MW How to make extra money just by paying bills - even your mortgage and car payment

By Charles Passy

It's all about finding the right credit cards to maximize your benefits, experts say - and avoiding this one major mistake

Can you make money by paying your monthly bills?

It might seem like a nonsensical question, but it's actually a real and attainable goal when you consider the credit cards and other platforms that offer rewards in various spending categories, from cellphone bills to streaming subscriptions. There are now even ways to get rewarded for paying your rent or mortgage. Those rewards may be small - think as little as 1% or 2% in cash back, or the equivalent percentages in points - but they add up over time.

"If you're going to be spending the money, you might as well be getting some kind of benefit," said Christine Damico, a certified financial planner with Domain Money.

Just ask Ellie Gaughan, a 25-year-old resident of Brooklyn, N.Y. She says she has reaped rewards worth hundreds of dollars through such a payment strategy, and she's using them to help offset the cost of an upcoming summer vacation to Greece. "It was super easy," Gaughan said of the process.

Chances are you may already be employing this strategy, at least for one monthly bill. But how do you maximize things? We spoke to a number of personal-finance and credit-card experts for all the details.

Only do this if you're diligent about paying your credit-card bill

It should be obvious, but experts say it still bears repeating: There is no point in trying to earn a small reward - or even a 5% reward - if it means going into credit-card debt and paying interest rates that can easily top 20%.

"Everything is predicated on you paying your bill in full every month," said Dave Grossman, founder of the Your Best Credit Cards and MilesTalk websites.

Keep in mind if bill payees will impose any fees

Some payees, from landlords to cellphone companies, will apply a surcharge for those wishing to pay using a credit card. For that matter, the Internal Revenue Service does the same. If you're looking at such a surcharge, experts say you need to do the math: If the reward is less than the surcharge percentage-wise, it's probably not worth pursuing.

The one possible exception to this rule? Experts say if you're looking at maximizing spending on a card to earn a sign-up bonus, then you might consider it. Those bonuses can be worth hundreds of dollars in terms of cash back or the equivalent in points. But it's still worth doing the math to make sure the surcharges are not going to eat up too much of that bonus.

You may need different cards for different rewards, like streaming services

Experts advise it's good to have a standard cash-back rewards card - the best ones typically offer 2% cash back - as your base. Meaning that's the card you can default to when there doesn't appear to be a more lucrative rewards option. Examples of such cards include the Wells Fargo Active Cash Card $(WFC)$ and the Citi Double Cash Credit Card $(C)$.

But there are often better choices. You can find cards that offer rewards based on spending in countless specific categories, including those that fall into monthly bills terrain: rewards for spending on internet and cellphone bills, streaming services or gym memberships. Consider that the American Express Blue Cash Preferred Card $(AXP)$ offers a 6% reward on select streaming subscriptions, while the U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card $(USB)$ offers a 5% reward on gym memberships (if that category is selected as a quarterly reward option).

Some cards offer rewards for rent or mortgage payments, too - more on that later.

How can you find the best card for you, based on your particular types of spending as well as other factors, such as your creditworthiness? Your Best Credit Cards offers a "card explorer" tool, the NerdWallet site has something similar, or you can simply do your own search. The point, according to experts, is that there's many a card that suits your reward-seeking needs.

What about rent and mortgage payments?

For a long time, rent and mortgage payments offered no rewards potential - that is, landlords and banks didn't typically accept credit cards for payment (or if landlords did, they often applied a surcharge).

But the rewards landscape has changed in recent years - and even in recent months - with new cards and platforms that address these issues.

Bilt, for example, is a money-saving rewards platform with a co-branded credit card. It's been around since 2022 and offers the opportunity to earn rewards for paying your rent or other housing expenses, including co-op and condo maintenance fees. Gaughan, the aforementioned Brooklyn resident, uses Bilt for her rent payments, which is how she's earning much of her points. Previous to Bilt, rent was her "one big expense that went nowhere" in terms of reward benefits, she noted.

There are different ways to tap Bilt. If your landlord has partnered with the program - and thousands across the country have already done so - you don't need to get the Bilt credit card to earn rewards. But otherwise, you can apply for the card, which effectively allows for such rent and related housing payments. There are some caveats; for example, Bilt caps the amount of points (100,000, to be exact) that you can earn annually for your housing payments. But there are some perks, such as Bilt's partnerships with Lyft $(LYFT)$ and Walgreens $(WBA)$ that allow you to earn rewards through purchases with those merchants, regardless of whether you use the Bilt credit card or not.

For mortgages, there's an even newer possibility: the Mesa Homeowners Card. It provides rewards for making those home payments to your lender, along with some other homeowner benefits and related perks, such as rewards for utilities payments and daycare expenses. In the case of mortgage expenses, you don't pay the lender directly through the card; rather, you show proof that you've paid, and Mesa will provide points in return. The caveat here is that you must spend $1,000 on the card each month to qualify for the mortgage perk.

And what about your car payment?

That's yet another category that's been hard to reap any rewards for - at least until now. Fasten is a card that offers rewards for making auto-loan or lease payments. It works similarly to the Mesa card in that you don't make the lender payment through Fasten, but instead show that the payment was made. And as with Mesa, there's a required minimum monthly spend on the card - in this case, $500 - to qualify for the benefit.

Other things worth knowing

These credit-card strategies are all sound, but they won't work if your credit isn't good enough to get a card in the first place. And even if you can reap rewards, that's no excuse to spend recklessly, experts caution. Which is to say, don't spend more on an apartment, home or car, or subscribe to more streaming services, just because of the added points you might earn.

Finally, when it comes to points, always keep in mind the different options for using them - and which ones provide the most bang for your buck. A cash-back credit is nice, but if you have travel plans, you might be better off, dollar for dollar, using points for that instead if your card provider offers that option (or allows you to transfer points to a rewards partner, such as an airline or hotel chain).

"You want to be mindful of what you can get and how you might be selling yourself short," said Sara Rathner, a credit-card expert with NerdWallet (NRDS).

-Charles Passy

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 14, 2025 11:19 ET (15:19 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.