Using CCs to pay bills (for rewards)...

[Anonymous]

I keep reading how people use their credit cards to pay their bills so that they can maximize their cash rewards, points, etc.  I pay my bills through my bank and the only automatic pay I have is Netflix.  So, I started logging into all of my accounts (gas, electric, car, etc.) and I don't see any other option other than checking or debit card for auto payments.  I can certainly do a one time payment with my credit card, but there are fees involved.  Paying the $5 fee to get $4.77 back is obviously not a smart decision.  Am I missing something? 

[mongstradamus]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I keep reading how people use their credit cards to pay their bills so that they can maximize their cash rewards, points, etc.  I pay my bills through my bank and the only automatic pay I have is Netflix.  So, I started logging into all of my accounts (gas, electric, car, etc.) and I don't see any other option other than checking or debit card for auto payments.  I can certainly do a one time payment with my credit card, but there are fees involved.  Paying the $5 fee to get $4.77 back is obviously not a smart decision.  Am I missing something? 

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Unless you are trying to meet min spend its not really worth it if you are paying fees. My oil bill can be paid via cc but only get 1x since I don't have any cards that give bonus on. If you have ink cash or ink plus you can get 5x on internet, cell phone, cable, and surprisingly enough netflix. 

[Anonymous]

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@mongstradamus wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I keep reading how people use their credit cards to pay their bills so that they can maximize their cash rewards, points, etc.  I pay my bills through my bank and the only automatic pay I have is Netflix.  So, I started logging into all of my accounts (gas, electric, car, etc.) and I don't see any other option other than checking or debit card for auto payments.  I can certainly do a one time payment with my credit card, but there are fees involved.  Paying the $5 fee to get $4.77 back is obviously not a smart decision.  Am I missing something? 

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Unless you are trying to meet min spend its not really worth it if you are paying fees. My oil bill can be paid via cc but only get 1x since I don't have any cards that give bonus on. If you have ink cash or ink plus you can get 5x on internet, cell phone, cable, and surprisingly enough netflix. 

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I would never do it if there was a fee.  That's just stupid.  But, I have several rewards cards and would love to use them for bills if I could.  I PIF every month.

[DantGwyrdd]

I only use the CC when there's either no fee (generally cable and cell phone bills) or when the fee is cancelled out by the cashback (winter electric bills right now as we live in a place where we have to use an electric heater). I used to pay the oil bill at my old place years ago with my Discover as there was one of those CC-to-check/ACH payment processing websites that didn't charge a fee for Discover and had my heating oil supplier as an available payee (forgot the name of the site though). Otherwise, eCheck payments are generally free of fees so I use those for everything else (car payment, rent and the non-winter electric bills).

[disdreamin]

As others have said, I only pay the bills I can without accruing a fee for using the credit card. I can do water bill, cell phone, cable, and a few others that aren't popping into my head right now. I am with all of you who say not to pay a bill with cc if there is a stiff fee. The only exception are those companies that I might not be comfortable with them having any access whatsoever to banking info (as in checking/savings).

[DantGwyrdd]

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@disdreamin wrote:

As others have said, I only pay the bills I can without accruing a fee for using the credit card. I can do water bill, cell phone, cable, and a few others that aren't popping into my head right now. I am with all of you who say not to pay a bill with cc if there is a stiff fee. The only exception are those companies that I might not be comfortable with them having any access whatsoever to banking info (as in checking/savings).

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Oh yes, this too! Discover also used to have a thing where you could have a one-time-use CC number generated that you could use to make a single purchase with a merchant and then it would expire that I used a couple of times and thought it was a nice feature, but they discontinued it last year I thing, a shame, it was really cool IMO.

[Anonymous]

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@DantGwyrdd wrote:

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@disdreamin wrote:

As others have said, I only pay the bills I can without accruing a fee for using the credit card. I can do water bill, cell phone, cable, and a few others that aren't popping into my head right now. I am with all of you who say not to pay a bill with cc if there is a stiff fee. The only exception are those companies that I might not be comfortable with them having any access whatsoever to banking info (as in checking/savings).

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Oh yes, this too! Discover also used to have a thing where you could have a one-time-use CC number generated that you could use to make a single purchase with a merchant and then it would expire that I used a couple of times and thought it was a nice feature, but they discontinued it last year I thing, a shame, it was really cool IMO.

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Right. Citi bank actually still offers this. It's called a VAN: Virtual Account number. You can set when it expires and the limit that can be charged through it. 

[Anonymous]

My cell phone, cable/internet, and utiltiy company all take credit card with no fee.  I wouldn't do it if there was a fee.  Switched away from Sallie Mae for fuel when the price dropped enough that 5% was less than the store discount too.

[Kidcat]

Also consider any recurring bills such as home security, pest control, insurance (if they don't charge a fee), subscriptions, charitable contributions,  in addition to cell phone, cable, internet etc

[Anonymous]

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@Sladyesq wrote:

Also consider any recurring bills such as home security, pest control, insurance (if they don't charge a fee), subscriptions, charitable contributions,  in addition to cell phone, cable, internet etc

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Me, personally, the only thing that doesn't go on a rewards CC is my mortgage and my Lending Club loan. It'd be like throwing money away, otherwise.