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A mother-of-two has found a loophole which allows her to buy $500 worth of groceries and petrol without spending any money upfront – but a financial expert has called it a ‘dangerous’ shopping strategy.

The savvy shopper from Melbourne took to social media to share the ‘potentially lifesaving’ hack in which a person can purchase an e-gift card for up to the value of $500 using her Zip Pay account without spending a dollar upfront, shares Daily Mail.

The online voucher allows an internet shopper to buy items from shops including Woolworths, Caltex and Coles – with no money being owed until the end of every month.

‘Most people know of Zip Pay and know that while fashion shops do have [Zip Pay options] in store, some places like Coles, Woolworths and Caltex don’t — or so we thought,’ the woman wrote.

‘I recently found there is a loophole around that. If you go to the Zip Pay website, you can purchase e-gift cards for Coles, Woolworths and Caltex that go immediately to your email to use as real cash.

‘Personally this week financially has been a hard one and I am so glad that I’ve found this loophole to help get me through this week until I can get paid again.

‘So, if you are ever short for food or petrol or anything else, you only need a Zip Pay account and you can buy these things without having to have the cash right then and there,’ she concluded.

Financial Counselling Australia chief executive Fiona Guthrie cautioned shoppers should try not to get ‘caught in a cycle’.

‘The trap of course is that when you borrow money to pay for something today, you start to get yourself caught in a cycle,’ Ms Guthrie told The Daily Telegraph.

‘When you pay the money back at the end of the month, you’re still going to have the same financial issues that you had at the start.

‘These apps confirm not enough people in Australia have enough money to get by … you would have to be an amazingly good money user to only use these apps as a one-off,’ she warned.

Zip Pay allows users to repay money in the amount they want and when they want.

They do charge a $5 fee for any balance left over in the account at the end of the month.

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  • I hate loans and things like this. If I dont hve the money then I dont buy things.

    Reply

  • I think this is definitely dangerous and you could get stuck in a situation that would be quite hard to get out of.

    Reply

  • I would not use this \\\”hack\\\”
    If you want to shop at coles or anywhere really with BNPL, you either use Bundll or you add the zip card to you google/apple pay.
    Proceed to checkout, select payment option card.
    Access your Bundll card or Zip card through google/apple pay and theres your shopping.

    Reply

  • I would not use this “hack”
    If you want to shop at coles or anywhere really with BNPL, you either use Bundll or you add the zip card to you google/apple pay.
    Proceed to checkout, select payment option card.
    Access your Bundll card or Zip card through google/apple pay and theres your shopping.

    Reply

  • I wouldn’t consider this a hack. I don’t have a credit card and these are essentially the same thing


    • I agree. That’s what Zip is really. Just like a credit card which you only pay,i get charged an 8$ fee at the end of the month. Plus I organised to pay fortnightly,as it’s easier to budget ..

    Reply

  • It’s a wonderful innovation. When times are hard, like during Covid and work is limited, this facility allows parents to still feed their children, and pay off the grocery bill in manageable installments. It also helps parents make sure their teenagers are eating at University, by being able to send them gift cards for groceries. Why the outrage over grocery spending? Everyone needs food and cleaning products. Why no outrage about the ability to buy luxury items?

    Reply

  • It’s asking for trouble and incurring more debts. I feel if you cannot pay for your goods, then don’t buy it.

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  • Handy to know. Just wouldn’t want to miss those repayments to zip, otherwise your groceries will end up costing a lot more!

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  • Wow, no thanks, that’s how you can really let your debt get out of control.

    Reply

  • Sounds too good to be true

    Reply

  • Zip pay is not any worse than having a credit card.. as long as you pay it back what’s the issue

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  • Has to be paid for eventually. I think people will get themselves in a bad situation when payment is needed.

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  • Zip pay & After pay are just one Big scam look at how much the cost of stocks have gone up on the stock market for after pay & it’s only been around for 1 to 2 year’s l say if you can’t afford to pay for it then & there Don’t use zip pay or After pay you will regret it

    Reply

  • Blah, blah, blah, whinge, whinge, whinge. You can always walk in and use a credit for shopping too. So why not bag out credit cards and complain they get stupid people into debt.
    And for those with the high and mighty stock up their rear “I save for everything, and if I can’t pay it for it outright, I go without” I say this, if you have a home loan, and/or a car loan you’re a hippocrite.

    Reply

  • Definitely not something I’d want to try, everything has fees, nothing is free

    Reply

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