topic Re: USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved? in Credit Cards

USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved?

Turbobuick — Fri, 28 May 2021 19:34:12 GMT

Southern California Edison uses Chase Bank to process their bills paid via credit cards and charges $1.65 convenience fee. With the size of our electric bills during summer heat, it's well worth it.

My question is will US Bank Cash Plus see this as a payment to SCE or Chase Bank? Thanks.

Re: USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 May 2021 19:51:24 GMT

I live in So Cal but don't pay my Edison bill w/ Cash+ because it's not high enough to offset the service charge and you can't pay forward with a credit card which is stupid. You can use it to pay your So Cal Gas bill like myself and you'll get the 5%. You can pay forward to offset the $1.50 charge.

Re: USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved?

blindambition — Fri, 28 May 2021 20:01:31 GMT

It should still trigger Utilities category code. Our Southwest Gas and NV Energy go through Western Union when paying with a credit card, it has always triggered utility code on card chosen.

It should show payment to Edison.

Re: USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved?

Turbobuick — Fri, 28 May 2021 20:51:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I live in So Cal but don't pay my Edison bill w/ Cash+ because it's not high enough to offset the service charge and you can't pay forward with a credit card which is stupid. You can use it to pay your So Cal Gas bill like myself and you'll get the 5%. You can pay forward to offset the $1.50 charge.

You must be completely solar. The electric bill would only have to be $33 to break even. We're closer to $330 in July/August/September.

We're just the opposite. Our gas bill isn't $20/month and they don't accept credit cards without BillMatrix or other servicers. So our gas bill is too small, but you say I can pay a wad in advance? How much of a wad?

Re: USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved?

coldfusion — Fri, 28 May 2021 20:51:36 GMT

@blindambition wrote:
It should still trigger Utilities category code. Our Southwest Gas and NV Energy go through Western Union when paying with a credit card, it has always triggered utility code on card chosen.
It should show payment to Edison.

I have the exact same senario with National Grid here in MA. Western Union does charge a flat $2.95 service fee with a $600 maxinum charge but I can also pre-pay and end up with a net return of ~4.4% - about 2 months worth of usage in the winter.

Re: USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 May 2021 21:16:10 GMT

I work for So Cal Gas. You will still get 5% by using BillMatrix. You can pay $999 in advance if you want!

Re: USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 May 2021 22:58:34 GMT

@coldfusion wrote:
@blindambition wrote:
It should still trigger Utilities category code. Our Southwest Gas and NV Energy go through Western Union when paying with a credit card, it has always triggered utility code on card chosen.
It should show payment to Edison.
I have the exact same senario with National Grid here in MA. Western Union does charge a flat $2.95 service fee with a $600 maxinum charge but I can also pre-pay and end up with a net return of ~4.4% - about 2 months worth of usage in the winter.

Yes, and Eversource too. My cash + shows a lot of utility charges of $602.50 (my surcharge is $2.50 rather than $2.95)

Re: USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved?

randian — Mon, 31 May 2021 18:47:09 GMT

How about Speedpay (now ACI, formerly Western Union)? Does it code as utilities or money services when used to pay electric bills? They don't allow overcharging so they're less than ideal.

Re: USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved?

DaveInAZ — Mon, 31 May 2021 23:59:14 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@coldfusion wrote:
@blindambition wrote:
It should still trigger Utilities category code. Our Southwest Gas and NV Energy go through Western Union when paying with a credit card, it has always triggered utility code on card chosen.
It should show payment to Edison.
I have the exact same senario with National Grid here in MA. Western Union does charge a flat $2.95 service fee with a $600 maxinum charge but I can also pre-pay and end up with a net return of ~4.4% - about 2 months worth of usage in the winter.
Yes, and Eversource too. My cash + shows a lot of utility charges of $602.50 (my surcharge is $2.50 rather than $2.95)

Wow, what a bunch of cheapskate utilities charging a fee to pay with a credit card! My electric co-op not only does not have a surcharge, I use it for debit card transactions for bank bonuses that require Xx number of debit card transactions. I rarely shop at Amazon, so for those I make .30-.40 cent payments; don't want to cut in too much on my full payment on Cash+.

I live on a rural property with well & septic so the only other utility I have is propane, usually fill it up in the fall for around $500. But I just use a 2% card as the company is called 'Cochise County Farmer's Associaton' and it codes as something agricultural. But I always get a kick out of seeing the charge on my CC statement as it gets abbreviated as Cochise County Farmer Ass

Re: USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved?

Anonymous — Mon, 31 May 2021 23:21:19 GMT

@DaveInAZ wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@coldfusion wrote:
@blindambition wrote:
It should still trigger Utilities category code. Our Southwest Gas and NV Energy go through Western Union when paying with a credit card, it has always triggered utility code on card chosen.
It should show payment to Edison.
I have the exact same senario with National Grid here in MA. Western Union does charge a flat $2.95 service fee with a $600 maxinum charge but I can also pre-pay and end up with a net return of ~4.4% - about 2 months worth of usage in the winter.
Yes, and Eversource too. My cash + shows a lot of utility charges of $602.50 (my surcharge is $2.50 rather than $2.95)
Wow, what a bunch of cheapskate utilities charging a fee to pay with a credit card! My electric co-op not only does not have a surcharge, I use it for debit card transactions for bank bonuses that require Xx number of debit card transactions. I rarely shop at Amazon, so for those I make .30-.40 cent payments; don't want to cut in too much on my full payment on Cash+.

I live on a rural property with well & septic so the only other utility I have is propane, usually fill it up in the fall for around $500. But I just use a 2% card as the company is called 'Cochise County Farmer's Associaton' and it codes as something agricultural. But I always kick a kick out of seeing the charge on my CC statement as it gets abbreviated as Cochise County Farmer Ass.

Yep Xcel Energy here charges $2.90 per payment with a $1K per payment max. Back when I had my first apartment they had a dispute with VISA and MC so they didn't take any cards at all.

Re: USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved?

digitek — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 00:03:30 GMT

@randian wrote:
How about Speedpay (now ACI, formerly Western Union)? Does it code as utilities or money services when used to pay electric bills? They don't allow overcharging so they're less than ideal.

Duke Energy uses SpeedPay, it codes as Utilities, I can prepay it over $1k at least haven't tried to find a ceiling, there is a flat fee like $2.50 to use it.

Re: USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved?

randian — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 01:08:02 GMT

@digitek wrote:
@randian wrote:
How about Speedpay (now ACI, formerly Western Union)? Does it code as utilities or money services when used to pay electric bills? They don't allow overcharging so they're less than ideal.
Duke Energy uses SpeedPay, it codes as Utilities, I can prepay it over $1k at least haven't tried to find a ceiling, there is a flat fee like $2.50 to use it.

FPL says they won't accept overpayments of more than $10, presumably to maximize SpeedPay fees.

Re: USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved?

ChargedUp — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 00:50:50 GMT

So Cal Edison's (and PG&E and So Cal Gas) payment processing triggers the utilities category on BBVA, so I don't see why it wouldn't on USB or Elan. They're all Visa so they should read the category the same.

Re: USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved?

Wavester64 — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 23:24:08 GMT

Was wondering if anyone reading this thread knows if you pay your utlities and they use Kubra for payment does it trigger the 5% CB for utilies?

Re: USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved?

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 07:25:22 GMT

@Turbobuick wrote:
Southern California Edison uses Chase Bank to process their bills paid via credit cards and charges $1.65 convenience fee. With the size of our electric bills during summer heat, it's well worth it.

My question is will US Bank Cash Plus see this as a payment to SCE or Chase Bank? Thanks.

If your utility company charges a fee to pay your bill with a credit card, try paying with credit card using PayPal Bill Pay service instead. With PayPal Bill Pay, I'm able to pay my PECO utility bill with my credit card as the funding source without paying a fee even though PECO charges a fee for direct credit card payments.

https://www.paypal.com/us/digital-wallet/manage-money/pay-bills

There are a couple of limitations with PayPal Bill Pay. First, the payee has to be listed in PayPal. PayPal doesn't allow you to add new payees. Second, if your payee doesn't take regular PayPal as a payment type, I don't think you can set up autopay with PayPal Bill Pay. You have to schedule each and every payment.

I've read that US Bank Cash+ treats the PayPal Bill Pay utility payment as utility category whereas Chase Freedom Flex treats it as PayPal category. I've only used a 3% cash back card to make utility payments through PayPay Bill Pay so I don't have any data points to share. One can make a trial payment to try it out.

Re: USB Cash + for utilities with 3rd party involved?

K-in-Boston — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 14:42:54 GMT

@randian wrote:
How about Speedpay (now ACI, formerly Western Union)? Does it code as utilities or money services when used to pay electric bills? They don't allow overcharging so they're less than ideal.

I know this post is a bit aged at this point, but as coldfusion and longtimelurker mentioned previously, both Eversource and National Grid use SpeedPay and definitely allow overpayments and code as utilities. I also have a ton of $602.50 Eversource gas and electric payments in my Cash+ history (as well as lots of overpayments for Boston Water & Sewer now that they started charging a fee, although that is not through SpeedPay).