topic Re: Paying bills with credit cards in Credit Cards

Paying bills with credit cards

ecxpa — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 11:19:31 GMT

Does paying bills with credit cards raise any flags with the CCC? I like to pay utilities, phone, and this month taxes to get spending minimum for some bonus points. Do they look at this any differently than routine merchant spending?

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 11:36:01 GMT

I hope not because I'm doing the same with my new Citi card. I even put my mortgage on it with chargesmart which worked very well. I plan to PIF every two weeks to show I'm not spending money I don't have. I agree, it could look like a bad thing, especially being a new customer with a new card. I think paying it off well before the due date amd making multiple payments per month should be fine.

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

coldnmn — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 11:43:42 GMT

I pay all my bills by credit card. They are in the business of making money the more you spend the more they make. Also the more rewards I get. Just be sure to pay on time.

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

ecxpa — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 11:50:08 GMT

I got to check in this......what are the chargesmart fees

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

coldnmn — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:03:54 GMT

@ecxpa wrote:
I got to check in this......what are the chargesmart fees

I don't pay any extra fees. I pay utilities, telephone, insurance and Dishnetwork.

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

takeshi74 — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:05:23 GMT

@ecxpa wrote:
Does paying bills with credit cards raise any flags with the CCC?

Nope. Consider that they make money off of swipe fees.

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:05:52 GMT

@ecxpa wrote:
I got to check in this......what are the chargesmart fees

It's a $17.49 fee for my mortgage but I only plan to do it for 3 months to get my 40k miles. It posted within 12 hours to my Nationstar account and showed up first as bill payment then once it cleared, it showed up as Nationstar mortgage payment. I was worried about using it at first but it worked very well for me. What happens is you pay with CC then they direct push an ACH payment to your mortgage company. The key to making it work safely is to be very sure you use your correct mortgage account number so it posts properly.

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

ecxpa — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:10:04 GMT

Fantastic......I think I may pay a mortgage payment every now and then and maybe my car payment monthly; that will get my pending points required spending

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:13:48 GMT

@ecxpa wrote:
Fantastic......I think I may pay a mortgage payment every now and then and maybe my car payment monthly; that will get my pending points required spending

I would only use it for minimum spend. The rewards do not offset the fees on general spend in most cases. I was very hesitant to use it at first but I checked BBB and did my research. It's a very legit company and service.

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

colinstu — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:30:17 GMT

One of Barclaycard Rewards perks is 2x points on Utilities, and another perk of the US Bank Cash+ is one of the 5% categories is Cell Phone bill.

I don't see the problem with paying bills with a CC. That is of course, an extra fee is charged that costs more than the reward... would make more sense to pay it a cheaper way.

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:39:13 GMT

For those into experimenting, there is a fairly new service called Evolve Money. This allows you to pay bills (up to $1000) to a number of billers, including mortgage companies and auto loans. (For larger payments you can do multiple ones waiting 10 minutes between).

The service is free, but before you get too excited, it doesn't take credit cards. It DOES take debit cards, including gift cards with PINs. You may join up the dots....

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:56:28 GMT

Pay the ones I can without a fee. My mortgage, natural gas and electric companies want at least $3.95 per payment to process the payment through a credit/debit card. Not worth the $3.95 per month for me.

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

indiolatino61 — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:59:16 GMT

@ecxpa wrote:
Does paying bills with credit cards raise any flags with the CCC? I like to pay utilities, phone, and this month taxes to get spending minimum for some bonus points. Do they look at this any differently than routine merchant spending?

I pay every bill I have with credit cards...electric, heat, tv, phone, internet, insurance...you name it. No lender has ever mentioned anything negative.

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

meehan22 — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 13:07:45 GMT

All of my things go on my rewards card. Might as well take advantage of the points! (without a transaction fee of course)

If I could i'd put my rent on it too!

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 13:23:55 GMT

@ecxpa wrote:
Does paying bills with credit cards raise any flags with the CCC? I like to pay utilities, phone, and this month taxes to get spending minimum for some bonus points. Do they look at this any differently than routine merchant spending?

This question comes up a lot and makes no sense to me! It is exactly a merchant purchase! You pay the phone company once a month in the same way as you might go to a supermarket once a week. To the CCC, it is a standard transaction.

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

Involver — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 13:48:43 GMT

I pay every bill I can by cc. Might as well earn rewards on necessary evils.

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 16:28:38 GMT

Every bill I can pay with my rewards card I pay especially since it is 2x points for utilities.

Then I make a payment the day the transaction posts to my account for that amount.

The credit card companies want you to use your credit card so they generate revenue through fees, but what they like to see is that you keep your balance down in that process.

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

Blackbeauty212 — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 21:18:00 GMT

I put ~2K worth of Auto Pays bills through my Cap One QS monthly and PIF before statement cuts so a 0 balance always reports. Just to maximize that 1.5% Cashback....

The QS has no other purpose than to be my monthly Bill Catcher.

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

compassion101 — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 00:28:54 GMT

Whatever utilities I can pay without fees I pay. Getting 5% atm.

Taxes? The IRS takes a fee that is probably more than the rewards.

Re: Paying bills with credit cards

Longroad — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 00:47:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@ecxpa wrote:
I got to check in this......what are the chargesmart fees
It's a $17.49 fee for my mortgage but I only plan to do it for 3 months to get my 40k miles. It posted within 12 hours to my Nationstar account and showed up first as bill payment then once it cleared, it showed up as Nationstar mortgage payment. I was worried about using it at first but it worked very well for me. What happens is you pay with CC then they direct push an ACH payment to your mortgage company. The key to making it work safely is to be very sure you use your correct mortgage account number so it posts properly.

I also pay all of my bills with CC and the points do add up. I may look into that mortgage payment vendor too. If that is a flat $17.49 fee then it would be only 0.67% so I could net on the positive side with that.