How business payment rewards platforms work

Why would anyone pay a fee to pay their own bills? Because, used well, the points are worth more than the fee.

Business payment rewards platforms like pay.com.au, B2Bpay, RewardPay and Payment Logic sit between your credit card and the people you pay. Here's how the money moves, where the points come from and what the fee really buys.

Disclosure: I previously worked at Payment Logic, one of the platforms mentioned. No platform paid for or reviewed this article.

The short answer

You pay a bill on the platform with your business credit card. The platform collects the money through the card network, then pays your biller by bank transfer or BPAY. Your card issuer gives you points on the card payment, the platform may add bonus points, and you pay a fee, usually a percentage of the bill.

Why businesses use them

• Earn points on bills that earn none. Tax, rent and supplier invoices are often a business's biggest costs, and paid by bank transfer they earn nothing. Paying by card through a platform earns your card's points, plus any bonus points.
• Pay suppliers that don't take cards. The supplier receives an ordinary bank transfer or BPAY payment, so you can pay by card even when they don't accept one.
• Manage cash flow. The bill is paid now, but the money doesn't leave your account until your card statement is due. That can give you weeks of breathing room, as long as you pay the card in full.

The money trail, step by step

1. You load the bill. Enter the payee's bank details or BPAY biller code, attach the invoice if asked, and pick your card.
2. The platform charges your card for the bill plus its fee. To your bank, this is a card purchase from a payments business, not a payment to the ATO or your landlord.
3. The platform pays the biller from its own account. pay.com.au, for example, says card payments are usually remitted in one to two business days, with the money landing that afternoon or evening.
4. Points arrive. Your card points come with your statement. Any bonus points come from the platform later.

The biller never sees your card. To them it's an ordinary bank transfer, which is why this works for suppliers, landlords and tax bills that don't take cards at all.

Where the points come from

Your points come from two places, and different people pay for each.

Card points come from your card issuer. Every time a card is used, the merchant's bank pays the cardholder's bank a fee called interchange. The Reserve Bank says plainly that interchange revenue can be used to fund rewards programs. Since 1 October 2026, consumer credit card interchange has been capped at 0.3%, but business cards keep the 0.8% cap. That's a big reason business cards still earn well, and why these platforms focus on businesses.

Bonus points come from the platform. It buys points from programs like Qantas Business Rewards and Virgin Australia Business Flyer as a partner, then gives them to you. Some platforms build bonus points into the fee. Others sell them as an add-on, such as pay.com.au's PayRewards or Payment Logic's Rewards Accelerator.

Most cards treat a platform payment as an ordinary purchase, but your card's terms decide. Check them before you move a big bill.

What's inside the fee

Say you pay a $10,000 supplier bill on a Visa or Mastercard business card at a 1.25% fee. You pay $125.

Up to $80 of that can go straight to your own card issuer as interchange, the same money that helps pay for your card points. The rest covers the scheme and processing fees charged to the platform, the cost of paying the biller, fraud and chargeback risk, and the platform's margin.

American Express sets its own merchant fees, and they're higher. That's why the base Amex fee on these platforms ran from 1.65% to 2.15% in mid-2026, against 0.80% to 1.25% for Visa and Mastercard, before any bonus points. Business payment rewards platforms compared has each platform's fees.

The card surcharge ban doesn't change this model. pay.com.au says it charges a platform fee for its service, not a surcharge, so it expects no impact. The ACCC has warned that a card surcharge renamed as another fee may be misleading, so look for platforms that show one clear fee before you pay.

Who pays: two business models

The payer pays. You pay the fee on each bill. This is how pay.com.au, B2Bpay, RewardPay and Payment Logic charge for bill payments.

The biller pays. Some platforms charge the business collecting the money, which wants to be paid faster or offer card payments. Marmalade's bill payments are free when the business you're paying offers it, and 1% when it doesn't. B2Bpay has also offered bonus points to billers who get paid through it.

If a supplier invites you to pay through one of these, it may cost you nothing.

Behind the curtain: why programs love these platforms

To Qantas and Velocity, a payment platform is another partner buying points with cash. That's the core of how loyalty programs earn money, as How loyalty programs actually make money explains. Businesses are valuable members too: they spend a lot, pay often and travel for work.

Platforms make money on the gap between what they pay for points and what they charge you. pay.com.au's PayRewards Core package charges 1% for 1 PayRewards point per dollar, and 2 PayRewards points convert to 1 Qantas Point. That's $100 for 5,000 Qantas Points, or 2 cents each. Programs don't publish what partners pay for points.

So treat bonus points as points you're buying. They're worth it only if you'll use them for more than you paid.

Is it worth it? The one-line test

Divide the fee by the points you earn per dollar. The answer is what each point must be worth for you to break even.

• At a 1.25% fee plus GST (1.375%) on a card earning 1 point per dollar, each point must be worth about 1.38 cents.
• At 2.10% plus GST (2.31%) on an Amex card earning 1.25 points per dollar, each point must be worth about 1.85 cents.

A GST-registered business claims the GST back, and the fees are usually a business expense, so the real break-even is lower after GST and tax. Confirm that with your accountant.

Then compare it with how you use points. Business class rewards often return 3 cents a point or more. Gift cards can return half a cent. What are your points worth? shows how to work out your own number.

What I'd do

1. List the bills you could move to a card: tax, rent, suppliers, insurance.
2. Run the break-even test for your card and the platform you're considering.
3. Start with one bill and check when the biller gets paid and when your points land.
4. Pay your card in full every month. Interest wipes out any points you earn.

For tax bills specifically, How to earn points paying the ATO and your bills has the details.

This is general information only and doesn't consider your objectives, financial situation or needs. Read the product's terms and Target Market Determination before applying, and consider getting independent advice.