Is paying merchant fees yourself for bonus points possible?

Credit Cards & Credit Card Programs
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Hi everyone,

I’m brand new to point hacking and have a “is this legal?” question. I know you can’t give “legal advice”, but let’s call it education!

There’s a number of credit card signup offers with bonus QFF points at the moment. I’m in a real card churning mentality, but the minimum spend on offers far outweigh my normal expenses.

Is it, in theory, possible and legal to setup a merchant account (eg. Square), “spend” the minimum spend to that merchant account, cover the merchant fees yourself, and then refund the spend back to yourself? Or, if the merchant provider won’t allow it, do the same via a Paypal transfer?

I can’t think of any way this would disadvantage anyone. The bank still gets their merchant fees, and I’m still exposed to the same chance of paying interest on purchases. (Not that I would.)

On the other hand, this seems a bit too good to be true. Paying 2% merchant fee on $4,000 is $80, and spending 100K QFF on say, an upgrade might be $5K+ in cash value. Pay $80, get $5K in value???

Am I missing something here?

Thanks!

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It may be possible and it may not be illegal but consider the following:

To use Square you would need an ABN thereby creating possible tax implications.

It could be considered as a ‘fraudulent’ (obtained, done by, or involving deception) means of acquiring points by your FF membership T & Cs. The consequences could be closure of your account Membership and loss of all points.

It could be considered a business transaction and may be classed as ‘ineligible transaction’

Also on another matter…‘card churning mentality’. Remember not to overdo the number of applications for credit cards. It has a negative affect on your credit rating!

 

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