Discover Rebates on Utility Payments via ChargeSmart

Posted by Kate on September 9, 2011

Have you ever tried to put your utility bills on your credit card for some cash back only to realize that the utility company erases the benefit by charging you a fee?

If so, this week’s Free Money Friday is perfect for you. Discover is offering a new way to save money by offering an instant cash rebate of all applicable fees when you pay your utility bills on ChargeSmart!

How to Get ChargeSmart Utility Rebates

  1. Sign up for ChargeSmart.
  2. Select the utility company you want to pay.
  3. Enter your Discover credit card info.
  4. ChargeSmart will deliver your payment via electronic ACH transfer.
  5. Discover will give you a rebate for any fees associated with your utility payment!

More on ChargeSmart

Fees. Depending on the biller (company you are paying), there is either a blended or flat fee associated with your transaction. The fee will be displayed before you proceed with your transaction.

Discover Rebate. This rebate works with all Discover branded credit or debit cards and will be in addition to any cashback program that your Discover card may already offer.

What Bills Can I Pay with ChargeSmart? You can use ChargeSmart to make payments towards your mortgage, auto loan, auto lease, education loan, or utility bill. You can even use ChargeSmart to pay bills to a company that doesn’t offer that option directly on their site.

Paying Your Mortgage. With ChargeSmart, the return of paying your mortgage with credit cards is back! Just make sure that your credit card cash rewards will be greater than the cost of the fees to make money on the deal.

Possible $10 Rebate on Other Payments

In addition to the utility rebate, we also found a few mentions that Chargesmart will give you $10 off all other payments (mortgage, auto, etc) which should help offset the fees and earn you more cash back from your credit card.

Discover Cards

If you don’t have a Discover card to use, here are some of our favorite Discover cards to use with Chargesmart:





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Comments to Discover Rebates on Utility Payments via ChargeSmart

  1. $22 fee to make a $950 mortgage payment. Minus the $10 bonus it is still $12, who knows if the $10 bonus is permanent. 1% cashback I am assuming on the mortgage payment means it costs me an extra $2.50 to float my mortgage payment another 25 days or so. Not worth it for me.

    keith


    • Keith,

      I agree, with a 1% cash back card, it’s probably not worth it…

      However, once we start talking about the 5-6% cash back cards… it could start to add up!

      I’m going to give it a try to see if we can make it profitable.

      Madison


  2. Does Discover rebate fees imposed by ChargeSmart, or fees imposed by your utility?

    Joe


    • Joe,

      Since it’s an ACH transfer I think there shouldn’t be any additional fees charged by the utility.

      The only fees then would be from Chargesmart, which Discover would rebate.

      I’m just scheduling my payment now, so I’ll let you know once it posts how it looks.

      Madison


  3. I can make a $1000 payment to the Student Loan Corp, get charged a $27.85 fee, and Discover will rebate me the fee? Sounds WAY too good to be true. Let me know how yours turns out.

    Joe


    • Joe,

      The full rebate is only for utility payments. Student loans don’t get the rebate (but they might get the $10 off).

      But yeah, if you can make $50 in cash back on the payment from a 5% cash back credit card, it will more than cover the fee!

      Madison


  4. I don’t think it would be worth it for any thing other than utilities. The rebate from discover is the only thing that makes it worth it.

    Ginger


    • Right Ginger, it’s only worth it for utilities… unless you are using a 5% or 6% cash back credit card.

      Madison


  5. WHERE is there any documentation from discover card that will refund those nasty fees?

    YANKEL


    • Hi Yankel,
      It’s on the Chargesmart site. You can probably contact Chargesmart directly at 866-724-2743 if you’re worried about the documentation.

      Madison


  6. I pay about $900 in rent every month. It hurts that I write a check every time. Now I can pay using credit card but there is a 2.2% convenience fee.

    Is there any other way to pay my rent through credit card? Please let me know….

    dee


  7. Double checked this with Discover and they told me they do not have a program that will refund you a fee to make utility payments. Just FYI.
    But a 5-6% card would still make the payments worth making through ChargeSmart.

    Grayson



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