Does your Utility Company Accept Credit Cards?
Want to know if your local water company accepts Visa? How about whether your gas company will take MasterCard as a payment? Charging your necessities (like utilities) on a credit card is probably one of the easiest ways to accumulate reward points and miles, but finding out which merchants actually accept plastic can be a chore.
Fortunately, both Visa and MasterCard have compiled directories to help with this very task.
- See Visa’s excellent Biller Directory where you can actually search by either category or biller name, or just see which billers are common in your zip code.
- See MasterCard’s Directory of Service Providers where you can search merchants by either category or state.
Of course just because a merchant accepts credit doesn’t mean you should use it. You’ll still want to check that there is no additional ‘convenience fee’ being charged for using your credit card.
Absolutely! This is a fantastic way to earn rewards. But you MUST be diligent about paying your card in full every month. If you can’t do this, then don’t put your utilities on your credit card – you’ll just be digging yourself into a hole you’ll never escape.
If you can pay your card off in full every month, choose credit over debit, make sure you have the best rewards program available and watch your balance grow. It’s addictive!