So you are searching ‘can you use Zilch to pay bills?’. Zilch is a great way to earn cashback in Zilch rewards on your everyday purchases, whether it’s online supermarket shopping, energy bills, or your weekly Deliveroo.co.uk takeaway.
So how can you use Zilch to pay bills?
Put simply, if the shop that you want to buy from is listed as a Zilch merchant, you can earn from 2 to 5 percent cashback in Zilch rewards. For example, I’m a customer of Octopus Energy and I have no direct debit in place, but I pay whatever I owe each month through Zilch (Octopus Energy is a member that pays 2 percent) and earn an average 300 Zilch rewards, which is £3 cashback. I know it doesn’t sound much, but it’s cashback of £36 over a year. Better in my pocket, than the greedy energy companies.
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If your bill company is not listed as a Zilch merchant, then you can use their Zilch Anywhere option where you will still earn 0.5 cashback, just like you can earn 0.5 percent cashback on your everyday contactless purchases in-store. It used to be 2 percent cashback, but they have since reduced this to only half a percent, which obviously encourages more online spending and less in-store spending.
It’s similar to the AMEX Platinum Everyday Cashback Card, which offers 5 percent cashback for the first three months, and then 0.5 percent thereafter. Read the T&C conditions with AMEX, as you have to spend over £3,000 in a year to quality for the 5 percent cashback offer.
Up to 1% Cashback with AMEX
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See if you are eligible for an American Express cashback card that can earn you up to 1% cashback.
How does Zilch work
Joining Zilch is certainly worth it. I’ve earned over £200 in Zilch rewards since I joined in early 2022.
- Earn 500 rewards points just for signing up. This is equivalent to £5 to spend in your favourite store. Choose from thousands of online or in-store retailers. Sign up here.
- Enter your name, email, and address.
- You will be given a spending allowance. If your credit history is good and you want a ‘raise’ then add your bank account and let Zilch do a credit check.
- Verify your email address.
- Add a debit card.
- Add a picture of your ID. This could be from a driver’s licence, passport or ID card. After this you will be asked to give permission for your card to take a selfie. This is to check whether the ID picture matches your selfie.
- Once verification is complete. which can take up to 5 days, and you have made your first tap & pay (contactless) payment, you’ll have instant access to your £5 reward.
- Each time you click on a merchant at the Zilch website or app, you will be asked whether you want to pay over six weeks, or pay now. Choose your terms and enter through to the merchant. In your settings you can enable the cashback always option with ‘pay now’.
- You will need regular access to your virtual Zilch Card (MasterCard) so try to memorise this, if you can. Each time you want to use Zilch to pay bills online, find the merchant in the Zilch app or Zilch website, and when it comes time to pay, use your Zilch Mastercard (paid from your Debit Card) to pay in six weeks (which can have £2.50 fees) or pay now, earn up to 5% cashback every time.
- If you are using Zilch to pay bills in-store, simply enable NFC on your phone and open your Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Google wallet, then make your contactless payment. You will earn 0.5 percent cashback in Zilch rewards.
- Please note, that if you choose a buy now pay later option, pay in six weeks, you will not earn cashback on your purchase.
If you consider what you spend in bills monthly, including council tax, energy bills, food shopping etc, it can be over £500 per month. Simply choosing to use Zilch to pay bills could earn you £2.50 in cashback, and that’s if Zilch doesn’t list your bill merchant and you opted for the Zilch anywhere option. However, if you shop online for your groceries, you can earn an easy 2 percent cashback, and some energy providers like Octopus Energy also offer 2 percent cashback, so it’s easy to start earning significant cashback when you choose to use Zilch to pay bills.
