One of the bill payment options using a credit card you are probably already aware of is Standard Chartered’s EasyBill function, which levies a 1.9% processing fee when you make payments for goods or services that don’t usually allow credit card payments, like property rental and education expenses.

This is a similar concept to Citi PayAll, which gets a lot more coverage on the site thanks to regular promotional deals including a current opportunity to buy miles for 1 cent each if you have S$8,000 or more of expenses coming up between now and mid-August.

How EasyBill works

SC EasyBill is available through the mobile app or online banking portal, and pays your recipient directly.

EasyBill payments are available for the following categories:

• Rent
  Payments towards the monthly rental amount specified in a tenancy agreement as entered into between you and your landlord.
• IRAS
  Payments made towards the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore for individual tax or property tax purposes.
• Insurance
  Insurance premium payments due towards any insurance policies including health insurance, motor insurance, life insurance, foreign domestic worker insurance and travel insurance.
• Education
  Payments towards any educational service like school fees, university fees, polytechnic fees, fees related to training institutes, for enrichment centres and day cares, pertaining to extracurricular activities (e.g. dance, music, painting, cookery, yoga, gardening, language programmes), fees for hobbies, for any sports activity involving an instructor, and tuition fees.

SC EasyBill still only supports one-time payment requests, but not recurring payments.

To confirm your EasyBill payment you will not be asked up upload any supporting documents, such as an invoice or tenancy agreement, or for IRAS payments your NoA. However, Standard Chartered may ask you to submit “documents evidencing that the transaction made using SC EasyBill is an Eligible Payment” before processing the application.

Targeted EasyBill offers

This month Standard Chartered is offering selected cardholders the opportunity to make an entirely fee-free payment between 8th May and 30th June 2023, or get a 20% discount off the usual fee.

Whichever you are targeted for (if you’re targeted at all), the maximum discount on the regular 1.9% fee for EasyBill payments is capped at S$150 – though that’s really quite generous.

100% discount offer

The best deal being offered to selected Standard Chartered cardholders is a 100% discount on the usual 1.9% EasyBill fee, up to a maximum of S$150 cashback.

That means a payment of up to S$7,894, which would normally have a processing fee of S$150 (1.9%), becomes entirely fee free and can therefore generate you over 11,000 miles with a 1.4 mpd card like the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite (SCVI), without any additional cost to you.

Initially you will be charged the regular fee for the EasyBill transaction by Standard Chartered. The cashback of up to S$150 will be credited to your card account by 31st August 2023.

This could be a great way to pay your income tax this year, even if it comes in at more than S$7,894. For example, an IRAS income tax bill of S$10,000 would attract the following EasyBill fee, if you’re targeted for the 100% discount:

• S$10,000 bill payment
• SCVI: 14,000 miles earned
• 1.9% fee = S$190
• S$150 fee discount (cap) = S$40 effective fee (S$190 – S$150)
• Cost per mile 0.29 cents (S$40 / 14,000 miles)

Remember this is a targeted deal, so you will need to have received an SMS, email or app notification from Standard Chartered inviting you to participate. You cannot transfer the invitation to another cardholder.

If eligible, you must apply for your EasyBill transfer via the direct URL (link) quoted in your invitation by 30th June 2023. The promotion is limited to the first 500 applications received by the bank.

Terms and conditions for the 100% discount deal are available here.

20% discount offer

An alternative (but still potentially useful) promotion is a 20% discount on the usual EasyBill fee of 1.9%, capped at S$150 discount on the fee.

That allows you to make a payment of up to S$39,473 at an effective fee rate of 1.52% (after S$150 cashback on the S$750 fee), which is the equivalent of buying miles at 1.09 cents each with the 1.4 mpd SCVI card, rather than the usual 1.36 cents.

That comes out even better than the SCVI’s direct Income Tax payment deal with 1.6% fee (with a cost per mile of 1.14 cents), provided you income tax bill is less than around S$40,000.

As with the 100% discount offer, initially you will be charged the regular fee for the EasyBill transaction by Standard Chartered. The 20% cashback of up to S$150 will be credited to your card account by 31st August 2023.

Terms and conditions for the 20% discount deal are available here.

Citi PayAll offer

As we mentioned earlier, another good option is the ability to buy miles for 1 cent each with your Citi card when making payments totalling S$8,000 to S$120,000 through the bank’s PayAll service between now and 20th August 2023.

If you have a Citi card and you haven’t been targeted for the fee-free Standard Chartered EasyBill offer, or if you’ve only been offered the 20% discount, this one is definitely worth looking at instead.

Standard Chartered is offering selected cardholders a fee-free payment through its EasyBill programme, or a 20% discount on the regular fee for this service, up to S$150 discount in each case.

Keep an eye out for an SMS, email or app notification to check whether you’ve been targeted for this deal, which could be a great way to settle bills like rental or this year’s IRAS income tax.

Don’t forget that all Citi cardholders can take advantage of a 1 cent per mile offer through the bank’s PayAll service between now and mid-August, a better deal than the 20% EasyBill discount offer, for those with at least S$8,000 of cumulative payments to make in the next few months.