Last Updated: 26 September 2017

Creative Ways to Use DiviPay

Summary/TL;DR

Last week, I posted about DiviPay. I would recommend you read that post first if you are confused by the content of this post.

This week’s post is an elaboration of DiviPay, which will probably be short, relative to my usual posts!

Here are some useful/creative ways of using DiviPay:

• Need to spend several thousand within a few months to qualify for a Credit Card bonus points promotion? Top up a DiviPay account with the required amount.
• Consolidate prepaid Visa Gift Cards and top them up into one DiviPay account to make a larger payment
• Use a DiviPay Credit Card to sign up for a free trial with services that require Credit Card Information.
• Making payments on untrusted websites that don’t accept PayPal.

Read on for more detail!

As you may have gathered from my last post, I am quite an advocate of DiviPay.

Here are some of the more creative, less conventional methods of using DiviPay:

• Need to make $X thousand of purchases on a Credit Card within a certain period to get bonus points? Top up an account with the required amount.
  • This “buys” you time to make the required purchase amount – i.e. you now have until the expiry of your DiviPay Credit Card to make the required purchases.
  • Alternatively, you can simply see this as a deposit.
  • You should only obtain a refund of the card after your bonus points are received – however, it is important to note that DiviPay state cards may be cancelled/refunded if there is 60 days of inactivity
  • In addition, be careful to check the fine print of the bonus points offers. Check to see if bonus points can be reversed if a transaction is refunded. Personally, I have never seen this.
• Too many Prepaid Visa Gift Cards? Consoldate them by topping up a DiviPay card to make a big purchase.
  • This may be easier by opening several accounts and using the “Group Card” feature.
  • If trying to do this within one account using “Personal Card”, you may need to constantly change your funding method.
  • Be aware of how refunds get processed – both to the prepaid Visa Gift Cards and to the DiviPay card
  • To avoid refunds, I recommend using your DiviPay balance in full. If you run out of ideas, make an adhoc payment to:
    • Private Health Insurance
    • Internet
    • Electricity/Gas Bill
    • Council Rates
    • Life Insurance
• Signing up for a free trial with Stan/Netflix/Spotify, but don’t want to provide my real Credit Card Details? Use a DiviPay card as your credit card to “pass” the check.
  • This will greatly reduce the risk of you forgetting to cancel a subscription and being charged for a subscription fee you never intended to pay.
• Want to make a payment on a website you don’t trust, that also doesn’t accept PayPal? Use a DiviPay virtual card – your Credit Card Details will remain anonymous as you’ll be entering in the DiviPay card details to the website.
  • As an added bonus, if you’re worried about potentially being overcharged for random additional charges, you can simply top up your DiviPay card with only just enough for your payment to clear. This is effectively a way to “cap” your risk.

Now, read on for when not to use DiviPay.

When NOT to use DiviPay

• For long-term auto-payments – the validity of a DiviPay card is only 6 months from when it is generated
• When you may require a record of payments far away into the future – I don’t believe there is a way you can retrieve transactions once cards are removed/cancelled.
• When you want to make a payment in-store
  • It is theoretically possible to make in-store, but it is a little impractical. You will require:
    • A cashier who knows how to manually enter in card numbers and expiry dates
    • A cashier who is willing to do this
    • A POS machine that has the ability to receive manual card number inputs as payments (like telephone orders)
  • When they eventually release their Android Pay and Apple Pay features, it will improve in-store acceptance. In the meantine, it is a little inconvenient.
• When you need a Visa card that waives overseas transactions. DiviPay only generates Mastercards.
  • I’ve only ever seen one merchant that does accepts Visa but rejects Mastercard – PriorityPass – and they charge in USD

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