Pay council tax by DD or credit card

retiredalso

I normally pay my council tax by DD and my last DD for the current year goes out on 15th Feb.

My council tax is just under £2000 a year.

I also have a Capital one cashback credit card.

I have found out that I can pay my council tax online using a credit card so I could save nearly £20 a year paying my council tax.

However I would have to remember to do it every month.

My wife is against it as according to her it is too much bother.

In fact she is against all my money making/saving schemes as too much bother.

Would you do it if you could?

horngkai

I have been doing that for the last 3 years

guesswho2000

My district council allow payments by CC, but charge 1.5% to do it. As it is, I still pay it monthly by debit card (no charge), as there's no incentive (discount) for DD payment!

bengal-stripe

retiredalso wrote: »

I also have a Capital one cashback credit card........I can pay my council tax online using a credit card so I could save nearly £20 a year paying my council tax.

Many councils charge a premium of 2 or 3% for payments by CC (to compensate for the 'merchant fees' they have to pay to the card companies), which would negate any advantage of cash back. It is also possible the payment might go through as 'cash' not as 'purchase'.

Check that out beforehand. You might be ending up with payment by card which would cost considerably more than payment by DD.

jjlandlord

Cost:
- time to think about it, to investigate it, and to discuss it here.
- must pay manually every month, and remember to do it (that's a risk).

Gain:
less £20 a year (if no fee for CC payment)

So my humble take on this:
Anyone with a house nice enough to attract £2000 of council tax a year should value his time highly enough not to bother with the effort to save so little.
Especially if, as his nickname suggests, OP is retired.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

retiredalso wrote: »

My wife is against it as according to her it is too much bother.

A husband should always listen to his wife

bohemia

retiredalso wrote: »

I have found out that I can pay my council tax online using a credit card so I could save nearly £20 a year paying my council tax.

However I would have to remember to do it every month.

Would you do it if you could?

I do this with my Barclaycard cashback. I usually have a 10 day window before the council start sending out reminders (only happened once) so it isn't too much of a hassle.

Linda32

guesswho2000 wrote: »

My district council allow payments by CC, but charge 1.5% to do it. As it is, I still pay it monthly by debit card (no charge), as there's no incentive (discount) for DD payment!

Mine is the same. I used to do it though when they charged for payments over £50, so I made two payments of £50 and one at £16.00. Took just a few clicks of the mouse on or around the 1st of the month. Easy to remember

IMHO Its always worth saving every penny where you can.

retiredalso

My district council allow payments by CC, but charge 1.5% to do it.

No charge.

Anyone with a house nice enough to attract £2000 of council tax

Jealous are you?

I take it you don't live in Scotland?

Council tax payments in Scotland also include water rates.

there's no incentive (discount) for DD payment!

Exactly, you get a DD discount with your gas and electricity but not your council tax.

jjlandlord

retiredalso wrote: »

Jealous are you?

Not at all.
It's just that spending time every month to save less than £2 a pop (assuming 10 payments a year) does not seem very sensible to me unless money is an issue and you have nothing better to do.

System

I would never give my council my bank details for Direct Debits. Might give them the idea to help themselves next time they make a one of their frequent mistakes :eek:
Credit card or cash payments only :T

jennifernil

We are in Scotland too, our council charges for CC payments. I thought about paying it with a CC, but there is no point if they charge.