@Anonymous wrote:
@CreditInspired wrote:
Congratulations OP and welcome to MyFICO.
Yes you will get 2% cashback first year for putting utilities on your Disco IT.
On another note—wasn’t Discover’s packaging beautiful? That’s what I liked when I received my card.
Enjoy the double cashback your first year.Good to know. I wasn't sure if a "bill" was considered an actual "purchase".
Yes, the packaging was great. It was a nice touch.
You *purchase* electricity, water, natural gas, etc. when you pay a utility bill. The utility companies are all considered merchants.
Any purchase that does not fall under the 5% categories will get a 1% CB, but keep in mind, that is effectively doubled for the first year. So any purchase at 1% will be getting 2%. Same with the 5% categories. Discover is a good card especially for the first year because of the CB match. Make sure you activate the 5% categories for every quarter as well.
@Appleman wrote:Just be careful as some utility companies charge a credit card fee.
For instance, there is a charge of 2.4% from my gas company to use a credit card to pay my bill. So, in this case, it would not be worth it to use a credit card.
That's a very valid point. Boston Water & Sewer doesn't charge a fee, but Eversource (gas and electric bills) do charge a $2.25 Western Union Speedpay fee for each $600 paid, so I've lately found myself just paying $600 each on my gas and electric bills whenever it gets back up to a positive number to maximize rewards. That works out to 3/8 of a percent fee that way, so once I factor in rewards that's much better than just paying it out of checking.
@Anonymous wrote:Hello all.
I just received and activated my new Discover it card today. Just a quick question about the cash back rewards. I understand about the 5% rotating categories and the 1% back on all other purchases. Do the rewards apply to paying utility bills or do they apply only to actual purchases?
Thanks.
Yes you get 1% cash back on paying utilities bills, but most utilities charge a "convenience fee" which will eclipse that 1%.
@K-in-Boston wrote:
@Appleman wrote:Just be careful as some utility companies charge a credit card fee.
For instance, there is a charge of 2.4% from my gas company to use a credit card to pay my bill. So, in this case, it would not be worth it to use a credit card.
That's a very valid point. Boston Water & Sewer doesn't charge a fee, but Eversource (gas and electric bills) do charge a $2.25 Western Union Speedpay fee for each $600 paid, so I've lately found myself just paying $600 each on my gas and electric bills whenever it gets back up to a positive number to maximize rewards. That works out to 3/8 of a percent fee that way, so once I factor in rewards that's much better than just paying it out of checking.
Ingenious. Why didn't I think of that? 
Heh, silly me I didn’t realize you could overpay utilities (and Phone/Cable bills like Verizon FIOS) until recently. I used to only pay with a card when the fee made sense; now the fee always makes sense!