Mate, if you wanna make $25, go mow your nana’s lawns, at least she’ll give you a glass of milk and an peanut brownie!
You’ll probably need about a year’s worth of flybuys points just to buy the brownie!
They are a cynical marketing ploy adopted by businesses who prefer to bribe loyalty from their customers with the occasional lollipop, than by creating a loyal customer base through a commitment to quality and service.
The only time I’ve heard of a loyalty program working was when this guy opertaed his business (which he’s not supposed to do) on an amex card (about $150,000 a month volume). So he got himself enough points for a trip to the states, but he had to rort the system to do it.
As you may have guessed … I think loyalty programs are crap. REAL LOYALTY CANNOT BE BOUGHT. Usually you can get a better deal by shopping around so you save on the purchase more than what you miss out on a miserable bonus scheme.
Pardon Me if I have offended anyone.

First question, who did the valuation? Did you pay a valuer? Did your new lender do it or did your existing lender do it?
Internal valuations by banks are notoriously conservative. I refinanced a house and had it valued by a valuer on the panel of many lenders $285,000. Westpac valed it at $165,000.
If you want to refinance with a different bank, arrange the property valuation yourself (normally around $300) find out from the valuer (before you undertake their services) which lenders accept their valuations.
A word of caution, due to issues relating to their professional indemnity cover, valuers generally are more conservative when assessing a refinance than a purchase. Their reasoning is that the purchaser (willing buyer) has set the price and they are simply confirming that price is realistic. With a refi, generally owners believe their house has increased more than it really has and are sucked in by agents who try and buy a listing by suggesting an over-inflated sale price (usually 10% more). Also as they is no willing buyer, valuers will err on the side of conservatism so as not to leave themselves in danger of legal action from overstating a property value and all of its consequences.
Finally, if a valuer gives you a lousy val (remember its only their opinion) under a refi situation. Get your sister/brother-in-law/friend/whoever to enter into a purchase contract for what you consider to be fair market value, pay for them to get it valued. Then mutually agree to terminate the contract, approach the lender to do a refinance and nominate the same valuer who valued it for the sale that never proceeded. (you might have to tell the valuer that the contract fell over, so you decided to just refinance instead). Once they have put a vslue on a property it is very unlikely that they will change their mind (unless they can prove its value is overstated). The games we have to play sometimes to get a fair go….