topic Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP) in Credit Cards

Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

Wavester64 — Sat, 26 Mar 2022 16:03:07 GMT

So I have the Elan MCP (the Valley variety).

PSE&G charged on that card does trigger the 5% Utilities (making a known statement ).

Tried paying a portion of my PSE&G using PLASTIQ to see if it would trigger the 5% utilities as well. From what I can tell (keeping in mind between this site and USB Cash+ both are not user friendly when it comes to figuring out what you get CB wise, USB being worse IMO) it didn't trigger the 5% CB, but it did trigger the "1% Everything Else" category.

Has anyone else noticed this as well?

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

Remedios — Sat, 26 Mar 2022 17:53:20 GMT

@Wavester64 is direct payment not an option because of the fee for credit card payments?

If so, how much is the fee? Is it percentage of the amount to be paid or set fee per transaction?

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Mar 2022 18:15:35 GMT

If you have Paypal, you can try using Paypal Pay My Bill, which does include at least some PSE&G, linking to Elan card, and this should be free.

Following EXTENSIVE experiments (one each) by @UncleB and myself, this should also get the full 5%.

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

Wavester64 — Sat, 26 Mar 2022 18:26:13 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
@Wavester64 is direct payment not an option because of the fee for credit card payments?
If so, how much is the fee? Is it percentage of the amount to be paid or set fee per transaction?

I was checking this just for DP sake, I usually pay my PSE&G directly from my checking account with no fees. But I wanted to see if I could take advantage of the 5% CB with this card. Seeing that Plastiq charges 2.85% fee, I thought maybe the payment would trigger the 5%, thus making 2.15% CB, but it doesn't appear to. If you pay PSE&G via a CC, they go thru a company called SpeedPay, which charges a $3.95 fee, which appears to be on any amount, though I can't say for sure since I never used them before.

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

Wavester64 — Sat, 26 Mar 2022 18:39:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If you have Paypal, you can try using Paypal Pay My Bill, which does include at least some PSE&G, linking to Elan card, and this should be free.
Following EXTENSIVE experiments (one each) by @UncleB and myself, this should also get the full 5%.

Thanks @Anonymous , I'll have to give it a try

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Mar 2022 19:40:23 GMT

@Wavester64 wrote:
. If you pay PSE&G via a CC, they go thru a company called SpeedPay, which charges a $3.95 fee, which appears to be on any amount, though I can't say for sure since I never used them before.

Some utilities in Boston also use Speedpay, with a $2.50 charge for up to $600, then extra charges (so we've been prepaying $600!) Elsewhere I have seen $1000 limit, but I'm sure yours has one!

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

creditfan — Sat, 26 Mar 2022 20:11:38 GMT

In Houston, water bills have to go through city. They use Chase to process payments and it charges 2.32% CC fee. Cash+ recoginzes as utility. I think I still making some $$ when paying with my USB cash+ card

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

ocheosa — Sun, 27 Mar 2022 00:07:15 GMT

I use Elan MCP direct pay for both PSE&G 3.95 flat fee and NJ American Water 1.95 flat fee. Both allow overpayment so I usually pay $250-300. I've paid as much as $800 on PSE&G and it was still the flat 3.95 fee. Sprint/Tmobile also allows overpayment with no fee ; and having a credit balance does not effect auto pay or employer/organization discounts. Utilities/Phone/Cable are great sources for cashback and sub spend.Cha-Ching!

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Mar 2022 01:18:05 GMT

@ocheosa wrote:
I use Elan MCP direct pay for both PSE&G 3.95 flat fee and NJ American Water 1.95 flat fee. Both allow overpayment so I usually pay $250-300. I've paid as much as $800 on PSE&G and it was still the flat 3.95 fee. Sprint/Tmobile also allows overpayment with no fee ; and having a credit balance does not effect auto pay or employer/organization discounts. Utilities/Phone/Cable are great sources for cashback and sub spend.Cha-Ching!

And at the risk of being overzealous as a newly converted, check to see if these payees are in Paypal Billing and pay them using that linked to MCP. Then you can avoid the fee entirely, and pay only what is needed. Use this while it lasts!

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

ocheosa — Sun, 27 Mar 2022 19:54:24 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@ocheosa wrote:
I use Elan MCP direct pay for both PSE&G 3.95 flat fee and NJ American Water 1.95 flat fee. Both allow overpayment so I usually pay $250-300. I've paid as much as $800 on PSE&G and it was still the flat 3.95 fee. Sprint/Tmobile also allows overpayment with no fee ; and having a credit balance does not effect auto pay or employer/organization discounts. Utilities/Phone/Cable are great sources for cashback and sub spend.Cha-Ching!
And at the risk of being overzealous as a newly converted, check to see if these payees are in Paypal Billing and pay them using that linked to MCP. Then you can avoid the fee entirely, and pay only what is needed. Use this while it lasts!

@Anonymous thank you. I'll take a look when I next have a payment due. I actually prefer prepaying household expenses (qtr), insurance/taxes (ann) and usually tie them to a bonus promo when possible. Love it! Credit cards have certainly come a looooong way since my 1987 introduction.

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

Curious_George2 — Sun, 27 Mar 2022 16:19:20 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If you have Paypal, you can try using Paypal Pay My Bill, which does include at least some PSE&G, linking to Elan card, and this should be free.
Following EXTENSIVE experiments (one each) by @UncleB and myself, this should also get the full 5%.

I didn't know about this. Trying it now with PG&E and my (small) city's municipal utilities bill, linked to my Cash+. You might have just saved me about $5/mo. Thanks!

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

Wavester64 — Sun, 27 Mar 2022 19:49:08 GMT

it's odd when I tried to pay my PSE&G thru Paypal via Elan MCP, after everything is been put in and ready to go, PayPal comes back with that I can only use a Debit Card for this charge, not a CC. Hmm. 🤔

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

kilroy8 — Sun, 27 Mar 2022 20:01:30 GMT

I can use any CC for combined gas/water bill (Citizens) with no fee, but electric co. (AES) only allows direct ACH from bank account. No CC or debit allowed at all.

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

UncleB — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 03:01:54 GMT

@kilroy8 wrote:
I can use any CC for combined gas/water bill (Citizens) with no fee, but electric co. (AES) only allows direct ACH from bank account. No CC or debit allowed at all.

Is this your AES, @kilroy8?

If so it might be worth checking out Paypal.

Edited to add: I'm a couple of days behind with my forum browsing, so if you've already checked this out please disregard, and excuse the @mention.

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

ocheosa — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 19:21:06 GMT

@Wavester64 wrote:
it's odd when I tried to pay my PSE&G thru Paypal via Elan MCP, after everything is been put in and ready to go, PayPal comes back with that I can only use a Debit Card for this charge, not a CC. Hmm. 🤔

@Wavester64 I set up billpay adding both PSE&G and NJAW. I currently have large credit balances so only tested the process to see if a credit card, AOD VS prefd, would take. (Haven't decided which acct to add MCP to yet.) Followed the steps to the prompt where it says it will be a $.01 hold on card to create recurring payment and I closed out of the page. Is this where it came back stating you needed a debit card or was it after you confirmed the actual payment?

Gotta say it would have been so much easier had they offered a menu tab or icon for bill pay. Instead they crowd the dashboard with marketing nonsense, I cringe logging in paypal these days.

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

Wavester64 — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 21:26:15 GMT

@ocheosa wrote:
@Wavester64 wrote:
it's odd when I tried to pay my PSE&G thru Paypal via Elan MCP, after everything is been put in and ready to go, PayPal comes back with that I can only use a Debit Card for this charge, not a CC. Hmm. 🤔
@Wavester64 I set up billpay adding both PSE&G and NJAW. I currently have large credit balances so only tested the process to see if a credit card, AOD VS prefd, would take. (Haven't decided which acct to add MCP to yet.) Followed the steps to the prompt where it says it will be a $.01 hold on card to create recurring payment and I closed out of the page. Is this where it came back stating you needed a debit card or was it after you confirmed the actual payment?

Gotta say it would have been so much easier had they offered a menu tab or icon for bill pay. Instead they crowd the dashboard with marketing nonsense, I cringe logging in paypal these days.

OK, so I have the PSE&G straightened out. For some reason it kept wanting to take from my PP balance, so since I couldn't get it to stop that, I just moved my balance and made it $0 and now it seems to be working (sent a payment, lets see if all goes well.) But oddly enough, now it wont work for Verizon Visa. After I put in the amount I want to pay, the next screen shows only debit or bank cards to take money from, and it says "Pay using debit card or bank. Credit cards can't be used for this transaction." Odd.

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

ocheosa — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 02:37:28 GMT

@Wavester64 wrote:
@ocheosa wrote:
@Wavester64 wrote:
it's odd when I tried to pay my PSE&G thru Paypal via Elan MCP, after everything is been put in and ready to go, PayPal comes back with that I can only use a Debit Card for this charge, not a CC. Hmm. 🤔
@Wavester64 I set up billpay adding both PSE&G and NJAW. I currently have large credit balances so only tested the process to see if a credit card, AOD VS prefd, would take. (Haven't decided which acct to add MCP to yet.) Followed the steps to the prompt where it says it will be a $.01 hold on card to create recurring payment and I closed out of the page. Is this where it came back stating you needed a debit card or was it after you confirmed the actual payment?

Gotta say it would have been so much easier had they offered a menu tab or icon for bill pay. Instead they crowd the dashboard with marketing nonsense, I cringe logging in paypal these days.
OK, so I have the PSE&G straightened out. For some reason it kept wanting to take from my PP balance, so since I couldn't get it to stop that, I just moved my balance and made it $0 and now it seems to be working (sent a payment, lets see if all goes well.) But oddly enough, now it wont work for Verizon Visa. After I put in the amount I want to pay, the next screen shows only debit or bank cards to take money from, and it says "Pay using debit card or bank. Credit cards can't be used for this transaction." Odd.

Glad to hear you figured out the problem. Maybe test the elan card for the verizon payment? If it works and you still get the auto pay credit, sock drawer the verizon cc and use for an amazon reload every 6mos. ;-)

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

Curious_George2 — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 19:05:04 GMT

@Anonymous or anyone else: If one pays a Verizon Wireless bill with Paypal Bill Pay + a CC (ideally, one with good rewards for cell phone service and included cellphone protection), will Verizon still give the autopay discount? If so, this could replace the PPK technique (RIP).

Re: Elan MCP 5% Utilities (DP)

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Apr 2022 23:38:13 GMT

@Curious_George2 wrote:
@Anonymous or anyone else: If one pays a Verizon Wireless bill with Paypal Bill Pay + a CC (ideally, one with good rewards for cell phone service and included cellphone protection), will Verizon still give the autopay discount? If so, this could replace the PPK technique (RIP).

I no longer have Verizon Wireless, and when I tried with Verizon FiOS (which has a discount for using debit/ACH) I couldn't get Paypal Bill Pay to work with it (account and billing zip weren't right or something. My bill has the billing address as "online" so I searched for the proper one, but that didn't work). @Wavester64 has been getting some issues, see if those have been sorted out. Or someone else has to try.

As reported previously, doing an extra payment for FiOS with a cc does trigger loss of discount, so the question is whether paypal passes something along.