Paying council tax by credit card

fatbelly · 23 March 2006 at 1:02AM

I had my Council Tax bill today and noticed that they accept payments by debit and credit cards.

The downside is that they charge 2.6% of the transaction value if you pay by credit card.

Is there any way I can pay by card and get some sort of cashback so that I effectively reduce my Council Tax?

All inventive suggestions will be viewed with interest

Clariman · 23 March 2006 at 7:29AM

Hi fatbelly,

The maximum cashback you can get on any card is 2% and that only kicks in when you have spent over £7500 on the card (Amex Platinum). Most cashback cards offer between 0.1% and 1% cashback, so no card will offset the 2.6% surcharge I am afraid.

Clariman

fatbelly · 23 March 2006 at 10:54AM

Thanks, Clariman. I notice that Halifax have a 1% cashback debit card and there isn't a surcharge on payments by debit card.

But I'm not sure that it's worth setting up a current account with them to save 1% of £1200.

I'm stoozing on an HSBC credit card (0% on purchases till September) but again, the 2.6% charge pretty much wipes out any gain by using that.

Might have to stick with my direct debits.

King_Of_Fools · 23 March 2006 at 12:47PM

The Halifax debit card cashback specifically excludes bill payments.

Linda32 · 23 March 2006 at 12:49PM

I was only looking at the same thing yesterday. I've just got a Egg Money card and obviously want to look at buy everything possible on it.

Our council do take credit cards but only charge a percentage if the transaction is over £50.00.

I don't expect they will allow me to pay two seperate payments to avoid that.

King_Of_Fools · 23 March 2006 at 12:53PM

It is worth warning that some credit cards treat bill payments as a cash advance so you might not only get hit with a fee but also with a huge interest charge!

Linda32 · 23 March 2006 at 12:56PM

King_Of_Fools wrote:

It is worth warning that some credit cards treat bill payments as a cash advance so you might not only get hit with a fee but also with a huge interest charge!

Do they really :eek: thanks for the warning, off to look at Egg Money terms and conditions.

The last thing I want with that card is interest :mad:

grumbler · 23 March 2006 at 1:43PM

King_Of_Fools wrote:

It is worth warning that some credit cards treat bill payments as a cash advance so you might not only get hit with a fee but also with a huge interest charge!

This is only if you pay a bill via a CC online banking. If you pay, for example, council tax on the council's website this cannot be treated as a cash advance.

P.S. Our council do not charge for paying by a CC

Milarky · 24 March 2006 at 1:19AM

'PayPoint' is a retailer-offered payments system. Amongst other organisations who accept payment through it are a number of local authorities:

http://www.paypoint.co.uk/clientlist.htm

If they do in your area, the chances are that you can pay the CT in this way. You'll need a 'payment card' that can be swiped too, of course, which your Council should provide. Retailers can choose how to process these PayPoint transactions themselves (i.e. whether to treat as part of a 'sale' transaction with other items bought or separately) If they lump the transactions altogether - say for their own convenience - then maybe you can use a credit card with this to pay your council. There should be no fee, I assume, because the full value of a PayPoint transaction should be passed on to the client.

fatbelly · 24 March 2006 at 1:55AM

Thank you. My council isn't on the list ... so I've just e-mailed them to ask why not! I'll share the response if it's forthcoming.

Linda32 · 24 March 2006 at 12:41PM

Fatbelly, let us know please, as mine isn't on the list either.

I'll have a look at our council website to see what it says about paying by credit card.

Paying council tax by credit card

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