Do people actually use credit cards to pay bills or is that a red flag?

[YourEdgyJoker]

I’ve always thought of credit cards as something you use for emergencies or bigger purchases, not regular bills. But lately I’ve noticed more people mentioning they pay rent, council tax or utilities with their credit card. Is this just normal now or is it a sign things are tight?

AIBU to wonder if this is smart financial strategy or a slippery slope?

I know people that do it for Tesco points or airmiles. Guy from my work gets free flights to Florida with his

Apart from tiny things, direct debits and the odd cash payment, I put everything on a credit card. Easier to budget, better consumer protections, tiny bit of cashback.

I pay pretty much everything with CC and pay it off every month because I have a card with decent cashback.

For me at least, things aren’t ‘tight’ but I, and most of the people in my circle, do it where we can for the points/rewards - both bills and daily spending. I keep a buffer in my current account that covers the full bill at the end of a month, so I don’t carry the balance.

If you're getting cash back, or religiously pay your card off every month, then it's not a problem, but if someone is paying bills by CC because they don't have the money, then I'd be extremely worried, and if it was a prospective partner, I'd definitely see it as a red flag.

I pay for everything on my credit card as I collect the rewards. I have always paid it off in full each month, never paid any interest.

I have never had one but I don’t see the issue…but I also don’t see the point. Unless you get points etc but it’s usually very little it seems pointless to me.

Same, I put most of my monthly spending on my CC and it is automatically cleared at the end of the month. I earn rewards and items are protected by CC insurance. It’s not a budgeting issue.

So even a coffee goes on it but certainly big ticket items. Unfortunately we have a separate account for our bills which isn’t linked to a CC but probably we should change this.

Having a credit card which is used frequently and paid off is very good for your credit rating. And those points add up if you use it for everything.

Wealthy, money savvy people use credit.

People in debt, without money savvy, also use credit.

They are distinct groups.

Generally people who are cautious and not exposed to wealth are avoidant of credit, and think it’s to be swerved for fear of ending up in debt.

Maybe I’m being dim but how do you pay bills (when you say bills I mean utilities, council tax etc) with a CC? Don’t you have to set up a direct debit through a current account?

I’ve always had a great credit rating. Not having a credit card has never hindered me in any way.

I do it for the credit score, the cash back, the buyer protection and to keep an active credit card going so that i have it as back up payment method if anything goes wrong with current account (like HSBC spotting fraudulent attempts on my account and cancelling my card the day before i was going on holiday).

Get supermarket rewards. Free fillet steak. I’m stingy.

We use are credit cards for all purchases throughout the month and then it's paid off in full. We've done this for 25 years.

Credit ratings are more complex than that though. I had the maximum score but still some mortgage companies wouldn't touch me as i had no actual history of borrowing and paying back, well other than the 15 years of paying a mortgage on my own without missing a single payment, bit apparently this wasn't good enough for their algorithms...FFS!

I love spending their money. Never pay a penny in interest. Not what they were hoping for.

Like I said I got a mortgage no bother, it was never questioned. Nothing.

I pay for everything I possibly can with my credit card and have done for many years.

It's a cashback credit card. So I get a small reward for using it and it means I can keep.careful track of all my spending.
Of course to make it worthwhile I have to pay it off in full every month, which I always have done.

And it means I can benefit from keeping my money in interest bearing accounts during the course of each month and only withdraw money from them when the credit card payment is due.

Don't you need one to book hotels or rent cars?

I pay for anything they’ll let me on a credit card. Lots of my friends make comments about it being some kind of wild and dangerous dice with bankruptcy. I do make the point, constantly, that I pay it off every month. I also have tonnes of airmiles and use them a lot! People can’t understand how I always have so many airmiles. I also build tonnes of things like Nectar points from linking everything up to that as well as then crossing back over with Avios and other points systems. If I’m going away with friends or there’s any big group payment, I always offer to be the payer/organiser too so I get the points and they give me the cash back.

Nope, never. I just use my debit card.

Can you set up a direct debit on credit card? I want to pay bills with my credit card but don’t want to lose the convenience of direct debits.

Many car rental companies demand a credit card, they eon’t accept a debit card, I found out the hard way in Tenerife.

It totally depends on the situation.

Someone paying their utilities & food shopping on a credit card every month because they can’t otherwise afford them, and then only paying the minimum payment on the card every month because that’s all they can afford so essentially it just accumulates there + interest = red flag, not great and someone who shouldn’t have got a credit card.

Someone paying their utilities & food shopping etc on a credit card every month, and then CLEARING the balance every month, because doing it that way gives them “points” for use elsewhere = great and a double win. No debt building, no interest paid if you’re clearing it every month and you’re getting something back for your money. We used to have a card that offered air miles and so we did this and had basically free flights for 3 years ish, only had to pay if we wanted to upgrade seats, from money we had to spend anyway it was a total no brainer.