Bill Pay with Credit Cards

[msefren]

We began paying household bills with credit cards rather than through bank bill pay or the old envelope and stamp routine a few years ago. My wife was not thrilled with the idea at first thinking that we would incur too much credit card debt but I reasoned that it was money leaving the nest regardless. So far it has not been problematic and has allowed us to acquire cash rewards. Some vendor websites allow you to select a pay date and others do not. Some only allow debit card payments (we prefer not to pay this way) so some management is required.

We review each line item against our receipts to check for suspicious activity. It is helpful to see monthly expenses consolidated in one billing statement but it is hard getting accustomed to the large cc bill...

Are we just late to the game with this?

 

[redshift]

We've been paying any bills possible with air miles cc for years. Still have over 600K award miles, after many first class flights. Just be sure to pay in full each month.

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[Just_Steve]

Credit Cards, what's a Credit Card?

 

[travelover]

I use my 2% back Fidelity VISA for gas, electricity, internet and insurance. It is free money.

 

[sengsational]

For the ones that will let me put in a credit card without tacking-on a fee... I will do that. Never a debit card, though, since there are not enough protections there. The rest of the bills go through the bank's billpay, which is "check free" under the covers. Small wrinkles there can be a pain to fix, but problems have been very infrequent.

 

[Car-Guy]

I've been using my primary credit card to pay as many of my bills as I can for years now. Why? Well it's easier than writing checks, it's quicker than writing checks, a lot less paper, and I get 2% cash back on everything I buy. It's just to bad they won't let me pay my credit card bill with another credit card. I NEVER carry a balance and average about 50k per year in card charges. That's about $1000 in free money per year. Not a lot of money but it's easy and free.

I keep waiting for the CC companies to try and start charging me an annual fee or put limits on how much I can charge and still get the rebates. If they ever do, I'll rethink it.

 

[COcheesehead]

I pay off my card every month, so like the others, I pay everything I can on the card. I'll take that 2% rebate all day long.
I even put $8000 on the card when I paid cash for my car. I would have put more, but that is all the dealer would allow.

 

[shortstop14]

I've got almost everything automatically paid through a Southwest Chase card. The only bills I directly pay are annual property tax (because they charge to use a credit card, and I'm cheap errrr frugal), twice a year insurance payments, the odd medical bill and the monthly credit card itself. It makes longer term travel easier when I'm not relying on statements in the mail - just check in once a month to pay the credit card off.

It's nice having almost all expenses consolidated on one account, and the mileage credits cover most all of our domestic flights.

 

[rodi]

My credit union charges money for bill pay - so I don't use it. (Used it for one bill I couldn't pay online, when we were gone 9 weeks last summer, but that's it.)

Everything that can be paid (without fee) by CC is paid by CC. I get the rewards, I get consolodated statements. I'm happy. I pay the CC in full each month.

A few bill can't be paid by CC - so I push EFT (not automatic) to pay the bill.

 

[nash031]

We've been paying bills on CC for more than 5 years. "Miles" or "points" for "free"? Absolutely. The flexibility to use those points on travel or on Amazon purchases is fantastic.

 

[UpAnchor]

We, too, use our Fidelity visa for as many big ticket items as possible (and most smaller ones now as well).
Sure wish we could use it for prop taxes/mortgage payments.

As OP said, it's money leaving the nest regardless. And once confident in one's ability to properly manage one's accounts, what's not to like? The 2% adds up pretty fast and - plunka, plunka - right into the ol' Fidelity account has made me a believer.

 

[Mulligan]

I am a hodge podge. One CC has 3 monthly bills on it. Several I pay online through my bank bill pay and several I still write a check. I like my cable bill paid by check.. I like to think they know that and it helps me get me yearly "price chop" when I run through the phone gauntlet to get this accomplished.
All day to day expenses go to my cash back CC.

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[Sunset]

For the ones that will let me put in a credit card without tacking-on a fee... I will do that. Never a debit card, though, since there are not enough protections there. The rest of the bills go through the bank's billpay, which is "check free" under the covers. Small wrinkles there can be a pain to fix, but problems have been very infrequent.

+1
Ditto...

 

[RetireAge50]

All bills except property tax are paid automatically and most via credit card. Credit card is also paid automatically via bank account. Usually get about $500 back every year in cash.

 

[Scuba]

Wow! I pay medical bills and insurance with my credit card. Charge all day to day purchases (gas, groceries, all retail purchases plus restaurants and entertainment expenses) to Fidelity 2% like others, but can't use for mortgage, HOA, utilities, property taxes, housekeeper, etc. Very few of the bills I pay monthly can be paid fee-free via credit card.


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[audreyh1]

Yes, we pay bills with CCs whenever we can. The only gotcha is when your card is replaced, then you have to remember to update all your auto-billed service providers.

 

[bssc]

Another person who pays with CCs. State Farm now allows it. And, of course, we never carry a balance.

 

[Alan]

Yes, we pay bills with CCs whenever we can. The only gotcha is when your card is replaced, then you have to remember to update all your auto-billed service providers.

Same here, and after our CC had been compromised and replaced a couple of times some years back I moved all our automatic payments to a single rewards card which never leaves the house and is never used for anything other than the automatic payments.

 

[simple girl]

Yep, pay as many utility bills as possible with my cash-back CC. Pay it in full every month. Too bad I didn't think of using it for my medical bills until this year. I would have made a killing over the past 5 years.

Paying for a car with a CC? Hmmmmm....I'm in the market for a "new" used car...will have to explore that idea!

 

[JOHNNIE36]

I just hate to get the credit card bills at the end of the month and having to pay for something that is already gone, like groceries. So, my fix is to charge the groceries to get the 3% cash back (AMEX), then go home and pay that credit card bill immediately through my bank on line bill pay. I just do this for any purchase in the $50 plus range. I like the 5% cash back on gas also but don't buy that much gas to really make it worth while.

Yesterday, I had to get new batteries for my golf cart. Used my 1% cash back card, went home and did a bank bill pay for $811. Got my $8 cash back which reduced the price of the batteries. Just my way of dealing with credit card debt.

 

[LOL!]

I use my 2% back Fidelity VISA for gas, electricity, internet and insurance. It is free money.

My son's college accepts credit cards for tuition etc without an extra fee, too.
Anything that can be paid with the card without extra fees goes on the card.

So it's like a 2% pay raise without the taxes.

 

[harley]

Yes, we pay bills with CCs whenever we can. The only gotcha is when your card is replaced, then you have to remember to update all your auto-billed service providers.

Same here. I keep a list of bills I pay via credit card on my computer, so it's easier to update all the bills if the number or expiration date changes (and it's easily available to DW in case I croak). I learned that the hard way. But I'd say 75% of our expenses and expenditures are put on the credit card. The only exceptions are the ones that would charge a fee. It makes tracking expenses so easy to have the consolidated report capability.

 

[flyingaway]

Do most places require service fees that are more than 2% of the amount? Utility bills, water bills, and tax bills, my son's rent & tuition bills, they all collect service fees higher than 2%. Although many credit cards have sign-up bonuses that are more than 2%, I usually do not use credit cards to pay those bills. I do use credit cards to pay cell phone and internet bills monthly.

 

[harley]

Do most places require service fees that are more than 2% of the amount? Utility bills, water bills, and tax bills, my son's rent & tuition bills, they all collect service fees higher than 2%. Although many credit cards have sign-up bonuses that are more than 2%, I usually do not use credit cards to pay those bills. I do use credit cards to pay cell phone and internet bills monthly.

The bills I don't pay with a CC tend to charge ridiculously high fees. Things like gov't related bills like RE taxes, water and sewer, etc. Usually 3-5%. Not worth it to me. I'll mail them a check if they're going to be like that.

 

[Cobra9777]

We have all recurring bills on auto-pay using the Fidelity 2% VISA. None of them charge a fee for using the card. There's one local utility that has no auto-pay option, so I still pay them via online bill-pay. Our insurance company accepts the VISA, but not auto-pay. I have to login to their website and initiate the payment every 6 months. As others have said, property tax imposes a huge fee, so I pay them via bill-pay as well. We try to pay all medical expenses with the VISA also, but sometimes I'll use bill-pay for a small invoice that comes in the mail. I've thought about using bank auto-pay for the credit cards themselves. But right now they're paid via bill-pay as well.