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Hi all,
I am wondering if anyone has any ideas for the above question. I live in N. Ireland and would like to pay my rates with my AMEX.
I can see online that you CAN pay with a CC, however only Visa and Mastercard is accepted.
They outline PayPoint and Post Office as options too, but the site says that these outlets do not take credit cards for bill payments.Anyone has any suggestions / ideas? Rates are a substantial sum so it’d help with the SUB spend and spend towards the voucher etc.
Source of the N. Ireland GOV site – https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/payrates
Thanks!
I have the same dilemma as you, and own a few properties in NI so the return in Amex points for me would be pretty rewarding.
I’ve never found a way to use Amex to pay, but am fortunate enough to have the legacy Hilton Barclaycard Visa which goes some way to easing the NI Rates pain. The new Barclaycard Avios cards are Mastercard I believe, doesn’t help if you are trying to hit a bonus Amex spend, but if you don’t already have the Avios card it might be better than nothing. At least you get something back other than your bin emptied … (or not)!I have the same dilemma as you, and own a few properties in NI so the return in Amex points for me would be pretty rewarding.
I’ve never found a way to use Amex to pay, but am fortunate enough to have the legacy Hilton Barclaycard Visa which goes some way to easing the NI Rates pain. The new Barclaycard Avios cards are Mastercard I believe, doesn’t help if you are trying to hit a bonus Amex spend, but if you don’t already have the Avios card it might be better than nothing. At least you get something back other than your bin emptied … (or not)!I see – so there’s no real way to kind of play around it? I read something about people paying Council Taxes (mainland thing I assume?) through PayPoint with AMEX etc but that might not apply here then. I was banking on doing that – unlucky I guess! PayPay does not seem to be an option either..
If you happen to have a BP garage near you that does paypoint, then surely they will be set up to take Amex. It’s worth a go, all they can do is say not accepted.
Have any of you tried anything like Billhop for something like this?
Yes, the rates can be paid with AMEX at Co-op shops. I’ve done it for the last few years. It has to be done £100 at a time
Yes, the rates can be paid with AMEX at Co-op shops. I’ve done it for the last few years. It has to be done £100 at a time
Are you a N. Ireland resident and done it here, or you’ve done this in mainland England? Co-op itself is not as common here to begin with.
Hi Simey, yes I live in NI. Used the co-op on Lisburn Road in Belfast last year and Newtownabbey previous year.
Hi Simey, yes I live in NI. Used the co-op on Lisburn Road in Belfast last year and Newtownabbey previous year.
I live near Jordanstown – so I could probably give that a go then. I was thinking I could do it at the Post Office but apparently they don’t take credit cards for payments so that’s what threw me off. No harm in giving it a go. Do they look at you funny for making 10+ £100 transactions in a row? 😀
Would be interested in some clarification on this myself. Never used Paypoint in my life, so in practical terms how does it actually work? Then, do you just put the 100’s through one after the other, or do you have to go back and do them one at a time?
Every day’s a school day 🙂
Would be interested in some clarification on this myself. Never used Paypoint in my life, so in practical terms how does it actually work? Then, do you just put the 100’s through one after the other, or do you have to go back and do them one at a time?
Every day’s a school day 🙂
I assume it’s £100 limit so have to do it around 10-15 times I’d venture a guess as average rates are in that 1000-1500 range. Just doing it in 15 transactions holding up everyone else would break me haha.
Hi Simey, yes I live in NI. Used the co-op on Lisburn Road in Belfast last year and Newtownabbey previous year.
Sorry, one more Q.. what method does COOP use to pay it? is it PayPoint or something else?
I looked out the last bills. I think you need to be off direct debit payments, I got a Rates QuickPay Card which has a barcode for the post office to scan, attached to the bill. It’s £200 per transaction, it says paypoint on each of the £200 receipts. It didn’t take very long but if another customer needed served I let them go ahead between my transactions. Hope this helps, just ask if you have any more questions
I looked out the last bills. I think you need to be off direct debit payments, I got a Rates QuickPay Card which has a barcode for the post office to scan, attached to the bill. It’s £200 per transaction, it says paypoint on each of the £200 receipts. It didn’t take very long but if another customer needed served I let them go ahead between my transactions. Hope this helps, just ask if you have any more questions
I see – last year I just paid it off in 1 with my partner’s card, but that’s Mastercard so no issues there.
I’ll look into getting that QuickPay card that allows me to pay it in a specific location.
So this only works in COOP? What strikes me the most is that when you look at the GOV site for the Paypoint option it mentions..
“You can pay your rates in a shop by PayPoint. In most PayPoint outlets, you can pay by cheque, cash or debit card but some places don’t accept cheques or debit cards. Credit cards are not accepted.”
But it worked for you anyway?
Are all Co-op’s in Northern Ireland Co-op Group owned?
The normal gotcha with Paypoint/Amex/Co-op is that it doesn’t work at stores run by societies (Central England, Midcounties, East of England, Southern, Scotmid, Lincolnshire etc.).
Yea it’s just strange. I couldn’t answer that, I used COOP maybe once in my 25 years so far. It’s just that everywhere I look, CCs are either not accepted or they only take Mastercard / Visa.
I have paid rates using PayPoint at Coops using Amex many, many times but in England. I agree that it does vary between the many societies but just try it (definitely do not ask if you can use Amex).
I have had trouble in the past with multiple payments in a short time, especially if for the same amount.Yeah, thanks for the advice. Seems like Shazza is lost in space for my NI related questions so I’ll take what he said and try the COOP he mentioned above. Should be getting rates related things soon so as they say, worst thing that can happen is they’ll say no!
I used an Amex a few years ago to pay my rates (about £2.2k) in Co-op on Saintfield Rd. It needed to be done in £200 chunks through the pay point machine but they totalled them all up for the till at the end. Confusingly one of the £200s failed so the cashier got in a bit of a muddle but all worked out ok.
These days I just use Virgin MasterCard on the LPS website.
Bump – appreciate everyone discussing this! Going to try this at a BP this week (albeit a year later).
Waiting for my bill to doorstep 😔 , have an AMEX spend target to hit so I’ll have to get to a coop to try it again this year. Last year I used Barclaycard for spending target. Any feedback is appreciated
I did this last year no problem with our rates bill, in £200 transactions at co-op in hillsborough, planning to try again in the next few days now the new rates bill has arrived.
Hope everyone got their rates sorted to get the discount if paid by May 10th. I went to the co-op in The Moy, had to be done in £150 transactions, but paid by card for full amount in one transaction. Manager was delighted to get her sales up for the day lol. When I left I realised I’d paid the higher (non discounted amount). Called LPS, said they would post a cheque for the overpayment. Friend paid theirs at Finaghy crossroads in one amount.
Did Hillsborough Co-Op accept this year?
Did Hillsborough Co-Op accept this year?
Yes, though you have to do it in £150 transactions
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