Nowadays, payment methods are diversifying, and if you just pay with cash or a single card without realizing it, you may end up losing a lot of money. The point redemption rate provided by each payment service varies greatly depending on how you use it. Here, we will explain practical “steps to use points” to maximize the point return rate in your daily life and help with your household finances.

Step 1: Decide on your “main payment” location

First, figure out exactly where you spend the most money each month. It may be groceries at the supermarket, daily convenience stores, online shopping, or fixed expenses such as rent and utilities. The golden rule is to focus on the payment method (specific credit card or related smartphone payment) that provides the highest return rate for this largest spending destination. Creating a system that automatically accumulates points with payments that form the basis of daily life is the first step to maximizing the return rate.

Step 2: Apply sub-payments like a puzzle

We will prepare two to three “sub-payments” for stores where the main payment method cannot be used, or for situations where only a specific payment method is given preferential treatment (e.g., a privately run cafe that only accepts PayPay, a store inside a station where you can earn points with Suica or PASMO, etc.). At this time, if you develop a route where you can “double collect” points by charging secondary e-money or QR payment from your main credit card, the overall return rate will improve dramatically. The payment route is optimized, such as charging 1% from a credit card and an additional 0.5% at the time of payment.

Step 3: Make full use of the campaign calendar

Each company runs monthly campaigns such as 20% return on 〇〇 Pay'' and 5x points on certain days of the week.’’ It is impossible to remember all these. We recommend registering the campaign period and target stores in your smartphone’s calendar app, and flexibly switching payment methods during that period. This is a technique for advanced players, but once you get used to it, you can enjoy it like a game.

With these little ingenuity and knowledge updates, you can earn points worth tens of thousands of yen per year. Why don’t you take advantage of this advantage that you can never get with cash and aim to become a “payment master” today?