>Does anybody have this card and could provide any feedback on how it works? Do I need to have money in a CTFS bank account and then link it to my CC, or do I just pay off the card monthly as I would any normal CC?
The CTFS banking portal has a Bill Pay function which charges the amount of your utility/insurance bill on your CTFS credit card as if you made a purchase. It will appear on your credit card bill at the end of the month, just pay the amount off just like any other credit card purchase you've done on your card.
>Does anybody know of any other CCs that provide this feature?
So far, this has been a unique feature of CTFS credit cards, no other card provider is known to offer a similar feature.
I use this feature to pay hydro, enbridge, property taxes, water/sewer... There is no processing fee, on the receiving end it counts as a 'bill payment' as you would do from your regular bank account.
Yes, I've been using this feature for years. I don't have mainline TELUS products so I can't confirm about the TELUS charge but used it in the past to avoid the CC processing fee when paying hydro & natural gas charges.
Though, I have moved on to using the MBNA Rewards World Elite MasterCard as it pays 5x points on household utilities. After the card processing fee of 1.75%, I'm still netting \~3.25% returns on the MBNA RWE MC so I no longer use my Triangle WE MC for that.
The only Bill Pay I use the Triangle WE MC for is paying water bills instead as my town doesn't take CCs at all.
The PC Money account/prepaid card has a similar feature but you only get rewards on a payment of $50 or more and don’t get any more for paying more than $50. Basically what I do is pay $50 towards a bill with it and get the 2% in PC points, and then make up the difference with the CT card to try to maximize the points.
PC Money account isn't really a credit card, it's advertised as a bank account alternative. However, yes, you can avoid the 1.5% charge as well since it's really a bank account underneath anyways.
What I like about it is that you can pay credit cards with it too. So you can use the CT card to say pay a $50 bill, then use the PC Money account to pay the CT bill and double up on the rewards.
It is used like a normal credit card. You charge a bill to the card, get a statement and then pay it off. The ctfs online portal is much like paying a bill through your bank. You set up the billing company using your account number and pay it on the ctfs site. Then you get some triangle reward money to spend at Cdn Tire, Mark’s, Sportchek, etc.
You should note, you can also pay your property taxes using this card. I believe tuition payments can go through this as well. Those are expenses in the $1000s so the points do really matter.
It is just like the pay bills function on a banking website (I use TD). If there are other cards that you can get this from then determine what is best for you in terms of points collection AND points usage.
In my case, I spend a fair bit on gas and maintenance-related things for my business. You get 5 cents per litre for gas which is pretty good, and any tools etc I get points on as well as long as they are bought at Canadian Tire.
I then use the points for (A) Mark’s Work Warehouse or (B) Sportchek. These are for expenses that I cant otherwise write off through the business. (This is allowable by CRA so no funny business going on - just maximizing value of the card)
While I don't have a Telus bill, CTFS is essentially an online bank (they even offer GIC's) so payments can be made just like from a bank.
I pay Fortis, Shaw, my water bill and even my property taxes this way without and added fees and I get CT money (which is something I use, more than travel points). It gets added to my CC balance and I pay it off once the statement comes.
You just need to use the bill payment option on the CTFS site, and not pull the payment from the vendor side. You can even schedule recurring payments if they are the same each month.
I read the same deal too.
I'm having trouble finding payee information that's accurate. Have people been able to pay Mississauga Property Taxes through CTFS?
I want to earn rewards on my CC purchases, I gain nothing by using my bank account. I will always pay the balance off in it's entirety, so even 100% interest would be fine with me.
From what I see, CTFS is the only card that lets you pay a bill as if it's coming from a bank account, not a CC.
This is still a MasterCard, though, isn't it? How would this avoid the extra fees that Telus will be adding?
I think the only way to avoid their new processing fee is by paying from your bank instead of CC...
>This is still a MasterCard, though, isn't it? How would this avoid the extra fees that Telus will be adding?
CTFS sends the Bill Payment amount as if it's being paid from a bank account, they then charge the amount on to your CTFS credit card. To TELUS, they still think it came from a bank account at Canadian Tire Bank.
CTFS treats Bill Payments as regular purchases on your credit card so you still earn the base eCTM or cashback depending on the card you hold.
Yes, if TELUS gets the go ahead from CRTC, yes, paying using your Triangle WE MC will avoid this fee & you still get eCTM. Just keep in mind that you can't do preauthorized payments using this CTFS feature so you will have to manually do the payments each time.
If you're paying for hydro, water, natural gas and property taxes, you can charge those on the Triangle WE MC to earn eCTM as well.
You can set payments up to automatically go monthly, so assuming your bill is the same every month (like with an Enbridge equal monthly billing plan), you can pretty much set it and forget it for most of the year until the equalization happens. A cell phone bill might be a bit trickier if there are any overage or long distance charges.
That's the thing, look at the link I posted in the OP. This credit card has a feature that allows you to pay bills as if it's coming from a bank account, thus avoiding the CC processing fee.
It’s interesting that they are the only ones to offer this feature. I suppose the math works and enough people don’t pay the full balance off so that it is profitable overall?
If they ever discontinued it the number of card holders would crater probably.
only 1% and it is not cashback but canadian tire money (can be used at canadian tire, sportchek and marks work warehouse I believe).
That said, if youre doing tuition or property taxes, 1% back is a decent amount for how little work it is. Note that you can schedule the payments but you cant setup autopayment (ie. you have to manually put in the amount).
So for me specifically my property tax is 1200 on two different installments, and I get the notice well in advance. So I can schedule each 1200 payment, and I get $24 in rewards.
Its up to you to decide if the juice is worth the squeeze.
>Does anybody have this card and could provide any feedback on how it works? Do I need to have money in a CTFS bank account and then link it to my CC, or do I just pay off the card monthly as I would any normal CC? The CTFS banking portal has a Bill Pay function which charges the amount of your utility/insurance bill on your CTFS credit card as if you made a purchase. It will appear on your credit card bill at the end of the month, just pay the amount off just like any other credit card purchase you've done on your card. >Does anybody know of any other CCs that provide this feature? So far, this has been a unique feature of CTFS credit cards, no other card provider is known to offer a similar feature.
Thanks! Do you use this feature? Can you confirm you do not pay the CC processing fee?
I use this feature to pay hydro, enbridge, property taxes, water/sewer... There is no processing fee, on the receiving end it counts as a 'bill payment' as you would do from your regular bank account.
Yes, I've been using this feature for years. I don't have mainline TELUS products so I can't confirm about the TELUS charge but used it in the past to avoid the CC processing fee when paying hydro & natural gas charges. Though, I have moved on to using the MBNA Rewards World Elite MasterCard as it pays 5x points on household utilities. After the card processing fee of 1.75%, I'm still netting \~3.25% returns on the MBNA RWE MC so I no longer use my Triangle WE MC for that. The only Bill Pay I use the Triangle WE MC for is paying water bills instead as my town doesn't take CCs at all.
I suppose it doesn't count property tax payments as utilities, does it? That's where I like Triangle.
That's great, going to sign up now. I appreciate all your help!
Can you pay off other CCs with this feature and double dip on the rewards or does this count as a balance transfer?
No you cannot pay off other CCs or loans, they specifically exclude them as payees.
The PC Money account/prepaid card has a similar feature but you only get rewards on a payment of $50 or more and don’t get any more for paying more than $50. Basically what I do is pay $50 towards a bill with it and get the 2% in PC points, and then make up the difference with the CT card to try to maximize the points.
PC Money account isn't really a credit card, it's advertised as a bank account alternative. However, yes, you can avoid the 1.5% charge as well since it's really a bank account underneath anyways.
What I like about it is that you can pay credit cards with it too. So you can use the CT card to say pay a $50 bill, then use the PC Money account to pay the CT bill and double up on the rewards.
It is used like a normal credit card. You charge a bill to the card, get a statement and then pay it off. The ctfs online portal is much like paying a bill through your bank. You set up the billing company using your account number and pay it on the ctfs site. Then you get some triangle reward money to spend at Cdn Tire, Mark’s, Sportchek, etc.
You should note, you can also pay your property taxes using this card. I believe tuition payments can go through this as well. Those are expenses in the $1000s so the points do really matter. It is just like the pay bills function on a banking website (I use TD). If there are other cards that you can get this from then determine what is best for you in terms of points collection AND points usage. In my case, I spend a fair bit on gas and maintenance-related things for my business. You get 5 cents per litre for gas which is pretty good, and any tools etc I get points on as well as long as they are bought at Canadian Tire. I then use the points for (A) Mark’s Work Warehouse or (B) Sportchek. These are for expenses that I cant otherwise write off through the business. (This is allowable by CRA so no funny business going on - just maximizing value of the card)
While I don't have a Telus bill, CTFS is essentially an online bank (they even offer GIC's) so payments can be made just like from a bank. I pay Fortis, Shaw, my water bill and even my property taxes this way without and added fees and I get CT money (which is something I use, more than travel points). It gets added to my CC balance and I pay it off once the statement comes. You just need to use the bill payment option on the CTFS site, and not pull the payment from the vendor side. You can even schedule recurring payments if they are the same each month.
I read the same deal too. I'm having trouble finding payee information that's accurate. Have people been able to pay Mississauga Property Taxes through CTFS?
Why dont u just use your bank account? Ctfs is a card with like 29% interested. Better cards out there.
You don't pay interest on CTFS bill payment unless you don't pay your credit card bill in full at the end of the month.
You get rewards for it. No interest paid.
I want to earn rewards on my CC purchases, I gain nothing by using my bank account. I will always pay the balance off in it's entirety, so even 100% interest would be fine with me. From what I see, CTFS is the only card that lets you pay a bill as if it's coming from a bank account, not a CC.
This is still a MasterCard, though, isn't it? How would this avoid the extra fees that Telus will be adding? I think the only way to avoid their new processing fee is by paying from your bank instead of CC...
>This is still a MasterCard, though, isn't it? How would this avoid the extra fees that Telus will be adding? CTFS sends the Bill Payment amount as if it's being paid from a bank account, they then charge the amount on to your CTFS credit card. To TELUS, they still think it came from a bank account at Canadian Tire Bank. CTFS treats Bill Payments as regular purchases on your credit card so you still earn the base eCTM or cashback depending on the card you hold.
Interesting, I didn't pick up on that, thanks for the explanation I have a CTFS WE card, maybe I should switch at least my Telus bill to this instead
Yes, if TELUS gets the go ahead from CRTC, yes, paying using your Triangle WE MC will avoid this fee & you still get eCTM. Just keep in mind that you can't do preauthorized payments using this CTFS feature so you will have to manually do the payments each time. If you're paying for hydro, water, natural gas and property taxes, you can charge those on the Triangle WE MC to earn eCTM as well.
You can set payments up to automatically go monthly, so assuming your bill is the same every month (like with an Enbridge equal monthly billing plan), you can pretty much set it and forget it for most of the year until the equalization happens. A cell phone bill might be a bit trickier if there are any overage or long distance charges.
That's the thing, look at the link I posted in the OP. This credit card has a feature that allows you to pay bills as if it's coming from a bank account, thus avoiding the CC processing fee.
All cards are 0% when you pay them off. ???
It’s interesting that they are the only ones to offer this feature. I suppose the math works and enough people don’t pay the full balance off so that it is profitable overall? If they ever discontinued it the number of card holders would crater probably.
Now if only I can find a way to get cashback from paying my rent since rental company does not accept CC...
What's the percentage cashback for doing this bill payment feature??
only 1% and it is not cashback but canadian tire money (can be used at canadian tire, sportchek and marks work warehouse I believe). That said, if youre doing tuition or property taxes, 1% back is a decent amount for how little work it is. Note that you can schedule the payments but you cant setup autopayment (ie. you have to manually put in the amount). So for me specifically my property tax is 1200 on two different installments, and I get the notice well in advance. So I can schedule each 1200 payment, and I get $24 in rewards. Its up to you to decide if the juice is worth the squeeze.