Citi Select - 2 million point question

[Korda]

The company I work for has a one off GST bill of $2 million and a one off stamp duty bill of $500,000. The bills are due to be paid by 21 December. The company I work for won't have another expense like this for at least a year or two. My boss doesn't mind if I pay as much of these bills by credit card and then seek reimbursement. After reading many many threads on this site, my wife and I each signed up for our own Citi select cards. The cards arrived this week and I made my first purchase at the store today. We are still waiting for our PIN numbers and the ability to set up Internet access for our accounts. I was wondering what AFF members think would be a reasonable amount to charge, reload, charge, reload, etc within the first 5 weeks of these cards to maximise this rare opportunity to gather points and minimise the likelihood of getting kicked out of these programs. For reference our credit limits are $50k each. We have also just set up Woolworths Qantas everyday money cards with $20k limits each to gather some points there too. The same question applies for those programs.

The advice of high point earners would very much be appreciated.

 

[Pukka]

I've had a Citibank Signature Select for 2 months and put about $110k through without any problem but that's mixed in with pages and pages of personal spend and all under $35k each time. I think the chances of putting 2.5 large through in 5 weeks and getting the points are virtually nil but best of luck with that.

 

[cove]

Citi Select used to phone me to confirm that the payments to the ATO were legitimate so expect those calls.
Start early.......
Currently I am working thru a land tax bill, a BAS bill ,some rates and taxes that will take several days to process because I dont want to put either of the two Select cards massively into credit on a daily basis.
We BPay $100K per day into cards that have combined credit limits of $125k. I could up the BPay limit but have left it alone as this has worked ok.

Be sure to use your Woolworths cards now on some retail stuff as they could cancel the cards seeing HSBC who run the card can be pretty titchy with a whole page of ATO bills being booked with nothing else.
There would be nothing worse than getting your card put on hold after putting the credit card $500k in credit. I received a Private Message on this happening to an AFF member.

 

[cove]

I did use two Westpac Amex Platinum cards to handle a large ATO bill and so I banked a cashed cheque then returned to my office down the street to pay the whole bill in about an hour. The cost to do this is quite a bit more but you could shandy in some of each to get it all done. Select can cost 0.36 cents/point and a co-branded Amex should cost about 0.96 cents/point.
Westpac Platinum Altitude will allow you to warehouse points in the same way as Citi Select (non Qantas ) does.

 

[cove]

By the way if you are able to pay $2.5 million on the two non Qantas Citi Select cards you can earn 1.33 net points per dollar into your Citi points warehouse which will show as 5 million Citi Rewards points that you can then transfer when you need them. The transfer to my favourite place will get you 3.33 million Kris Flyer miles with Singapore Airlines!

I treated one of my sons to an England/Scotland business class run to London yesterday and it was easy to book. In fact first class was available but he is more than happy with a quick run to London in J as one of my redemption nominees.

If you shandy in a Westpac Platinum Altitude card (times two) your points earn rate is a net 1.5 points per dollar but of course this will cost you more in processing with the ATO and you can warehouse the points

 

[Pukka]

Ok I bow to Coves superior knowledge here if he thinks its ok them I'm sure it is. I suppose if you are splitting it between 4 cards its not as large but still a significant amount.
Personally I wouldn't load the card up massively I'd do daily or every other day payments. With Citibank I've found if you BPAY them the payment is on the card next day so you can use up the credit limit again.

So again best of luck,

 

[burmans]

Ok I bow to Coves superior knowledge here if he thinks its ok them I'm sure it is. I suppose if you are splitting it between 4 cards its not as large but still a significant amount.
Personally I wouldn't load the card up massively I'd do daily or every other day payments. With Citibank I've found if you BPAY them the payment is on the card next day so you can use up the credit limit again.

So again best of luck,

Cove has been actually doing this for a while, so I'd trust his actual experience over those who "believe" you'll have a problem.

 

[cove]

Expect the calls from the Citi back office as repeated entries of 50K by a newbie will activate the fraud section. My best advice is "Don't miss those calls" as they could suspend the card. I have avoided going massively into credit with Citi so the daily BPay of $100k split over 2 cards may sound laborious but by starting early it gets done.
I would be suggesting having 2 Westpac Platinum Altitude cards on standby even though the points cost 0.96 cents as you can warehouse the points nicely for any part of the payments if you run out of BPay days for Citi

 

[Cruiser Elite]

The company I work for has a one off GST bill of $2 million and a one off stamp duty bill of $500,000. The bills are due to be paid by 21 December................The advice of high point earners would very much be appreciated.

Korda - you are not for a minute inferring that AFF posters who have absolutely no experience or knowledge of a certain topic would indeed espouse their theories on same would you?

Nah - that would never happen on AFF

 

[The Rok]

Are you going to pay the CC fee personally? What is is, 1.25%? $30,000+

 

[Pukka]

Cove has been actually doing this for a while, so I'd trust his actual experience over those who "believe" you'll have a problem.

I think you've hit the nail on the head, Cove has a long track record with them so I don't think it's a comparable situation.

All I'm saying is that if you open a credit card and then put over $1M through it in 5 weeks ( with a $50K limit) its going to attract attention, so someone is going to look at the account. Their T & C's are very clear that ATO payments do not attract reward points. Now it's obvious that they turn a blind eye to it but I think this comes into the tall poppy category so you are asking them to totally disregard their T & C's If that's company policy then fine but if not ??

Anyway it's only a tax deductible $12K punt so worth a go

 

[markis10]

Anyway it's only a tax deductible $12K punt so worth a go

I would get advice on that.

 

[MAX_1]

Will your boss begin giving you the funds weeks before he needs to pay?

Also with the Woolies card - caution. They cancelled my card due to cahrging business expenses. There was a case here in Qld where the user also lost all their point on the transactions.

 

[Pukka]

I would get advice on that.

Yes always essential for sure !!!

 

[burmans]

Their T & C's are very clear that ATO payments do not attract reward points.

Maybe it's changed but are you sure ATO is specifically mentioned, I have not seen this? The general mention is that business expenses are not allowed but there is actually no way for Citibank to know it's a business tax payment vs a personal tax payment. They may suspect but that not the same as knowing.

 

[cove]

Citi Select appear to have paid up on everything for us. You do have to guess/calculate this yourself as it is just a single figure without any supporting documentation like you get with Amex. I did see I received 5 Citi Rewards points for car hire in the US as that lists separately.
Sometimes my card statement is pretty long so it is close to impossible to reconcile the spend to the points awarded.
The only card I put into a big credit balance was a Westpac Amex and I am still using those points from 2 years ago by flying my redemption nominees in business,first and Suites with Singapore Airlines. I have not regretted paying .83 cents less a tax credit for those points to travel the world in style. Points that cost less than half a cent are my favourite in getting low cost travel redemptions up the front of the plane.
With Citi Select I have not put that card massively into credit but sometimes it could go $100k or more in credit due to a timing issue on ATO payments hitting the accounts. It does appear that Citi has not mulched on anyone's points earn on their Select cards despite the call centre suggesting to card holders that it may be a problem. I still avoid talking to the call centre.

 

[cove]

Thanks max_1 for your comment on Woolworths and business expenses. As a result we don't use the Woolworths card for business stuff like an end of month creditors run or purchases of inventory. I felt your pain when they took you away from your card a year or so ago. You are proof that there is life after a credit card set back like that.
Around that time Amex Ultimate gave me an account manager and she urged me to use the cards more widely than just paying the ATO so I did.

 

[Pukka]

Maybe it's changed but are you sure ATO is specifically mentioned, I have not seen this? The general mention is that business expenses are not allowed but there is actually no way for Citibank to know it's a business tax payment vs a personal tax payment. They may suspect but that not the same as knowing.

When Amex enhanced the points system I decided it was time to get a new card so I sent an email to Citi about the Sugnature Select ( under a different name & email because I'm paranoid) to specifically ask them if I'd get points for ATO payments supplier payments etc . They replied stating their T & C's said no ATO no running a business through the card and no putting it more than $10k in credit.

I don't think I would have specifically said business ATO payments but they might have assumed that although they didn't say ATO is ok if it's personal just no ATO

So I read the posts from Cove etc on here and I've used it for a couple of months put over $100k of tax & $100k of suppliers payments through it without any problem. I know this is small beer to what some people put through but I'm really happy with the card I now use it for just about everything & keep reloading it the Amex is gathering dust at the back of the wallet.

The only downside is the $50k newbie credit limit with Amex I would sometimes use 4 x that by the due date

I'm really impressed with the points & exchange rate you get with Citibank on foreign purchase way way better than Amex

 

[cove]

BPay only runs 5 days a week so if you want to pay a chunky bill you need a good sized BPay limit or start early.
Remember this is a game to get the wholesale travel cost for the best seats on the plane.
Citi has been getting quite a bit of business now that our partners are using the Select card.
When we joined Citi Select only had about 2,000 members. It looks like that has changed now.

 

[Arrow29]

Wow, Cove, seems like you have really discovered how to both maximise your points earnings and use them to full effect! I dream of having the number of KF miles as you one day so I can fly my wife and I first class on SQ long haul. One day..

Good luck Korda, hope you manage to pull it off.