What Counts Toward Minimum Spend, Per Issuer (Australia, 2026)

By Craig McNamara · Published on 14 June 2026

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Minimum spends have ballooned. The old $2,000–$3,000-in-90-days targets are gone; across the live offers in our database right now, the common range is $4,000–$9,000 in 90 days, and a few cards push to $12,000 (Westpac Altitude Rewards Black over 12 months, MyCard Premier at the top tier). Hitting that without wasting money is one thing — our general guide to meeting minimum spend covers the tactics (ATO via Sniip, prepaid insurance, gift cards, timing big purchases).

But there's a second, sharper question the tactics guides skip: does the spend actually count? Every issuer defines "eligible spend" differently, the exclusions are buried in offer T&Cs, and the rules are scattered across OzBargain threads owned by nobody. Put $5,000 of ATO and BPAY through the wrong card and you can miss the bonus entirely.

This is the per-issuer reference. It's general information, not personal advice — and bonus terms change, so the offer's own T&Cs are always the final word. Every rule below is cited; where an issuer's terms are silent or unclear, it's flagged rather than guessed.

The near-universal exclusions

Before the per-issuer detail, here's what almost no Australian rewards card counts toward a bonus, anywhere. Point Hacks' eligible-purchases guide lists these as "generally deemed ineligible" across cards (Point Hacks — What is an eligible purchase):

Balance transfers
Cash advances
Cash-equivalent transactions (money orders, traveller's cheques, foreign currency, often gift cards)
Gambling and gaming spend
Card fees (annual fee, late fees) and interest charges
Refunded transactions (a refund doesn't just not count — it reduces your tally)

Beyond that list, the two that catch churners out most — and that vary by issuer — are BPAY and government/ATO payments. Point Hacks notes plainly that "the definition of an eligible purchase can vary between cards, banks and financial institutions," so check the specific offer. The per-issuer breakdown below is mostly about those two and the cash-equivalent grey area.

Refunds work against you. If you return something during the bonus window, the refund is deducted from your eligible spend. CommBank states this directly: refunds "are not eligible transactions" and effectively increase the spend you still owe (CommBank credit card offers).

Per-issuer: what's excluded from bonus spend

American Express

Amex's bonus T&Cs define eligible purchases narrowly and — unusually — do not name BPAY or government/ATO payments as exclusions. The standard clause across its Australian rewards cards reads:

"Eligible purchases do not include Card fees and charges, for example annual fees, interest, late payment, cash advances, balance transfers, traveller's cheques and foreign currency conversion."

(Sourced from the Qantas American Express Ultimate and Explorer card terms via Australian Frequent Flyer and Point Hacks.)

Churners report retail gift cards (Woolworths, Bunnings, Amazon) and direct-biller payments like council rates and prepaid private health insurance successfully counting toward Amex spend targets (OzBargain — Amex spend-target tips, Feb 2026). On BPAY, the silence is moot: Amex says "it is currently not possible to make BPAY payments directly using an Amex Card" (American Express AU), so BPAY can't be a direct lever at all — reaching a BPAY biller means a third-party service like Sniip, which bills as an ordinary card transaction. Government/ATO isn't named in the bonus exclusions and government spend does earn (at a reduced rate), but a payment can still post as a cash advance depending on the merchant code, and experienced churners report it often doesn't count toward the minimum — treat it as card- and merchant-specific.

One Amex edge worth knowing: additional-cardholder spend counts. Supplementary-card purchases post to the primary account, and Point Hacks confirms "spend from both the primary and supplementary cards will count towards your minimum spend requirement" (Point Hacks — additional cardholders) — a legitimate way to hit a big target faster.

Don't forget Amex's blanket re-bonus rule: you're ineligible if you've held any Amex-issued Australian card in the past 18 months (Point Hacks — Amex sign-on eligibility).

ANZ

ANZ has one of the most explicit exclusion lists, and it's broad. From the ANZ Frequent Flyer Black product page and the ANZ Rewards Program T&Cs, eligible spend excludes:

Interest, fees and cash advances
Balance transfers
BPAY or Post BillPay payments
Government Charges — "payments for goods, services, charges and/or levies made to a local, state or federal government" — which ANZ confirms covers the ATO, council rates, motor registries, tolls, fines and public transport
Cash-equivalent transactions — explicitly including "gift cards or prepaid cards, foreign currency, traveller's cheques, money transfers or gambling chips"

So on ANZ, gift cards are named as excluded — they will not help you hit the spend. ANZ describes what does count simply: "most every day purchases are eligible purchases" (ANZ Frequent Flyer Black; current offers $2,500–$5,000 in 90 days).

NAB

NAB's exclusions mirror ANZ's breadth. From the NAB Qantas Credit Card Rewards T&Cs (corroborated by Point Hacks), the minimum spend ("everyday purchases", $3,000–$5,000 in 90 days) excludes:

Cash advances (NAB includes over-the-counter bank withdrawals and traveller's cheques here)
Balance transfers
Fees, charges and interest
ATO payments — named explicitly
BPAY — named explicitly
Government / semi-government payments broadly — "Australia Post, payments to the ATO, council rates, motor registries, tolls, parking stations and meters, fares on public transport, fines and court related costs"
Gambling/gaming

Timing matters too: NAB only counts purchases "processed and charged to your account" within the 90-day window — a transaction made on day 89 that posts on day 91 misses (Australian Frequent Flyer — NAB Qantas Rewards Signature).

CommBank

CommBank's canonical exclusion line is shorter but has one notable carve-out:

"...excludes for example BPAY transactions, cash advances, balance transfers and payments to the Australian Taxation Office unless made using a Business Awards card."

(From the CommBank Awards help page and Ultimate Awards card page.) So ATO payments count on a CommBank Business Awards card but not on personal Awards cards — a genuine churner edge if you have an ABN. Current offers: $4,500 (Smart Awards) to $9,000 (Ultimate Awards) in 90 days.

The full Awards Program T&Cs (1 October 2025) settle what that short blurb leaves open — and CommBank is narrower on government than the other big banks. Its eligible-purchase definition excludes "Payments through the BPAY Electronic Payments Scheme" and "Payments to the Australian Taxation Office — unless made using a Business Awards Card", plus the usual cash advances, balance transfers, foreign exchange, travellers cheques and gambling/lottery (CommBank Awards Program T&Cs, 1 Oct 2025). Broader government charges — council rates, tolls, motor registries, fines — are not on that list, unlike ANZ, NAB and the Westpac group, so paid directly by card (not via the excluded BPAY) they generally count, subject to how the merchant is categorised. Gift cards aren't named either: CommBank's "cash equivalent" net is "gambling, lottery tickets, money transfers or travellers cheques" — not retail gift cards — so a supermarket gift card should count. Additional-cardholder purchases post to the same Card Account and accrue at the account level.

Westpac, St.George, Bank of Melbourne, BankSA

The four Westpac-group brands share one Altitude exclusion clause, verbatim:

"Eligible purchases do not include interest, fees and charges, cash or ATM cash advances, cash equivalent transactions, gambling transactions, a purchase from or payment to a local, state or federal government or government related agency, BPAY or similar transactions (such as Post Billpay), refunds and balance transfers debited from the card account."

(From the Westpac Altitude Rewards Black and Altitude Qantas Black pages.) So government, BPAY/Post BillPay and refunds are all out. Spend targets range from $3,000–$6,000 in 90 days up to $12,000 over 12 months depending on the card.

Westpac does define "cash equivalent" — in its full Altitude T&Cs (effective 12 June 2024), not on the card pages. There, a Cash Advance covers "items we consider to be equivalent to cash (for example, foreign currency, traveller's cheques, money orders or stored value cards)" and transfers to a "prepaid card" (Westpac Altitude Terms & Conditions). A retail gift card is a stored-value card, so it most likely falls inside the exclusion on Westpac-group Altitude cards — don't count on gift cards to hit a target here. Points accrue at the Card Account level, so an additional cardholder's eligible spend earns too.

Qantas Premier (Platinum, Titanium)

Qantas Premier still runs on the legacy Citi platform, and its Rewards T&Cs define an Eligible Transaction as a purchase excluding:

"...Cash Advances, Balance Transfers, Special Promotions, BPAY payments, purchases of foreign currency and travellers cheques, transactions made in operating a business, payments to other Citi accounts, bank fees and charges such as interest and ATM charges, transactions made using Qantas Points and government related transactions."

Government-related is defined broadly (ATO, council rates, Australia Post, tolls, public transport, fines). BPAY and business transactions are out. Both cards ask for $5,000 in 90 days (AFF — Qantas Premier Platinum). Gift cards aren't named in the eligible-transaction definition — the only cash-equivalent items it lists are foreign currency and travellers cheques — so retail gift cards aren't categorically excluded, though Premier reserves the right to judge eligibility by the merchant's category. The same terms confirm an additional cardholder's eligible transactions earn Qantas Points to the primary account (cl. 3.1, Premier Rewards T&Cs, 9 Nov 2023).

Macquarie

Macquarie runs a closed rewards program — its points don't transfer to Qantas or Velocity — which changes the value calculus before you even start. Its points-earning rules exclude ATO payments, "GST and government charges including fines", BPAY, cash advances, balance transfers, cash-equivalents/foreign currency, gambling, business transactions, and refunds/fees/interest.

No current public sign-up bonus. As of mid-June 2026 Macquarie's own card pages show no bonus offer, and Macquarie now markets its cards mainly to existing Macquarie home-loan customers with no public online application (Point Hacks — Macquarie review, June 2026). The "$4,000-spend / 75,000-point, expires 16 June 2026" figure that surfaces in search results is contaminated Amex data, not a Macquarie offer — treat Macquarie as a no-bonus option for now. On eligible spend, its "cash equivalent" examples are foreign currency and travellers cheques; gift cards aren't named, though the list is "not limited to" those items.

Citi / MyCard

Citi's consumer cards moved to NAB's MyCard brand on 24 November 2025 (why we wrote about it). MyCard's Rewards Program terms exclude — explicitly — "Cash Advances, Balance Transfers, Special Promotions, BPAY payments, government related transactions", plus interest, fees, refunds and chargebacks (Point Hacks — MyCard Rewards). One OzBargain user reported Sniip earning points on MyCard despite the BPAY exclusion — a single anecdote, not confirmed for bonus spend.

At a glance

Issuer	BPAY	ATO / government	Gift cards	Notable
Amex	Not a lever (Amex blocks direct BPAY)	Earns, but often not toward bonus (merchant-code)	Retail GCs reported working	18-mo any-Amex rule; add'l-card spend counts
ANZ	Excluded	Excluded (broad)	Excluded (named)	Most explicit exclusion list
NAB	Excluded	Excluded (broad)	Unconfirmed	Must post within 90 days
CommBank	Excluded	ATO only (counts on Business Awards); other gov counts	Not named → likely count	Narrowest gov list of the big banks
Westpac group	Excluded	Excluded	Likely excluded (stored-value card)	One clause across 4 brands
Qantas Premier	Excluded	Excluded (broad)	Not named → likely count	Business spend also excluded
Macquarie	Excluded	Excluded	Not named (cash-equivalent)	No current public bonus; home-loan customers
Citi / MyCard	Excluded	Excluded	Unconfirmed	NAB-issued since Nov 2025

"Unconfirmed" means the issuer's published terms didn't settle it; "likely count / likely excluded" reflects the full T&Cs but isn't a guarantee — confirm before relying on it.

Does additional-cardholder spend count?

Generally yes — and it's an underused way to clear a big target. Bonus spend is tracked at the Card Account level, so eligible purchases on a supplementary card post to the primary account and add to the tally. Amex says so plainly — primary and supplementary spend both count (Point Hacks) — and the Qantas Premier, Westpac and CommBank rewards terms all accrue points at the account level regardless of which cardholder spends. The caveat: the bonus is governed by the specific offer's terms, so where it matters, confirm with the issuer first.

The death of Citi PayAll — and what replaced it

For years, Citi PayAll was the churner's cheat code: pay rent, mortgage, school fees or the ATO via your credit card for a 0.95% fee. Citi shut it down — last day to set up a payment was 9 January 2025, last processing 19 January 2025, fully closed 20 January 2025 (Point Hacks — Citi to stop PayAll). No bank has replaced it.

One important footnote: even when PayAll was alive, it never counted toward a sign-up bonus — Citi's terms listed "Citi PayAll payments" as an explicit exclusion. It earned ongoing points (at a reduced rate), not bonus spend.

What's left are third-party bill-payment services. The catch: because most issuers exclude BPAY and government payments (see the table above), these usually help you earn ongoing points, not hit a bonus — and on many cards they now earn nothing on the ATO at all. Current fees:

Sniip — pay any BPAY biller (incl. ATO) by card. Visa/Mastercard 1.5% incl. GST, personal Amex 1.29%. Sniip says you "earn full points (even at the ATO)" but does not confirm this counts toward a sign-up bonus (Point Hacks — Sniip, Apr 2026).
ATO directly (the ATO's own card-payment portal) — Visa 0.96%, Mastercard 0.92%, Amex 1.45%, debit 0%. But Point Hacks warns most cards now earn zero points on direct ATO payments — "a trend that's almost universal now" (Point Hacks — cards that earn on ATO, May 2026).
B2Bpay (business; needs an ABN for ATO) — Visa/Mastercard 1.2% excl. GST, Amex 2.2% (B2Bpay).
Rent by card — DEFT, Pay.com.au, RentPay and similar, from ~0.8–1.5% (Point Hacks — pay rent, earn points).

A 2026 wildcard: the RBA is moving to ban card surcharges from 1 October 2026, which could break the economics of these surcharge-funded services entirely (Point Hacks). Treat every fee above as a moving target.

Two rules that save bonuses

Confirm before the deadline. Spend totals on these services and refunds during the window are exactly where people come up short. Point Hacks tells the cautionary tale of a cardholder left $30 short by a forgotten refund, caught 48 hours out (Point Hacks — confirm your minimum spend). Message or call your issuer to confirm your eligible-spend tally before the clock runs out.
Never spend to chase a bonus. The whole point is redirecting spending you'd do anyway. Interest on a balance you can't clear destroys any bonus value — and if you're heading toward a mortgage, mind the credit-file timing too.

Bottom line

The min-spend number on the offer is only half the story. BPAY and government/ATO payments are excluded by almost every major issuer — CommBank is the narrowest (only the ATO, so council rates and tolls paid by card still count), Amex earns on government but it often won't count toward the bonus. Refunds claw back your tally, and "cash equivalent" quietly rules out gift cards on several cards — ANZ names them, Westpac catches them as stored-value cards. Additional-cardholder spend generally counts. Citi PayAll is gone and nothing replaces it cleanly. Read the offer's own eligible-spend definition, redirect spending you'd do anyway onto purchases that clearly count, and confirm with the bank before the window closes.