The Big Four Banks Made $30 Billion Last Year. Here's How to Get Some of It Back.

Interest rates are at 4.10%. Petrol hit $2.30 a litre last month. Groceries for a family of four cost $240 a week. Electricity costs jumped 37% in twelve months as government rebates rolled off. And if you’re on a mortgage, you’re paying roughly $230 more per month than you were six months ago.

Meanwhile, the big four banks earned a combined $30 billion in profit last year. CBA alone earned over $5 billion in the last six months.

Roughly half of that profit comes directly from households — from you. The interchange fees on your card, the interest on your mortgage, the spread on your savings. Loyalty points are the small slice they hand back to keep you spending — and most Australians never bother to claim it.

Every dollar counts right now. The banks know what they pay for these points. It’s time you knew what they’re worth.

The value hiding in your wallet

If you’re spending money on fuel, groceries, bills, and insurance — and paying with a rewards credit card — you’re earning loyalty points on every transaction. Qantas Points, Velocity, Flybuys, Commbank Awards, Amex Membership Rewards. Australians hold hundreds of billions of points across the major loyalty programs.

But most people have no idea what theirs are actually worth.

A Qantas Point can be worth as little as 0.4 cents or as much as 9.6 cents depending on how you use it. That’s a 24x difference. The card with the highest earn rate doesn’t always net the highest calculated return once surcharges are factored in. And some credit cards with $450 annual fees can deliver over $1,200 in first-year value based on PointMate’s estimates, while others with no fee deliver almost nothing.

0.4 cents per point on a gift card. 9.6 cents per point on a high-value redemption flight. A good mate would show you the difference.

Your points deserve a better mate

PointMate is a free Australian app that calculates the estimated value of your loyalty points — so that you can make more informed decisions with every dollar you spend.

It covers 15 loyalty programs and 57 credit cards. It compares your cards at the checkout. How points compare to cash on a flight. How a transfer to Velocity or Qantas compares. How the estimated value of a credit card stacks up. And it tracks your savings over time so you can see the difference adding up.

No bank commissions. No sponsored recommendations. Just the numbers.

This is money you’re already spending

PointMate doesn’t ask you to spend more. It takes the money you’re already handing to supermarkets, petrol stations, and insurers, and helps you see whether you’re getting better value from every transaction.

In a year where every household is being squeezed, your loyalty points are one of the few places you can claw back real value without cutting back on anything.

You’re already earning the points. You might as well know what they’re worth.