Council Tax & cashback?

A question about : Council Tax & cashback?

Check your Council Tax bills.
Received my new Council Tax bill yesterday and noticed that payment can be made using a credit card at council offices/libraries/by phone. I plan to use a credit card in future for all Council Tax payments and accrue cashback/reward points. I pay off the full balance every month, so it will be a little extra money for nothing.
Hope others will be able to do the same, if you are not already doing so.

Best answers:

• I've advocated this before but got a letter from my council asking if I want to continue with the continuous payment authority on my card as they are now introducing a 1.95% surcharge for CC use.
  Needless to say the direct debit form is in the post...
• Glasgow City Council have online Council tax payments on their website and I have paid with my credit card for several years. Ј2500 gets you a few points on your card.
• Thanks Galstonian, gutted when I read your reply. However,
  rang local Council and to my delight they do not make surcharge. It must differ from area to area.
• I got a Mastercard cash back card precisely for this reason. An excellent use of a cashback card (if you can).
• I got my bill today and it doesn't say you can pay by credit card (Forest Heath District Council) Perhaps I should phone them and inquire all the same.
• it's a brilliant idea. I have just looked at my council tax bill and it says that you can pay by Switch/Delta and credit card. You don't even have to call into the council offices, mine even provide a 0845 automated payment number. Could be worse and they made it 0870 but Lo-call I think is reasonable on its charges.
  Re the surcharge, I know in Ripoff Britain many companies are adding a percentage to purchases made by credit cards and is now legal. But local councils - can they do that? By the way did it say in the accompanying paperwork that you would be surcharged for using a cc or did they tell you after you inquired?
  I am now off to find a credit card provider who gives cashback on purchases!
• Anyone know which is the best credit card for giving cashback? Also how quickly do you have to pay your bill without incurring extra charges. (Im not a credit card user)
• Using Martin's advice around making money from credit cards our Council Tax has been charged to a Halifax card with 0% for 9 months, while the money is earning 4.5%. The 9 months are up soon and we are transferring it to Mint for 8 months, with room to add this years Council tax to!
  Even better then cash back.
  Paul1 8)
• Similarly I use my credit card to pay my mobile phone bill. Hopefully the following explanation will make sense! Easier to do than to describe...
  I have a specific bank account which is solely used to pay off my credit card bill in full each month. So on the day I get paid I automatically transfer my estimate of what my mobile phone bill will be, plus a little bit more to be on the safe side (i.e. I know that I normally spend Ј80 a month as use my phone all the time so transfer Ј100 per month) Then a few weeks later my phone bill gets swiped from my credit card, and a few weeks after that the credit card bill is paid by direct debit from the specific bank account
  The benefit of this is the interest accruing from having the cash sitting in the bank for a couple of extra weeks, and the points I get on my credit card (or cashback if you have a cashback card). I also find that by consciously over-estimating the amount of my bill I build up a little reserve too which can come in handy for extra large bills occasionally.
  Unfortunately I do tend to undo this good work by spending too much time on the phone! But I'm working on that!
• If you can't pay or have a surcharge then have a look at Morgan Stanley. You call their customer services and they will pay the bill via Bacs and add it to your credit card.
  Two setbacks:
  1) You need to call them everymonth
  2) You need to have a black card (if you earn too much they give you a platinum card). They will change your card down or authorise you to do this on their card.
  Anyway - no affiliation. I use this approach for 1% cashback. Limit is Ј2000 after which its 0.5% (I think) so this is what I keep this card for.
• I got a Tesco card which gives you a clubcard 1point for every Ј2 spent which seems good to me as its then 0.5% cashback.
• We use a club card/credit card also. By using it we have built up enough points to buy things from their deals catalogue. When you buy things from here your points are worth 4 times as much. Therefore, credit card points could be said to be worth 2p in the pound. Anyway, my accommodation for my next holiday is free this year
• Surely it is going to vary very much from area to area which Councils have the 'wit' to charge for this method of collection? At the moment I suppose they are just glad that the money is coming in. They aren't very cost conscious at the best of times so you may be able to 'borrow' more time than you think. Shops haven't [in the main] charged for the use of credit cards and it is obvious that cash customers are effectively subsidising card customers through slightly higher prices. I may be wrong, but I just don't see the councils that don't yet differentaite from doing so [Martin would blow his stack!] or, conversly, those that already 'surcharge' from desisting. They may even be able to justify these marginal costs of collection by same staff savings somewhere at the 'finance department'
• It's good if you can do it -- but unfortunately St. Albans District Council won't go for it. I didn't think they did & when I checked their website it said "Credit card payments are NOT acceptable". They're such skinflints that, a few years ago, they stopped giving the discount they'd given before for lump-sum prompt payment. Needless, to say I PDQ switched to paying by D/D [expressing my disgust to them at the same time...]
• Chelmsford borough council accept credit cards.
  There is a Ј2 charge per payment,so ok if you pay it in one go.
  Unfortunately they done take amex though.