Five tips for a financially savvy festive season

1. Get in early

Write a list of every person you have to buy for and add a rough idea of what you’d like to buy them. Now, it’s time to get in and start ticking each person (or pet) off.

Set aside time in your diary to shop in person, or online and smash it out. Most importantly, start now and cross each person off as you get their gift. You’ll get a little burst of achievement with every person you tick off and will be ready to move onto the next.

By getting in early, you’ll avoid the express shipping costs incurred when you’re scrambling to ensure the gift arrives in time for Christmas day. Plus, you’ll ensure your loved ones don’t end up in an episode of Friends with a gift from the local petrol station. We’ve all been there.

2. Set a budget (and stick to it)

Maybe you’ve got $10 to spend on Christmas, or maybe you’ve got $1,000. Perhaps there’s people you like to splurge on in your family/ friendship group and there’s others you want to give a token of your appreciation to. Divvy up your list with a budget for each person and challenge yourself to stick to it.

If $10/$20 seems unachievable, it might be time to get crafty. A terracotta pot from Bunnings can easily be jazzed up with some paint and a small plant.

And keep in mind, an experience often costs less than a gift and could be as simple as a voucher for the recipient’s local coffee shop. Supporting small business, and on-budget is a double win.

3. Trim the fat

Are there monthly or recurring subscriptions you could pop on hold over the festive season?

Maybe you’re planning to head away over Christmas and don’t intend on hitting up the gym. Perhaps you plan on doing some Christmas cooking and could probably put that weekly food subscription service on hold for a while to save some money.

Not sure of what other subscriptions you have? Here’s how you can see mobile subscriptions on iOS and Android. You might be surprised to see what sneaky subscriptions you’re still forking out for.

4. Group the gifting

Are you from a big family, friendship group or workplace?

Cut down on the cost of individual gifts and suggest a Secret Santa this year and save yourself some serious gift money. The budget might be as simple as $10 or $150, it’s really up to you!

There’s a bunch of online tools to make the process easier (we like Drawnames) and those in the group can make suggestions of what they’d like. Participants can add online links to make the process smooth, simple and cost effective for all involved.

5. Avoid late fees

Sometimes you might head away for Christmas and other times you’re just so focused on relaxing, spending time with family and having a bit of a digital detox that bills can creep up.

Add your upcoming bills to the Sniip app now, select when you’d like them to be paid then set and forget, enjoy your Christmas and know your bills are sorted without any painful late fees.

Stats show 90 percent of bills paid using the Sniip app are paid on or before the due date (probably because it’s so fast and easy!). That means more money for Christmas and less money burnt on late fees.

Are you still typing in the BPAY Biller Code?

Finance News

The easiest way to pay BPAY bills

Life’s too short to be manually typing in BPAY Biller Biller and Reference codes. Do you slice your own pizza?

Save yourself time by scanning your bills. All you need is your mobile phone’s camera and the Sniip app.

Once you have scanned in your first bill, you will never go back to typing. But don’t just take our word for it, test it out for yourself!

The Sniip app auto-magically captures your bill’s BPAY Biller Code and Reference Code with a single scan. Then, all you need to do is confirm your details and choose your payment method.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Tap “+” to add your bill

2. Tap “Scan”

3. Scan the BPAY Biller Code and Reference.

Hover your phone camera over the BPAY Biller Code and Reference Code on your bill. The camera will automatically scan in the codes to your Sniip app.

4. Enter the amount you’re paying and your bill’s due date.

5. Tap “Pay”.

6. Select your payment method and enter your PIN or Face ID.

Done!

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Sniip has so many amazing features to make your life easier. You’ll love the ability to set reminders for bills and to save your bill history for easy access later.

May’s Top Billers 2026

April’s Top Bills 2026

Fast Five FAQ March 2026

Are you embarrassed by your late payment charges?

Finance News

How to stop paying your bills late

Are you embarrassed by your late payment charges?

You’re not alone. Late fees are costing Australians around $286m a year according to research from one of the big four banks.

Some energy bills can have late fees of up to 40 percent.

But despite this, 27 percent of Australians pay at least one bill late each year.

In times like these, with unemployment up to 7.5 percent, we simply cannot afford to throw money away.

So what’s the answer?

Lining up at your local post office to pay your utilities bills is not only time consuming, with COVID-19, it’s less appealing than ever before.

Then there’s paying bills via internet banking. What should be easy enough tends to be a real chore. You start off your regular bill paying session with a coffee and a biscuit but after getting through a stack of bills and data-entry, you’re ready to drink something a little harder.

And let’s not forget to mention the bills you never even saw. Maybe the paper bill that never arrived, or got accidentally thrown into the bin with the latest wad of junkmail.

Electronic bills sent by email definitely help. But why is it that most important bills end up in junk mail or spam? Or if you’re like us, you need someone to remind you to check your email regularly – both junk and spam too.

Surely there’s a better way!? Well there is.

There’s Sniip.

Sniip is a Brisbane-based, Australian owned bill paying mobile app that makes bill payments super easy.

Better yet, Sniip’s bill scheduling feature helps you say goodbye to those late payments fees.

Sniip’s m-billing (mobile billing) subscriptions means your regular bills can be sent straight to the app with push notification alerts for you when they arrive. This is in addition to any paper or electronic version you may wish to receive.

You can then pay your m-bill directly in the app with just a few clicks. Goodbye manual data entry and wrong digits!

With Sniip, you can pay any BPAY bill. That’s right. Simply take a picture of the BPAY or Sniip code with your phone and let the Sniip app do the rest.

But our favourite feature? Bill scheduling of course!

We’ve all paid a bill late because we’re waiting for our pay to come in, or wanted to push the bill into the next credit card cycle. There’s usually a good reason for not paying straight away, but then we often get distracted and completely forget about it.

With Sniip, you can schedule payment for when it best suits you. As soon as you get the bill, simply schedule the bill, and then forget about it. No worries!

But don’t just take our word for it. The results speak for themselves: 90 percent of bills paid using Sniip get paid before the due date.

That’s compared to our 63 percent national average.

It’s time for you to start getting back those late fees? You deserve to spend your money on what you want to spend it on, and we bet it’s not late fees.

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Fast Five FAQ March 2026

Considering paperless billing? Our three must haves

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Considering paperless billing? Our three must haves

So, you’ve decided to go paperless when it comes to your billing. This could mean a whole range of cost savings, environmental benefits, and added convenience for your customers.

But buyer beware – not all paperless billing solutions are created equal (email, we’re looking at you). And there’s no point ditching the paper just yet, if you haven’t worked out exactly what you’re looking for in a paperless solution.

Below are three must-haves for any paperless billing system, to make the switch worthwhile for you and your customers.

Integrated solution

When thinking about billing, it can be easy to forget the other side of the equation – payments. You only bill so you can get paid, so why use two different vendors for the one transaction?

If we consider email billing as a digital strategy, the break in transaction from email presentment to website payment portals often results in increased late payments or mistyped reference numbers, which that leads to paper reminder notices and higher overheads. Email is only one part of an overall digital solution that still requires the missing piece of the puzzle; an easy way for people to make payments.

Find a billing solution that is integrated with your payments solution, preferably from the same provider. This should provide a far more seamless experience for both parties to the transaction.

Bank card and phone agnostic

Basically everything happens from our mobile phone these days, so it makes sense that a paperless solution is designed accordingly. It’s probably also pretty safe to say that we are all still paying from a bank or credit card these days.

But on both of these fronts, there is still a wide variety of banks and phone types used by your different customers. So, your customers need to be able to pay you regardless of which bank, credit union, card provider, or mobile device they are using to do so. Go bank card and phone type agnostic, and no one will be left behind.

Industry agnostic

This same “agnostic” principle applies to the industries of your industries your paperless billing solution services. Because even if your customers love paying your bill using your new paperless solution, they will love it even more if they can pay ALL their bills using this same solution!

So, find a billing solution that can be used across the board, not just for your specific industry or company. You will be helping your customers fight password fatigue, and giving them a true level of convenience and value.

Three ways fintech can help your business

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Three ways fintech can help your business

When it comes to new technologies for SMEs, there are now a million new ways to streamline operations, and automate the delivery of offerings.

Many of these options may depend on your industry. Accounting firms are all about the cloud these days. Legal firms are increasingly embracing “e-discovery” technologies to simplify the time-consuming discovery stage of litigation. And even your local coffee shop may now have its very own app to help customers skip the coffee queue, and order in advance.

But regardless of your industry, there is one thing all SMEs have in common: the need to maintain a healthy cash flow that allows for growth. And this is where financial technology (fintech) truly shines.

Below are several areas where fintech is helping to streamline and shore up a healthy cash flow for Australian SMEs.

Funding technologies

As you’re well aware, without proper funding for your business, your growth options can be pretty limited. This can affect you at various stages of your business: capital requirements when starting out, cash flow gaps during regular operations, and the need for extra capital to fund periods of high growth or seasonal demand.

But traditional lending to SMEs has a fairly dismal track record. Interest rates on SME loans are typically higher due to the challenge of pricing risk in this segment. After filling out lengthy paperwork and waiting for weeks, many SMEs often still receive a “no” from banks to their application.

But a whole host of fintech lenders have emerged in this segment, with high-tech lending platforms driven by advanced algorithms that can assess SME risk far faster and more accurately than traditional lenders. These lenders typically integrate with your accounting portal, and assess hundreds of online and social touch points to paint a clearer picture of your risk than any manual paperwork might. They also provide a decision in a matter of hours or minutes, not weeks, and can have money in your bank in a few days.

This means much more rapid funding and significantly reduced application processes – exactly what SMEs need.

Payment and billing technologies

When it comes to cash flow gaps, sometimes prevention is better than cure. And a serious impediment to healthy cash flow for many Australian businesses comes from late paying clients.

According to a Federal Government Department of Industry, Innovation and Science payments report, Australian SMEs lose access to a staggering $19 billion each year because of overdue payments. So, it pays to check out some of the new technologies in this area.

When assessing which billing and payments solution is right for your business, the questions you ask yourself should be designed around the ease of use for your customer. Is it mobile-centric in this day of smartphone obsession? Can every one of my customers use it, i.e. is it device type-agnostic? Does it integrate with my existing payments portal? Is it easy for customers to make the switch in the first place?

When it comes to billing, you need a technology built specifically around the needs of the customer. Because after all, they are the ones you are trying to convince to pay!

Budgeting technologies

There are so many different options when it comes to budgeting. In this case, it’s really a matter of finding what works best for you, your business, and your different objectives.

Many cloud accounting softwares, such as Xero and MYOB, come equipped with budgeting tools built into their systems. This is a great way to keep everything in the one spot, and potentially bring your accountant into the budgeting process.

For other business owners, individual accounting apps on their smartphones can allow them to integrate their own personal budgeting with their business budgeting. The key here is to select a technology that is going to work for you – and stick with it!

Sniip breaking new ground in mobile payments

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Sniip is breaking new ground in mobile payment technology as the first app in Australia not restricted to any one banking or credit card brand.

Sniip CEO Damien Vasta says Sniip offers a win-win for consumers and business, especially when compared with alternatives in the growing mobile payments space in Australia.

“Mobile payment technology is a hot topic for financial institutions, telcos and retailers with the Australian launch of Apple Pay on 19 November and Google’s Android Pay and Samsung Pay expected to follow suit soon,” he says.

“The problem with these platforms and other mobile payment solutions currently available, is that they don’t work on all devices or they are restricted to use with a particular credit card or banking institution.

“Some retailers have also implemented their own mobile payment solutions which require accounts specific to their stores. This presents another set of challenges.

“Consumers and business want simple payment solutions, that come at no or little cost to them. People don’t want to have to install and use dozens of applications, or hold numerous accounts, and businesses need to make it as easy as possible for the customers to pay them on time.”

Sniip doesn’t have the same set of challenges as other platforms, as it’s not built around any one banking or credit card brand and will work on any brand of smartphone. Consumers simply scan and pay bills using Sniip’s trademarked circular QR code, or browse and purchase products from participating businesses, eliminating the need to enter a long account number or bank details.

The Sniip app is first of its kind in Australia.

Mr Vasta says with the widespread use of smartphones – nearly 80% off all mobile phones in Australia are smartphones – he expected wider adoption of mobile payment technology in 2016.

“Australians have embraced mobile commerce, with 3.4 million using an m-commerce service in 2013 – a 448 percent increase over three years. And nearly 50 percent of smartphone users have downloaded a banking and finance app.

“The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) Mobile Nation 2015 Report, undertaken by Deloitte, found that consumers and retailers have rapidly adopted card-based NFC payments (PayWave/PayPass). This indicates that consumers are ready for simple mobile payment solutions.

“The very challenges that other e-wallet and smartphone payment solutions face, and have prevented widespread adoption, aren’t a barrier for Sniip.

“We believe Sniip has the potential to transform payments in both the private and public sector. With Sniip you could pay for everything from your rates and electricity bill to speeding fines, as well as shop with your favourite Australian retailers, all in the one app.”

More than 90 retailers have already signed up with Sniip, and in the public sector Toowoomba Regional Council is trialling the new mobile payment technology with its ratepayers.

As a free app to download and low cost solution for businesses and organisations, Sniip is fast, simple and secure – Sniip has achieved full PCI DSS compliance (highest level of safety certification in the credit card space).

Using the Sniip app on your smartphone is more secure than carrying your wallet – no-one can view your card details or make a purchase without entering your 4-digit pin.

Once you’ve downloaded Sniip and created an account, you can pay a bill in seconds and there’s no need for you to re-enter payment details each time.