A turbo-charged but dangerous way to earn more credit card reward points | Credit card reward programs | Discussion forum

I haven't used up my allotment of free G&M views yet this month, so I took a look.

The deal is, if you have an RBC credit card, then it's a free service. But if you are using another brand of card, there is a 1.5% fee, and 2.9% if it's Amex. So, you would need to deduct this from whatever return you are getting on your other card; and, of course, pay it off every month. If you're using an RBC card, there is no fee, so you would just get whatever return you normally get on that card.
It could be useful particularly if you have a card that offers a premium for :recurring payments".
He says it's been around for a year, but I have an RBC credit card and was never told about it.

Loonie said
I haven't used up my allotment of free G&M views yet this month, so I took a look.

The deal is, if you have an RBC credit card, then it's a free service. But if you are using another brand of card, there is a 1.5% fee, and 2.9% if it's Amex. So, you would need to deduct this from whatever return you are getting on your other card; and, of course, pay it off every month. If you're using an RBC card, there is no fee, so you would just get whatever return you normally get on that card.
It could be useful particularly if you have a card that offers a premium for :recurring payments".
He says it's been around for a year, but I have an RBC credit card and was never told about it.  

If you are ever over your allotment, you can access (embargoed with a 1 day delay, usually) using the Canadian NewStream, or Canadian Major Dailies from database purveyors like ProQuest (latter) or Cengage/Gale (former) at Toronto Public Library, Loonie. You can also use PressReader at the library to access Globe and Mail digital editions for free (G&M removed remote access to itself in PressReader). Remote access to the ProQuest and/or Cengage/Gale databases is still permitted, though.

Cheers,
Doug

Thanks, Doug. for that information. I will have to look into it. I don't think it used to be available through TPL. I did read that they now have the New York Times but have not looked into it.

I have used the historical editions of G&M through the library online; I think it's ProQuest. But they are pretty bad as they only give selected articles, not pages - least the last time I looked. Maybe it's better now.

Londonguy said

The Triangle World Elite version pays a larger 1.00% on online bill payments among its many other perks, e.g. free Gold Plan Roadside Assistance (effectively displacing a need to buy CAA). It's a great no AF card that I use in combination with my other cards.  

It would be great to have the Triangle World Elite card with Roadside Assistance and the other perks so we could cancel our CAA membership. Unfortunately, as I am semi-retired and my spouse is fully retired, neither of us can meet the income qualification of $80,000 annually. And I don't think they take assets into consideration.

alfa2204 said
But are bill payments cash-like transactions which generally cost $5-10 per transaction?  

If your question is referring to Triangle credit cards, the answer is no. You set up payees using your online Triangle account just like you would with your bank. There are no fees.

BillieBob said

It would be great to have the Triangle World Elite card with Roadside Assistance and the other perks so we could cancel our CAA membership. Unfortunately, as I am semi-retired and my spouse is fully retired, neither of us can meet the income qualification of $80,000 annually. And I don't think they take assets into consideration.  

Yes, assets don't count under the rules for qualifying their applicants (AFAIK no CC issuer does this). So you could have $5 million parked in T-bills but still not qualify for a card that somebody else who is majorly underwater in debt can easily get as long as they meet the income threshold and still have a decent credit score.

I used to think that concept was completely goofy, but I've since come to the conclusion that a responsible and financially savvy old person with assets is just not a high-value target for the card issuers, primarily because it's unlikely such a demographic will suddenly change their character and start carrying balances, whereas younger employed persons still have good potential for getting themselves into debt slavery

Londonguy said

… In my particular case that means being able to pay my natgas, hydro and property tax bills to earn 1% back. Together those bills add up to about $9,000 annually so that alone makes me $90 a year for doing something I have to do anyway.

I don't think that's risky behaviour, I call it picking up free money

It can be quite risky if the cardholder does not have the self discipline to pay the $9,000 off on the next monthly bill.

There is a temptation to put that $2,500 property tax installment on a credit card, spend or already spent the $2,500 on something else, and pay the minimum monthly payments on the $2,500 instead.

Before you rush to sign up for CT card, you should check whether CT can pay these bills for you. A previous investigation appeared to show that most billers could not be paid this way. Municipalities vary. Doesn't work in Toronto as far as I know.

rodeworthy said
Be aware utilities and other services may charge a fee when paying by credit card.
For example, Ontario's Hydro One:

A service fee of 1.75% will be charged by Paymentus for customers paying by credit card. The service fee is associated with the credit card payment service and is not set or retained by Hydro One.

I paid my Shaw Satellite bill for years with CTC MasterCard. Have since moved that payment to Rogers MasterCard. I get an extra premium for paying my Rogers Communications bill with Rogers MC.  

It's true that most utilities will charge a fee for credit card payments, but that's only if you try to pay them directly or jitney through a third party payment service like a Paymentus or whatever. But what we're talking about is being able to set up your utility as a payee inside the CT CC payments function, where the utility bill is paid by you the same way as you pay bills out of your online bank account. The utility gets 100% of the amount due, so there's no need for them to recover anything with a fee.

If you're wondering how CT can do this, since they're also a bank, CT eats the interchange at their own internal cost as a marketing ploy (and also in the hope that you won't pay off your statement balance when it comes due)

Save2Retire@55 said
@Londonguy - This is amazing. I didn't know I can use my CT CC to pay the way you explained. I will set up my Hydro, Internet, etc to be billed on CT CC today.

Quick Question, can you also pay other CC balance the same way without occurring cash withdrawal fees / interest? That would be really amazing but I doubt it.  

Unfortunately you can't pay other CCs because they're not available to set up as payees, but that's hardly a surprise -- agreed that it would indeed be really amazing otherwise. Nor can you make mortgage payments through it, but a lot of people are apparently able to pay their tuition and student loans where their institution is listed.

Since you mentioned internet (which if it's Rogers/Bell can already be paid directly using a credit card without any fees), I would add that if you have a rewards card that earns you more than 1% for that type of merchant, I'd pay direct. Also, rather than use the CT system, if you have for example a Tangerine card and set up your internet bill as a recurring payment and designate recurring payments as one of your preferred reward categories, you could get 2% instead of CT's 1%. Same deal with e.g. insurance payments, cell bills, or any recurring bill that accepts direct payments using CCs. I only use the CT function as the fallback default for paying entities that (on the surface anyway) won't take CCs at all, because getting 1% is better than nothing