The part of the month that people hate the most is when you get the bills. Each month we pay a stack pile of bills including electric bill, water bill, astro bill etc. My parents will usually pay the bills in cash at the post office but for me its a waste, because you can earn more by paying in other modes of payment.What I mean is paying by card. There are a few types of cards available to the public to be used to pay bills namely, credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards. But whatever cards you choose to pay with, the thing I want to highlight in this post is earning points which you wouldn’t earn by paying by cash. These points can then be exchanged for rewards offered by the card company.  

Credit Cards 

 
Credit cards are the most convenient way to pay bills. First of all, as the name suggests, it gives you the convenience of credit where you can pay your bills even though you don’t have money. Apart from that it gives you the option of auto debit where you can allow companies such as Astro to automatically charge your credit card every month the amount of your bill. With credit cards you also are eligible for easy payment where you can pay for an item you want to purchase in installments. But this is not available for all credit cards, it depends on what bank is issuing the card. But above all, credit cards offer the best rewards for points earned. 
 

Debit cards 

 
Debit cards deduct money directly from your bank account each time you use it. Nowadays, many banks offer it as standard to customers who open a bank account with them. The downside of this card, obviously, is it doesn’t give you the convenience of credit. So you must have money in the bank in order to use it. It also does not allow you to do auto debit for services that offer it. The good thing about it is you will never spend more than what you have. Unfortunately, debit cards seldom have reward points or other benefits. But now CIMB bank has a reward program for customers who use their debit card frequently. I am not quite sure of other banks though. 
 

Prepaid cards 

 
The most popular prepaid card I know and would recommend is the Big Shot card offered by Tune Money. It used to be the Tune Card, but Tune money is slowly phasing out that card in favor of the Big Shot card. It has many advantages compared to its predecessor. Among them are, a better ringgit-points system and its affiliation with CIMB bank where you don’t have to pay a transaction fee if you reload the card using CIMBClicks. Basically the function of this type of card is similar to the debit card, only that you need to top up the amount that is loaded in your prepaid card before you use it. However, the benefits are much better than the debit card. In the case of The Big Shot card, you can collect point to claim free Airasia flights. Isn’t that cool?
 

The bottom line 

 
The point I want to make here is for you to get more value from the money you spend. While credit cards offer the most convenience, prepaid cards give you best control over your expenses where you won’t spend more than you have. So choose your mode of “plastic payment” wisely. But there is one thing I’m wondering about. As you know, you can pay your credit card bill with another credit card, but I’m curious if you get points for doing that. If yes, why not pay your monthly expense with a credit card and then pay the credit card bill with a prepaid card. In that way you earn point for both your credit card and your prepaid card for the same purchases. Well at least in theory that is. Sounds a bit twisted, but Does it actually work like that? Well, this calls for an experiment.