# Using Visa Card to pay recurring bills.



## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

We have our new Scotia Momentum Infinite credit cards.

One of the benefits, is 2% cashback on recurring bills. Sounds good, but just what are recurring bills and how should they be set up?

In past, we have used our Chase Visa or Mastercard to pay bills. We just provided the vendor/utility with our credit card number, and they charged it once a month. It was treated same as a purchase.

On the Scotia site, they have a section where you can set up Payees for recurring bills. For example, we could set up to pay for our cable internet once a month. This instead of cable company charging our credit card from their end. 

Sounds like it would be same either way? But then Scotia says that any payment made using a credit card would be treated same as a cash withdrawal and interest would be charged same as they do on cash withdrawals using credit card. So we then pay 20% interest for a couple of weeks in orde rto get 2% cashback?? Doesn't make sense. 

I must be missing something. We will call or visit a branch for clarification, but maybe someone has run into this?


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## bgc_fan (Apr 5, 2009)

I am not an expert, but it seems to be hit or miss. I have a VISA that gives 3% back on recurring payments, and I just give the VISA info to the vendor. Sometimes it counts, sometimes not. They must have some way of coding it.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

bgc_fan said:


> I am not an expert, but it seems to be hit or miss. I have a VISA that gives 3% back on recurring payments, and I just give the VISA info to the vendor. Sometimes it counts, sometimes not. They must have some way of coding it.


I was wondering if I have to set up the payees on Scotias site. But I will ask them before doing it.


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## SW20 MR2 (Dec 18, 2010)

I have the Tangerine card which offers the same rewards accelerator. I use it for Telus, Bell, Presto, and 407ETR. For all of those bills, my card is registered directly with the vendor.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

SW20 MR2 said:


> I have the Tangerine card which offers the same rewards accelerator. I use it for Telus, Bell, Presto, and 407ETR. For all of those bills, my card is registered directly with the vendor.


Sounds like that is all we have to do. We just changed from our old card to the Scotia Momentum Infinite card on vendor's sites. I just wonder how Scotia/Visa determine that a charge is a recurring charge. We asked at local branch and they said that because reward are only paid annually near end of year, they will be able to see which charges were recurring.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

I asked Scotia how they determine if a payment is recurring or not. This was the response:



> Recurring payments are defined as payments made on a monthly or regular basis
> automatically billed by a merchant and they typically apply to subscriptions,
> telecommunication, insurance, membership etc. purchases. Please check with
> your merchant to see if they offer recurring payments on VISA cards.
> ...


I checked with our Vendors but so far only one has responded, and their system is not yet set up to handle recurring payments. Hydro One don't accept credit cards it seems. Shaw agent didn't understand my question??? Tried another avenue. All in all, we probably will only get 1% on most recurring payments. That will be about $40/yr less than we hoped for. Or $100 less if we include Hydro. Nevertheless, the 4% on gas and groceries plus 1% on everything else is still quite good. (Scotia Momentum Infinite card)


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Most regulated utilities won't let one pay their bills by credit cards. Telecoms/cable/internet are the only "utility" ones I know to do so. Never been able to pay gas, electricity, water by CC.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

AltaRed said:


> Most regulated utilities won't let one pay their bills by credit cards. Telecoms/cable/internet are the only "utility" ones I know to do so. Never been able to pay gas, electricity, water by CC.


Actually, in Ontario, Hydro One does accept credit card payments. BUT, they charge a 1.75% fee when they are used. 
Our CAA car/home insurance is paid as a recurring charge against our credit card. Haven't heard yet if they code as a recurring payment so we would get 2% instead of 1% cashback.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

I specifically restricted my response to 'utilities' but if we want to expand that discussion, there are many other things I pay for, besides telecom, on a recurring basis with pre-authorized credit card, e.g. auto and home insurance, BCAA membership, APEGA professional fees, ADT Security, MS Office, Spotify, Neflix, etc. Anything and everything I can get away with doing,


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## SW20 MR2 (Dec 18, 2010)

Check out PayTM. They allow you to pay typical non-card merchants like property taxes, utilities, etc using a credit card. They will remit an EFT payment to the merchant to actually pay your bill. It's getting really popular, so it's not a small time scam. So far, I've used it to pay Enbridge. Next up for me are Alectra and City of Markham, both of which are listed as eligible merchants.



AltaRed said:


> Most regulated utilities won't let one pay their bills by credit cards. Telecoms/cable/internet are the only "utility" ones I know to do so. Never been able to pay gas, electricity, water by CC.


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## doctrine (Sep 30, 2011)

It might be popular, but that just means you pay the credit fee directly. Regulated utilities have fixed rate of returns; a 2% credit fee could easily be 25% of their profit gone up in smoke.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

doctrine said:


> It might be popular, but that just means you pay the credit fee directly. Regulated utilities have fixed rate of returns; a 2% credit fee could easily be 25% of their profit gone up in smoke.


I agree. There is no free lunch.


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

SW20 MR2 said:


> Check out PayTM. They allow you to pay typical non-card merchants like property taxes, utilities, etc using a credit card. They will remit an EFT payment to the merchant to actually pay your bill. It's getting really popular, so it's not a small time scam. So far, I've used it to pay Enbridge. Next up for me are Alectra and City of Markham, both of which are listed as eligible merchants.


Interesting company to read about. Sounds like they have done very well in India. I wonder if that is because on-line banking options don't exist to the same extent they do in Canada?

We get informed by email each month of all recurring bills (NG/elec/wtr/phone) and then just pay on-line at our bank website. Personally I wouldn't be interested in inserting a third party into the process. We avg $65k/yr on a cash-back card now with everyday spending, so while perhaps not reaping every dollar we could, I'm not going to complicate life for a few more at this point. 
I'm also not an 'apps' user, which I know puts me in the soon-to-be-extinct part of the zoo.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

As it turns out, our TV (Shaw) and insurance (CAA) are coded as recurring bills and will get the 2% cashback. Our Internet (Start.ca) is currently changing their payment system and in time will also be eligible. Our Ooma phone only costs $4.00/month, so doesn't matter. Hydro and property taxes (our biggest expenses) not eligible. No big deal, but better than nothing or those 0.5% Airmiles on our BMO M/C !


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