Putting all your monthly bills on Disney Visa?

[Raya]

We're considering putting our reoccurring monthly charges (water, gas, electric, cable, etc) on our Disney Visa in an effort to gain reward dollars faster. Has anyone tried this? Did it work or cause a problem in your budget someplace else?

I'm concerned because we usually set a monthly limit on the charge card, once we hit that limit the cards come out of our wallets and can't be used until the next month. I don't want to end up spending more than usual just get a few more Disney Dollars....

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We don't do it with our DV, it simply doesn't earn enough points to make it worth it. I do, however, charge everything to our Southwest Airlines card since flights are usually a large expense in travelling. We also like that we can fly anywhere SWA flies, and not necessarily committed to just Disney.

So I guess it's the same principle, just depends on what rewards are most valuable to you. It's very doable and I make payments very often so it doesn't get out of control. I would say during a typical month I make 10-15 payments.

 

[clshirk]

When I sign up for cards, I try to get the card with a great cashback bonus. When I first signed up for the Disney visa, I used it for gas and groceries to get to my $500 as quickly as possible to get the $200 cashback.
Otherwise I'm not using that card anymore because the rewards aren't great. I'll take it with us to Disney to get those discounts.

 

[Sagginit]

i pay any bill i can on my CC to earn the points. it doesn't cause me to go over budget at all, the majority of my purchases go on CC so i'm used to it. i pay my balance a few times a month (3-6) on my cards. it actually works to my advantage i feel because it allows me to lump paying the cards and my bills into one paycheck, rather than having them bill to my banking account on different days.

i don't do it with my disney visa anymore, not worth it. i have them go to a CC where i get 1.5% back on everything. i let the rewards add up and then use periodically to cover things that come up.

 

[Marionnette]

We're considering putting our reoccurring monthly charges (water, gas, electric, cable, etc) on our Disney Visa in an effort to gain reward dollars faster. Has anyone tried this? Did it work or cause a problem in your budget someplace else?

I'm concerned because we usually set a monthly limit on the charge card, once we hit that limit the cards come out of our wallets and can't be used until the next month. I don't want to end up spending more than usual just get a few more Disney Dollars....

I don't see how putting regularly recurring bills on your CC would encourage you to spend more money? It's not as if you're going to say "What the heck, leave the lights on all night! The electric bill is going on the Disney Visa!"

We actually love having fewer payments to deal with. Like the PP, we don't use the Disney Visa because it just doesn't offer enough return on our spending. We have one card that we devote to our recurring bills and nothing else goes on it. We have other CCs that we use for "everyday" expenses like groceries, gas and pet supplies and another CC that is solely for business expenses. Paying just a few CCs every month sure beats sitting down and paying a bunch of separate bills like the cable, oil, insurance, etc.

 

[Redwitch]

If you decide to go with a cc (I pay my cellular and cable bills with my Disney VISA) double check they don't charge a service fee. Some utilities charge a fee if you use a cc.

 

[mikehn]

I charge as many monthly bills as I can on my credit card. Nothing wrong with doing that, as long as you pay off the balance on a monthly basis to avoid the interest charges.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

If you decide to go with a cc (I pay my cellular and cable bills with my Disney VISA) double check they don't charge a service fee. Some utilities charge a fee if you use a cc.

True. Our gas/electric, sewer and water bills all charge fees to pay by cc. So for those we use our bank's bill pay service. Everything else goes on our SW card.
(cell phone bill, cable/internet, car insurance, gas, groceries, etc.)

 

[aliceindisneyland]

I have two Disney Visas but we really only got ours for the sign up bonuses, and for the referral bonuses.

We make out like bandits with the American Express Blue Cash Preferred card; it gives 6% at grocery stores (8% right now at Whole Foods!), 3% on gas (same as Costco Amex but Blue Amex pays cash back the next month, not yearly like the Costco Amex).

With the Amex Blue and grocery store fuel perks we save over 15% on Disney gcs.

Our Costco Amex offers 2% back on travel (we use that card when we stay at offsite hotels; we paywith discounted Disney gcs for onsite hotels).

We have APs so the Disney Visa dining/merchandise discounts don't add value, but we do often get the free 5x7 character photo (the last remaining perk of the Disney Visa!)

Bottom line: there are many everyday and travel cards that offer better cash back and perks than the Disney Visa, but it is usually worth it to get one or two Disney Visa cards just for the sign up bonuses, the dining/merchandise discounts if you don't have an AP, and the free character photos.

 

[havaneselover]

I have two Disney Visas but we really only got ours for the sign up bonuses, and for the referral bonuses.

We make out like bandits with the American Express Blue Cash Preferred card; it gives 6% at grocery stores (8% right now at Whole Foods!), 3% on gas (same as Costco Amex but Blue Amex pays cash back the next month, not yearly like the Costco Amex).

With the Amex Blue and grocery store fuel perks we save over 15% on Disney gcs.

Our Costco Amex offers 2% back on travel (we use that card when we stay at offsite hotels; we paywith discounted Disney gcs for onsite hotels).

We have APs so the Disney Visa dining/merchandise discounts don't add value, but we do often get the free 5x7 character photo (the last remaining perk of the Disney Visa!)

Bottom line: there are many everyday and travel cards that offer better cash back and perks than the Disney Visa, but it is usually worth it to get one or two Disney Visa cards just for the sign up bonuses, the dining/merchandise discounts if you don't have an AP, and the free character photos.

I do the same. Amex Blue Preferred (max out my $6k in groceries buying gift cards) and Costco amex for non-Disney travel (including dreaded work trips which I get reimbursed for). Right now I have 3% on everything on a Citicard but that's only through June. Then I go back to Capital One for 1.5% off. I have a DV but don't use it. I got it to get the $200 gift card several years ago.

The only recurring bill I pay with a CC is cable. I need to look into my electric bill but gas and water are through the city/county so I'm pretty sure they would charge a fee.

 

[scard192]

I go in an pay my insurance (car/homeowners) and cable using the Disney Visa and then log into my online banking to pay the credit card. There is no service for those 2. Its not a lot but we only can afford WDW every 3-4 years so it does add up. I use the Disney Visa for any bill/prucase that I would only get 1% cash back.

 

[OhMari]

Points do expire with DVC. I think they give you 3 years to use your points or dollars.

 

[a742246]

I charge as many monthly bills as I can on my credit card. Nothing wrong with doing that, as long as you pay off the balance on a monthly basis to avoid the interest charges.

I agree as long as you pay off the balance each month. Miss one month when you don't fully pay off the balance and whatever savings you get could be washed.

 

[Marionnette]

Points do expire with DVC. I think they give you 3 years to use your points or dollars.

DVC = Disney Vacation Club?

or DVC = Disney Visa Card?

The Disney Visa rewards dollars expire 5 years after they have been earned. If order a rewards card and transfer your rewards dollars to it, then the unused rewards dollars expire when the card expires.

You can avoid losing your rewards dollars by using the rewards card to purchase a Disney GC online at disneystore .com and using the rewards card to pay for it. Disney GCs never expire.

 

[magik]

If you decide to go with a cc (I pay my cellular and cable bills with my Disney VISA) double check they don't charge a service fee. Some utilities charge a fee if you use a cc.

This is definitely something to look at. Awhile back I considered using a credit card with rewards for all my monthly bills and after looking into it, the only monthly bill I could pay with a credit card without a fee was my cell phone. My mortgage, electric, water, and tv/internet/phone all charge a service fee that would work out to more than the rewards I would earn if I used a credit card. It was very disappointing.

 

[scard192]

This is definitely something to look at. Awhile back I considered using a credit card with rewards for all my monthly bills and after looking into it, the only monthly bill I could pay with a credit card without a fee was my cell phone. My mortgage, electric, water, and tv/internet/phone all charge a service fee that would work out to more than the rewards I would earn if I used a credit card. It was very disappointing.

best rewards transaction I have had was the down payment on my new car. I had the money in the bank so put the down payment on the Dis Visa (had to do 2 transactions over 2 days), went home, transferred the $$ from savings to checking and paid Chase!

 

[msmama]

I second Marionette's question - how are you afraid you'll spend more?

Anything that can be paid by credit card, does get paid by credit card. I split most things between a few cards. I also change things up, for instance, when I know I will be going to Disney in a few months, I may change a few bills to Disney. Or if I'm low on SW points, I'll use that card.

I thought I was going to be able to pay my property taxes (which would've been a nice Disney dinner), but the fees were more than the rewards were worth (on any of my cards)!!

Also, PP, who said everything charges fees. Any utilities that used to charge fees don't anymore, so double check!!

 

[nunzia]

We're considering putting our reoccurring monthly charges (water, gas, electric, cable, etc) on our Disney Visa in an effort to gain reward dollars faster. Has anyone tried this? Did it work or cause a problem in your budget someplace else?

I'm concerned because we usually set a monthly limit on the charge card, once we hit that limit the cards come out of our wallets and can't be used until the next month. I don't want to end up spending more than usual just get a few more Disney Dollars....

I do this.. I charge everything I can that doesn't have a fee asociated to charge, I also charge all my monthly daily things...gas/groceries/etc. You can't expect that limit you set on CC uses to expand all of a sudden to just cover these things. Just make your budget as normal, but by whatever bill..say water..just make a little 'c' notation so it comes out of your budget but you know it goes on the card. Then have your regular CC budget for things you use it for and keep them seperate. I have a list of budget items for each payperiod, some with 'A' by them..those automatically are put on the card..like Cable, and then some have a 'C' by them, which means I manually have to charge the item online or whatever. Then I have a starting amount of what I can charge during the month, and then subtract from it each time I do. THAT is the number that determines when, ok, I'm out of money to spend..not the normal bills. (PS..I like the Disney Visa points since I go so often, but I also have a Chase rewards and every quarter I use that on those categories for the 5% and get it in cash, which then goes into my trip savings. Amazon was one for the last quarter of 2014 and I shop a lot on Amazon, so that was nice. I also shop through Ebates for all online shopping and that really adds up and the checks, yep, go into trip savings. You need to watch your Ebates account, esp with some merchants..Twice magazines.com, which has huge rebates, like 26%, never sent me an order confirmation and it didn't show on Ebates. You need that order confirmation to challege a non showing rebate, so I had to call magazines.com, have them send me 'another' confirmation, and then fill out the ebates form. Within an hour the $31.00 was in my account )

 

[ICF]

Anything and everything that I can put on a CC I do....the card I use depends on what I'm trying to earn points for. Sometimes its the SW Visa, other's it's my Hilton Honors AMEX or Disney Visa.

It is silly to pay with cash or check if I can earn rewards for using a CC (all with no fees except when I have the SW visa)

 

[Marionnette]

I second Marionette's question - how are you afraid you'll spend more?

Anything that can be paid by credit card, does get paid by credit card. I split most things between a few cards. I also change things up, for instance, when I know I will be going to Disney in a few months, I may change a few bills to Disney. Or if I'm low on SW points, I'll use that card.

I thought I was going to be able to pay my property taxes (which would've been a nice Disney dinner), but the fees were more than the rewards were worth (on any of my cards)!!

Also, PP, who said everything charges fees. Any utilities that used to charge fees don't anymore, so double check!!

I just checked PECO Energy (Philadelphia-area gas and electric). They use a 3rd party for CC payments and that company charges $2.35 per transaction. Even though I would get back more than that amount in rewards, it irritates me that I should be expected to pay any company to take my money.