Pay monthly bills with credit cards?

[snshijuptr]

One thing to think about though is your credit utilization. If you use your credit card for all of your expenses then you end up raking up a pretty big charge at the end of the month. I hadn't been thinking about it until I just check my credit score and realized we had been using $1500 - $2000 of our $5000 credit limit every month. Our utilization was at 30-40%, way above the recommended 10-20% and it hurt my credit score. I'm actually calling today to raise my limit.

[asmom]

Like others, I use my CC to pay for all bills and daily charges possible except for those that charge a fee. Government entities by law are not allowed to absorb the merchant credit card fees so they pass that on to the consumer, therefore I pay my auto registration and water and sewer by check. I pay the following recurring bills with my CC:

Electric
Gas
Landline
Cellphone
Auto insurance
Life insurance
Satellite
HOA dues

[zakity]

We do that. Everything we can put on credit card goes on it. We pay it off each month. I have a column in my spreadsheet with my "envelopes" at the bottom. It is a double entry accounting system. I subtract it from up above and add it to my "envelope". This way, we stay on budget.

We use the credit card because we get points. We use those points for things. We just had our anniversary and our whole date was paid for from gift cards. I have a son who is going to start shaving soon and we are going to get him a nice electric razor using the points. I need to dig through and see if we can use any of the points for gift cards for xmas.

[Seeker]

There's "can't pay by CC (because of non-acceptance)" and then there's "won't pay by CC (because of fees)" and then there's the "convenience" of the bank's online-bill-pay.

We charge externals to the cc, when we can... which means day-to-day transactions outside the house: groceries, gasoline and everything obtained by personal transaction. Orders to Amazon or wherever, get charged to CC. The once-in-a-while bills: insurances (every 6 months) and Dept of Motor Vehicles (irregular), I do go to their websites and pay by CC if there's no added costs.

Regular bills (monthly/bi-monthly), that come to our home, I usually don't bother with the CC and just log into our bank account and online-bill-pay. This includes utilities andd CC bills. I pay online, mostly because of convenience.
While probably many of the bills that come to our home can be paid by cc (without fees added), the bank has a listing of the last date paid by each company or account. This listing helps me know what to expect or what bill should be coming soonish and to look for it if (as is likely) it got mixed with the other mail stuff.

So our pattern of paying is somewhat costing us, because we could get more "rewards" on CC if we paid absolutely everything by CC. But, when you live in an apt/condo and "mail" is not reliable (due to being in a separate area in the complex along with other mailboxes that look very much alike); having the bank's listing is 1000 times more valuable to me.

I have indeed saved some late fees with companies by knowing when we do not actually recieve a bill near the time it's due and pursuing with them separately.

[biff]

An added benefit is that my money can sit in the bank collecting the measly interest the bank pays until the bill is due. I pay it electronically so I can pay it on the date it is actually due. I have another credit card that gives cash back for use but I prefer to have the air miles.

As well credit cards typically give better consumer protections when it comes to large purchases in case of a defective purchase or some other issue with the product bought.

The key is to pay it in full each month. If you do NOT have that discipline then I would not recommend using this process.

Regards,

PMMM[/QUOTE]

+1
I do this as well.. I charge everything I can, including whatever utilities I can..(wish I could charge my mortgage but its not allowed without a charge)
Just Like PMMM I pay off before it's due, and get back at least $600 cash back every year. The trick is the discipline and paying it off...I just look at my credit card like a debit card, and sometimes transfer the money over I charged immediately. So I get the consumer protection (which also covers theft of purchased item) and the rewards...

[kork13]

Ditto. I charge anything and everything that I can. When I was living in the states, I was able to put my rent, phone, electricity, cable, and of course all of my day-to-day purchases on the card. Hugely beneficial. Unfortunately credit cards are not nearly so widely accepted in Japan (it's largely a cash-only society, at least on the island I'm on). However, I still use credit cards as frequently as possible. Added benefit to using credit cards overseas: CC companies use better exchange rates. To buy Yen right now to pay for a dinner out tonight, it would be 83 Yen/Dollar (which bites, btw). Using my credit card, I get the market average rate, which is currently something like 85.1 Yen/Dollar (still bites, but it's better than 83).

[starnz]

So it does seem as though many people are charging monthly bills to their cc. Considering you can have multiple bills all with different due dates charged to one cc with one due date, is there a strategy to paying the bills around the cc due date? If the cc due date is the 10th of the month and your bill due dates span from the 1st - 15th of the month, is it possible to be charged interest on the bills that don't go through by the 10th due date? Is there a set amount of time charges can sit on a cc before interest accrues or is interest charged on whatever balance remains after a payment is made? I obviously only want to do this if I can avoid any interest charges but I need to understand how the billing works first.

Sorry if this is a silly question but I don't know the answer and hadn't given much thought to it until now.

[PMMM]

I believe with the new government regulations the billing date is a set date now for credit cards and cannot move around from month to month. Given that it is pretty easy to pay in full and not get stuck with any interest charges. The real sweet thing is for some transactions you can hang onto your money for up to 20 to 30 days depending of course on your due and charge date. A lot of the bills that you pay may have automatic billing and can bill your credit card on the due date. Or you can have the credit cards web site bill the companies you intend to pay. You have to do a little homework to work it all out but once it's in place it can be pretty automatic. Check with your credit card provider.

[snshijuptr]

Most credit cards (I believe AmEx used to be different?) Do not charge you any interest until the bill due date has passed. Remeber this is not the day you get your bill, but the date it is due (I've seen this mistake before). So you just pay your bill when it is due and further delay paying for things. I just created an interest bearing checking account, so that means more interest and rewards for me.

[zakity]

I have when the cc closes and I pay it once it closes. Actually, all my bills are noted by when they "close" and I pay them right after they close. In fact, I usually pay them before they send out the email to tell me that there is a bill.

[sweeps]

After looking at different posts on this site and articles here and elsewhere, I notice there are a lot of people who regularly charge upwards of $3,000 a month on their cards and pay the balance at the end of the cycle. Just wondering from the people who do this, is it just miscellaneous spending that gets racked up on the cards or are you paying monthly household bills? If you are paying bills, does that have to be set up through the biller or can it be done directly through the credit card similar to online banking bill pay?

Yes I've been doing this for many years. Medical bills, food purchases, telecom bills, organization/club membership fees, gasoline,... all of it goes to the credit card. Wherever possible I have these billed directly to the credit card. It's convenient and I get cash rewards for doing so.

BUT (and this is a big but), over time I've found that it is easy for your spending to accelerate out of control with everything going to the credit card. I used to downplay this effect when discussing this on the forums, but I've had a change of heart. The auto debiting and the card swiping over time become second nature and it's very easy to lose sight of monthly bills that have slowly but steadily increased, as well as impulsive purchases that get buried in that monthly credit card bill.

Ironically middle class people are in the worst danger of this effect because they usually have enough in checking and savings to cover the bloated CC bills but don't realize the dramatic effect it is having on their long-term wealth.

[PMMM]

To your comment Sweeps, if you have a budget and reconcile to the budget at least weekly if not daily, then that should not be a problem. If it is then said individual needs to go back to first and start over again. That is really a different issue from my perspective wouldn't you agree?

[MonkeyMama]

Yes, we charge everything possible. We average about 3% cash back, which I have said a few times, is more than we are earning on our cash right now.

Generally, you have to set up everything per payee.

We definitely charge Verizon + various professional dues.

We charge all of our utilities. Ironically, most the city/county utilities will take credit cards. But PG&E won't? PG&E (gas) is the only utility I pay by check.

Our mortgage, health insurance, and taxes are all paid by check. You can charge income taxes and property taxes, for a hefty fee. No thanks?

Though our medical premiums can not be charged, any bills can be charged. So we charge most our dental, medical, etc., etc.

Our HOA does not take credit. Nor does our home/auto insurance carrier.

I only regularly pay about 4 bills a month, through my checkbook, though. Phew. PGE, mortgage, health ins., HOA. We charge everything else.

ETA: My method of paying has no effect on my budget. My theory is personally that people have a hard time switching from cash to debit/credit. Fair enough. I have always been more of a checking account/charge type spender, so I don't really see electronic payments as any different from cash. It's all the same to me. I've never really used cash, like a lot of younger people. I do spend what is available. My rainy day savings is not for over-spending.

[moneyunderyourfuton]

Hi. I'm new to this forum.

I also pay as many of my recurring bills on my credit card as possible. If only my rent could be paid by credit card...

Also, I find that paying by credit card can also be more convenient, since all of the bills that are due at different dates go to your credit card bill - and that only has to be paid once a month. That way, there are actually less due dates to manage.

[starnz]

For those of you who do pay bills via cc, is there any software you use to organize the process or does it get fairly simple once a routine is established. One of my cards offers a free service through a "Billeo" software and it looks like it may be helpful if not overkill in some areas. Has anyone else heard of or used this before?