Paying bills with Credit Card

Kdray

My friend just said he paid his phone bill with a credit card, I said this may go down as a cash withdrawal. 

He was not in agreement. 

Am I correct in thinking this? As when I have just looked, quite a few sites say its a good way to pay bills/put all spending through cards as long as you can pay in full each month. Also people do to maximise rewards. 

Could someone clarify this for me please? 

Thanks in advance. 

Stuart_W

It seems to vary from provider to provider but I have certainly paid phone bills, energy bills and council tax in the past and all have counted as purchases qualifying for cashback/reward points as appropriate and as interest free if paid when the bill comes.

sparklep0ny

I don't see how this would be a cash transaction.

Those are generally (but not always) one where you either directly receive cash, or can very easily convert whatever you bought into cash.

The only weird exception was Halifax (?) where court fines were also recently included.

LippyDoodle

You can pay any bill over the phone with a credit card and it won't be classed a cash withdrawal. You are not withdrawing cash are you, you are paying for something. 

Kdray

Wow, I had this wrong then. 

I just remember reading somewhere utility bills can be counted as a cash withdrawal, (kind of made sense to me, as it was paging a bill, with potential debt).

Also remember seeing Klarna comes up as cash withdrawal. Which I kind of guessed was for the same reason in a way. 

Thanks for clarifying for me guys. 

born_again

Kdray said:

Wow, I had this wrong then. 

Also remember seeing Klarna comes up as cash withdrawal. Which I kind of guessed was for the same reason in a way. 

Thanks for clarifying for me guys. 

Klarna may well come up as cash with some card providers. As paying credit with credit is not the best way..

paul_c123

This is the wording from my Lloyds Credit card:

Certain cash-like transactions will be treated as Cash transactions instead of Card purchases:
 • Sending money orders or wire transfers (other than balance transfers or money transfers).
 • Buying coins, bank notes or digital currency.
 • Paying government or court fines, enforcement penalties, fees or costs.
 • Online trading such as share dealing or investments.
 • Purchasing or topping up electronic money, payment cards, mobile wallets or account dashboard services.

Note, paying bills isn't on there.

[Deleted User]

I did a Klarna 3 instalments thing once with a Marbles credit card but thankfully it didn't go down as a cash withdrawal.

If I had heard about Klarna going down as cash with some card providers I would have never have done it in the first place.

AskAsk

i have a cashback credit card with natwest so i pay all my bills with the credit card if they accept credit cards, as i get the cashback on the payments.  treated as credit card purchase.

Fingerbobs

I also always pay all utility and council tax bills by credit card to earn cashback (with a variable DD in place as backup in case I forget). Never known any be treated as cash.