Published: September 8, 2020 | Updated: October 15, 2020 | Posted by: Venus Zoleta | Credit Card
Using a credit card is one of the most convenient and safest ways to pay bills. It spares you the hassle of lining up at malls and remittance centers and paying in cash or check. Instead, you can make utility payments online with your card at home. When you pay bills with a credit card, you can track your expenses more easily. You can just view your card’s billing statement to check if all your bills for the month are settled.
What’s the best credit card to pay bills, you might ask. It’s the one that provides maximum savings and convenience when used to pay for electricity, water, mobile postpaid, internet, cable, and other utilities.
Keep reading to learn more about the best credit cards to pay utility bills in the Philippines.
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Do I get cashback for paying bills?You might be wondering if you’ll be rewarded for using a credit card to pay bills. Well, it depends on the card. Some credit cards earn cashback or rewards points on utilities while others don’t.
If you pay a lot of bills every month, it’s best to get a cashback or rewards credit card that lets you collect rebates or points each time you charge your utility payments to it. Rather than overspend on non-essentials, you rack up more rewards with bills you’re going to pay for anyway.
How does auto-pay work? Most credit card providers in the Philippines have an auto-charge program that helps cardholders ensure that all their bills are paid on time. This feature makes life easier for busy and forgetful people, especially parents who are dealing with multiple household expenses.
When you enroll in your issuing bank’s auto-payment facility, your bills will be automatically charged to your credit card. All you have to do is pay the total amount due in your credit card billing statement. This way, you avoid missing due dates and paying penalty fees for late bills payment.
However, some auto-charge facilities are exempted from cashback or rewards programs. This means the bills you pay through auto-charge won’t earn rebates or points.
In such a case, you can choose to pay your bills through another channel (such as directly on the biller’s website or app) if you still want to earn rebates or rewards. But if you prefer the convenience of auto-charging your bills to your card, you may enroll in the program, give up the opportunity to earn points or rebates on your utility payments, and just earn them through your other credit card transactions.
Want to get both benefits? Choose a credit card for utilities that allow you to earn cashback or points for bills paid through the bank’s auto-charge program.
Lastly, most auto-charge facilities allow enrollment of certain billers only. Check the auto-pay program terms and conditions to see if your billers can be enrolled.
Security Bank’s cashback credit card offers the highest rebate rate on utility bills payment at 3%. The card also earns tiered rebates on other essentials, saving you as much as PHP 1,000 on your monthly credit card bill.
You also have the option to enroll your utility bills in the Bills Assist Program. Some of the billers you can enroll include Meralco, Globe, PLDT, Sun, SkyCable, and Cablelink. Such a payment facility automatically charges all the enrolled bills to your credit card. However, you won’t earn cashback on bills enrolled in Bills Assist. Use other online bills payment channels if you prefer saving money through rebates over the convenience of having your bills auto-charged to your card.
Lastly, Security Bank has a new feature called SimplyPay[1] that allows you to conveniently pay with your credit card for utilities and other expenses (e.g., rent, hospital bills, insurance, etc.) that require bank deposit as the payment method.
Meralco customers with large power consumption at home or office can save a lot on electricity bill payments using the Citi Cash Back card. Simply pay Meralco bills with a Citi credit card via Citibank’s online banking facility or enroll them in Citi One Bill for automatic payments.
Either way, you’ll earn up to a 2% rebate on your Meralco payments. Get the maximum cashback rate when your credit card transactions on non-supermarket and non-Meralco expenses (such as fuel, dining, medicine, and shopping) reach at least PHP 10,000 per month.
With this UnionBank cashback credit card, you can earn a 1.5% rebate on all transactions charged to the card, including your utility bill payments. The cashback doesn’t expire, so you can redeem it anytime and get unlimited savings. With this feature, it might be the best credit card to pay bills.
Bills enrolled in UnionBank’s auto payment facility are exempted from earning rebates, though. If you want to earn cashback using the Gold Mastercard, use other online services for bills payment.
Earn rewards fast on your payments for mobile postpaid, landline, and home internet services using the Metrobank Rewards Plus Visa. The card also allows you to earn points on utilities (such as Globe, Smart, Innove, and PLDT Home) enrolled in the Bills2Pay program. Such a feature makes this Metrobank credit card better than other rewards cards that mostly don’t earn points on bills enrolled in the bank’s auto-payment facility.
The HSBC Red Mastercard lets you ramp up your rewards just by paying your bills online with it. What’s more, you can easily settle your utility payments for billers like Globe, PLDT, Sun, and SkyCable through the HSBC AutoCharge. Bills paid through AutoCharge earn bonus points, with a limit of up to PHP 100,000 per transaction.
When you pay bills using the Citi Rewards Card, you earn 1 point per PHP 30 spend. Citi One Bill charges, as well as bills payment via Citibank Online or the Citi Mobile App, also earn points up to the following transaction limits:
Apart from double rewards on three essential categories, the Flex Gold Visa lets you earn points on your utility bill payments. You can even get rewards on payments for bills enrolled in the Fast BillsPay facility. With the Fast BillsPay feature, you can make either a one-time or recurring bills payment. Billers you can enroll for auto-charging include Manila Water, Meralco, Cignal, Sky Cable, Globe, PLDT, and Smart.
Can’t decide yet? Let’s trim down your choices. Here’s our recommendations for those looking for the best credit card to pay bills.
Nowadays, most bills payment transactions using a credit card are done online. Aside from auto-pay facilities, cardholders may use other methods to pay bills in the safety and comfort of their home.
Bills can be paid through the credit card provider’s online banking platform, the billers’ website or app, or third-party bills payment apps. No need to go outside and have the card swiped.
Paying bills online is quite similar to the checkout process on an online shopping site. Below are the steps you can follow once you have your best credit card to pay bills.
If you choose an auto-charge service to pay bills with a credit card, just enroll by calling your issuing bank’s hotline. You’ll be asked for details regarding your credit card account and the bills you wish to enroll. Once you’ve set your bills to be paid automatically with your card, the only thing you’ll have to worry about is paying your credit card bill every month.
Paying bills with a credit card comes with many advantages. You can maximize such benefits when you use credit card to pay bills. Also, always make sure to pay your credit card bill in full every month so that you won’t lose the chance of earning rewards or cashback.
Looking for the best credit card for you? Below is a list of top credit card features with discounts and other perks. Compare your options with Moneymax!
Category | Description |
---|---|
No Annual Fee Credit Cards | Want to save money with your credit card? Skip the annual fees with these top cards. |
Rewards Credit Cards | Earn more rewards points with these best rewards credit cards! Ideal for online shopping and everyday spending. |
Cashback Credit Cards | Earn cash rebates with every purchase with a cash back credit card. Ideal for groceries and dining. |
Travel Credit Cards | Are you a frequent traveler? These best travel credit cards are ideal for racking up air miles and other travel rewards. |
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Venus is an experienced personal finance writer with a background in digital marketing, public relations, and journalism. She’s into stock, VUL, and mutual fund investing. Follow Venus on LinkedIn.