5 Best Personal Credit Cards for Paying Cell Phone Bills 2023

Cramming is the illegal act of placing unauthorized charges on your wireline, wireless, or bundled services telephone bill. The FCC has estimated that cramming has harmed tens of millions of American households. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. When the company makes the payment, they have to reverse the accounts payable and cash out. Telephone expense is the cost that company spends on the landline, phone service, or other phone usages during the accounting period. Bill Pay is our free, online service that lets you easily make payments and manage your bills, using your Fidelity brokerage or full-service Cash Management Account.

• All of the services, because they transmit credit card information, must comply with the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)(Opens in a new window)—the same standard used with analog payment cards.
• And finding a plan with taxes and fees included saves you even more.
• In addition, earn 10x miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 5x miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel to multiply your rewards even quicker.
• They both refer to short-term loans that a borrower has to pay back in full whenever the lender requests.
• Well-known scams involve someone sending you a bunch of money through the app and asking you for repayment.
• The highest-profile example of this is the Apple Card, which offers 2 percent rewards (3 percent for Apple products) and some other nifty options.

The best part is that on top of the top-shelf rewards, you’ll get cell phone insurance, which covers claims of up to $800 each with a $50 deductible. Whether your device is totally paid off or you’re still making a monthly payment that has your device as a portion of the bill, you’ll do well to make sure you’re making the most out of this recurring expense. Further, most banks have a zero-liability policy for credit card fraud, meaning if you’ve been cheated, you don’t have to pay anything (with certain reasonable limitations(Opens in a new window)).

How can I pay my Verizon Fios bill in person?

Deductibles vary by card, but usually range from $25 to $100 per claim. After making that payment, you’ll typically be covered for the rest of the cost, often up to hundreds of dollars. There are a number of credit cards that don’t offer a bonus category for cellphone bills but do offer cellphone coverage in case of damage or theft. While you may not earn bonus rewards on these purchases, putting your bill on these cards might still make sense because of the potential money you can save in an emergency if something happens to your phone. Cashless and contactless interactions saw a dramatic upswing in the last few years thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital transactions are now commonplace, so you no longer need to dig through your pockets to draw and hand over germ-saturated bills and credit cards.

Just like any other purchase, you’ll earn rewards on your monthly cellphone bill by using a rewards credit card to cover your bill. If you know which card to use, you can get up to 5% back on your cellphone bill each month, and those rewards can add up over time. You’re not going to get “points rich” simply by paying your monthly cellphone bill with a credit card. But it’s still important to use the right card to cover that monthly expense. Some issuers even offer smartphone-related perks, like built-in cellphone protection, for when you damage your phone. Most bills that allow credit card payments are eligible to earn points.

Best for Instant Bank-to-Bank Transfers

The Double Cash card is one of the best cards to use for everyday purchases. The next card we’ll discuss is the Capital One Venture X card, which is Capital One’s ultra-premium cloud billing personal credit card for rewards. On one hand, if you’re generally pretty clumsy with your cell phone, you should probably consider optimizing for the best cellular insurance.

The rate typically changes daily and is published in The Wall Street Journal. If you’re hesitant to make a big change, consider changing from a traditional unlimited plan to a prepaid unlimited plan on your current carrier. But budget carriers, such as Visible or Cricket, can be much cheaper. Both companies offer plans that could save you as much as half of what a major carrier would charge. Prior to my current role, I covered software and apps for ExtremeTech, and before that I headed up PCMag’s enterprise software team, but I’m happy to be back in the more accessible realm of consumer software. I’ve attended trade shows of Microsoft, Google, and Apple and written about all of them and their products.

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The service makes it easy to send money, be it to other people or companies. PayPal is also making a push toward in-store payments, though it isn’t quite at the level of Google Pay or Samsung Pay. Use your T-Mobile MONEY debit card to make a one-time payment or for AutoPay. If you’re not already receiving the benefits of T-Mobile Money, sign up online at www.T-MobileMoney.com. This free service saves your payment methods to automatically pay your T-Mobile bill by deducting payments from your credit card or checking account. Just remember that if your phone breaks and the bill is still charged to a different card it does no good that you simply hold a card with cell phone protection — you have to actually pay your bill with it.

• Start with the fact that you’ll earn an unlimited 2x miles on all your purchase with no caps.
• The card doesn’t have the highest earning rate on this list, but the cellphone protection benefit could save you more in the long run than the rewards you’d earn with other cards.
• PayPal is also making a push toward in-store payments, though it isn’t quite at the level of Google Pay or Samsung Pay.
• For in-store payments, Samsung Pay works in 17 countries beyond the US, and Google Pay works in the UK, as well as in the US.
• However, the credit card information that we publish has been written and evaluated by experts who know these products inside out.
• 5% cash back on payments made directly to your wireless phone service provider when you select “Cell Phone Provider” as one of your two quarterly bonus categories.

Everyone will know what a party animal you are (though, thankfully, the payment amount isn’t publically disclosed). If you’re a hard-core Apple user, check out Apple Pay, as it’s deeply integrated into the company’s ecosystem. Just keep in mind that you can only send cash to other Apple users, unlike the other multiplatform payment apps we’ve highlighted.