A turbo-charged but dangerous way to earn more credit card reward points | Page 2 | Credit card reward programs | Discussion forum

SG said
PAYTM also allows you to pay utilities, property taxes, and some other bills for free using any mastercard, and it is shown as a purchase on your mastercard with no additional fees.  

I use PayTM app on my mobile phone to pay my municipal tax bill, hydro bill, and natural gas bill with my Rogers credit card info loaded into the PayTm app. I would say it is more reliable than using the Triangle app from Canadian Tire as I've read of more people having problems getting bills paid with that on the redflagdeals site.

You can pay off credit cards with PayTM if you are willing to link PayTM to your bank account. You won't earn much points with this as PayTM has grossly devalued their point system, also you have to trust them to have all your banking information. Another alternative is to go to your local post office and load your PayTM app using your debit card with up to $500.00 per day. If you are using a Scotiabank debit card you will earn 0.2% Scene points or Scotia Rewards. I can't be bothered doing this so I pay my credit card bills directly from my bank account.

Loonie said
If anyone has managed to do any of this with any Toronto utilities, please post.
The last time this question came up, it didn't work in Toronto.  

I live in Vaughan, but I see Toronto Hydro listed on the PayTM site as a payee.

Thanks, Briguy and BillieBob.
I have no use for a CT card normally, so I hope someone will post if they are able to carry out the payments to Toronto Hydro and Toronto Taxes this way. If they do taxes, they should be able to do water as well as both are city.

Toronto Star will accept regular credit cards.

Loonie said
Thanks, Briguy and BillieBob.
I have no use for a CT card normally, so I hope someone will post if they are able to carry out the payments to Toronto Hydro and Toronto Taxes this way. If they do taxes, they should be able to do water as well as both are city.

Toronto Star will accept regular credit cards.  

When you type "Toronto" in the Triangle list of bill payee options, you get the following options: Please note that only those companies available for online bill payment will appear in the list.
SYSCO-TORONTO
TORONTO HUNT
TORONTO HYDRO
TORONTO STAMP
TORONTO STAR
TORONTO TAXES
WEEDMAN-TORONTO

There's no harm in getting a Triangle credit card anyways since even if you don't pay bills with it you can always use it when you shop at Mark's Work Wearhouse, Canadian Tire, Sport Chek, and Canadian Tire Gas, plus for the free roadside assistance.

You will get better benefits if you pay your bills with PayTM using the Rogers Elite Mastercard which will earn you 1.75% vs the 1% you will earn with Canadian Tire.

Even better use both Canadian Tire bill pay and PayTM since both are needed to cover payees that the other doesn't. And PayTM seems to be more reliable according to redflagdeals forums.

Loonie said
I rarely shop at those stores, so, for me, it would be just about the bill payments, and maybe not worth the effort, considering I can only pay two bills this way.

Can you set it up so that the bills are paid automatically, or do you have to do it manually every time? At the bank, I have it set up for auto.

I didn't know Rogers offers this too. Is there a list for their payees too?I aleady have a Rogers card.  

You can probably set up a scheduled, recurring bill payment on a certain date each month, but won't be your "statement date," which can vary by a few days, like in a bank account or credit card pre-authorized debit.

What you could do is set up your bills through your Triangle MasterCard and then set up a bank pre-authorized debit plan to automatically pay your full Triangle MasterCard statement balance each month, on the statement date.

Cheers,
Doug

Briguy said

I think you can only do the automatic recurring bill pay through Canadian Tire Triangle Master Card, not through PayTM. So in that case you are only earning 1% - not sure if it's worth it.

When I mentioned Rogers Master Card, I meant I linked that to PayTM, Rogers doesn't have a bill payment functionality like the Triangle Credit Card does.  

That's what I was referring to...still, if the biller doesn't normally accept credit card payments natively, it's a good option (0.8% is better than nothing). 🙂

PayTM is a dumb name, too. It's like they've got the ™ after the word "Pay" except it's not. That's lame they don't offer recurring, scheduled bill payments. For that reason, it's a non-starter. Also, I question the long-term viability of such services...how do they expect to make money? They've got credit card processing fees to pay and ancillary rewards to pay, too. I just don't see profitability ever...even if they got over 10 million Canadians to use the service, I don't think that'd be enough scale to turn a profit on each transaction. And, it's a hyper-competitive business - they're not the only dog and pony in town (PC Financial is reportedly prepping a no fee prepaid MasterCard account to act like a bank account, with rewards, bill payments, Interac e-Transfers, and the like).

Mark my words: PayTM goes bankrupt, or has its technology assets and IP acquired and the service shut down on or before 2022.

Cheers,
Doug

tc said

Shawguy
Did you try paying credit card bills too? Apparently they are allowed as well.
Anyone who signed up please comment your experiences.
You
Thanks  

You can't pay credit card bills with a Mastercard connected to PayTM, you can only pay bills if your bank account is linked, or if you add cash to PayTM by loading through your bank account or through the post office. So you can't earn much through paying credit card bills through PayTM except for their own point system which isn't high paying, or if you have a Scotia debit card where you make 0.2%.

Doug said

That makes sense...otherwise, people would "double dip" (or "triple dip") on credit card rewards.

But for all other bill payees (i.e., gas, hydro, telecom, education tuition I see, etc.), you can pay with a linked credit card and it'll show up as a "purchase" not a "cash advance"? Do you know what merchant category PayTM is?

Cheers,
Doug  

My payment to Powerstream shows up on the Rogers statement as "PayTM Powerstream in" for example and under utility category. It earns 1.75% cashback.

bombiroberto said
Hi Guys,
Just got this today... any alternative besides CT credit card to pay hydro and or property taxes?

https://blog.paytm.ca/blog/important-update-convenience-fees/

Starting November 1st, 2019, Paytm will charge a 1.75% credit card convenience fee on all bill payments and a 1.25% debit card convenience fee on all bill payments for every category. You will not be charged a convenience fee when you make a bill payment using either your linked bank account and/or Paytm Cash, or when you purchase an e-gift card using a credit card or debit card. American Express credit card convenience fees will remain at 3% for all payments.  

All other alternatives such as Plastiq etc involves a fee. CT the only game now starting Nov 1.

Doug said

That's what I was referring to...still, if the biller doesn't normally accept credit card payments natively, it's a good option (0.8% is better than nothing). 🙂

PayTM is a dumb name, too. It's like they've got the ™ after the word "Pay" except it's not. That's lame they don't offer recurring, scheduled bill payments. For that reason, it's a non-starter. Also, I question the long-term viability of such services...how do they expect to make money? They've got credit card processing fees to pay and ancillary rewards to pay, too. I just don't see profitability ever...even if they got over 10 million Canadians to use the service, I don't think that'd be enough scale to turn a profit on each transaction. And, it's a hyper-competitive business - they're not the only dog and pony in town (PC Financial is reportedly prepping a no fee prepaid MasterCard account to act like a bank account, with rewards, bill payments, Interac e-Transfers, and the like).

Mark my words: PayTM goes bankrupt, or has its technology assets and IP acquired and the service shut down on or before 2022.

Cheers,
Doug  

Note I only predicted this back in April 2019. They're not bankrupt yet, but they've essentially curtailed the service by which they're best known. They might have potential as a PayPal alternative in Canada, but will be difficult to compete with that behemoth. My prediction still stands and it's already 80% predicted. 🙂

Cheers,
Doug