 x domestic, 2x international per year) ✔ Points advice ✔ Access to PayRewards |
| * All fees specified exclude GST |
The extent to which this is a good deal for you depends on how many points you earn on your card and what you do with those points.
Points are generally worth the most when you redeem them for travel in business or first class, whether that’s a reward seat or an upgrade.
For example, my American Express business card earns 1.25 Qantas Points per $1 spent. To earn 100,000 Qantas Points on it, I need to put through $80,000 of transactions via pay.com.au. On the Regular plan, this would cost 2.05%, totalling $1640. But since I would claim this on tax, the effective cost of the 100,000 Qantas Points is really $1230.
What can I do with 100,000 Qantas Points? I can upgrade from premium economy to business class on my next trip from Melbourne to Los Angeles, at a cost of 49,100 points each way. That’s worth a lot more than $1230 to me.
Earn points on card transactions and bank transfers via PayRewards
As well as earning points on your card, you can also earn points in pay.com.au’s own loyalty program, PayRewards.
Each time you make a card transaction, you can choose to earn PayRewards points on it, for an additional fee (double dipping on points, essentially!).
The option to earn PayRewards Points is also available when you pay someone via your business bank account linked to the platform, since there may be times when you prefer this payment method over a credit card. In fact, you can use this to earn PayRewards points when you pay off your credit card bill each month, giving you another opportunity to double dip on points.
Earning PayRewards Points is an optional extra that you can decide to take up during each transaction. The cost is 1.0% to earn 1 point per $1 spent, or 1.8% to earn 2 points per $1 spent. This is on top of pay.com.au’s regular transaction fee which applies to card transactions (but not bank transfers).
PayRewards Points can be redeemed for anything you want via pay.com.au’s personal shopper service or transferred to the Qantas Business Rewards or Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer loyalty programs, where 2.5 PayRewards Points = 1 Qantas Point or 1 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer mile.
Use your points to experience Singapore Airlines business class
To get 100,000 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles or Qantas Points this way, you need to transfer 250,000 PayRewards points, which can be earned by opting to get 2 PayRewards Points per $1 on $125,000 of transactions, at a cost of $2250 (or $1688 if you take into account a 25% tax deduction).
Again, whether this is a good deal for you depends on how you will use those points.
Other benefits and services
In addition to earning points, there are several other benefits to consider, including:
- improved cash-flow when you pay by card, since you have up to 55 days to pay it off without incurring interest
- simpler payments, since you can save multiple cards and bank accounts and pay all business expenses via the platform
- seamless integration with Xero to make bookkeeping more efficient
- points advice: get expert help on setting your business up with credit cards to maximise points
- PayTravel: customers on a monthly plan can get help from a dedicated team to book paid and points flights and other travel experiences. The Regular plan comes with one domestic and one international complimentary booking per year, while the Premium plan comes with two domestic and two international bookings. Fees apply for additional services
- PayConcierge: pay.com.au’s luxury concierge service helps you access experiences such as reservations at top restaurants, VIP concert tickets and premier cultural events. The service is free for active customers.
Plus earn 10,000 bonus PayRewards Points
As a special incentive for our readers, pay.com.au is offering 10,000 bonus PayRewards Points to new customers who sign up via our partner link and process $10,000 or more in the first month by either (i) a credit card or (ii) a bank transfer where PayRewards Points are earned (T&Cs apply).
This is a great opportunity to try out the service while boosting your points balance.
To find out more and sign up, visit pay.com.au here.
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