In this roundup, let’s take a look at some of the best credit card payment apps that help you clear all your credit card bills on time and even get rewarded for paying credit card bills.
So, you’ve got your shiny, flashy, rewarding credit card in your wallet. You’ve been swiping it, tapping it, and using it to transact online, and then your bill is generated one fine day. Have you ever looked at your credit card bill and wondered what the best way to pay it would be? Well, we’ve got help!
Continue reading to discover some of the absolute best apps for credit card bill payment in India that’ll not just let you pay your bills fast and securely but also reward you for clearing them! These apps have some exciting credit card bill payment options that you might regret missing!
How we made this list
While this list is made primarily from our personal experiences, we kept the following few things in mind while coming up with this list:
- Availability and reliability of the app
- Time taken to pay/deposit the bill amount to the credit card
- Rewards offered for credit card bill payments
- Modes of payment available
- State of customer support
- Additional features & benefits
There is no one-size-fits-all app in this space, and like everything else, these apps aren’t perfect either. Keeping that in mind, we have added the pros and cons of these particular apps so that you can make an informed decision. At the end of the list, we have also mentioned some decent apps that didn’t make it to our top 5 but might be good options for you to consider. So, please go through the entire list and let us know your best app for credit card payment in the comments below.
Best credit card payment apps
Let’s get going with our list of the best credit card payment apps.
Paytm
Paytm is our pick for the best app to pay credit card bills, thanks to its well-thought-out credit card bill payment system. Paytm is one of the largest digital payment platforms in the country, and in addition to numerous other features the Paytm app offers, credit card bill payment is a notable one. Following are the advantages and disadvantages of Paytm credit card bill payment feature:
Paytm Pros
- Cross-platform availability and almost zero downtimes, bugs, or crashes. You can even pay your credit card bills on the Paytm website, app is not mandatory.
- Usually, very fast payment/deposit of bill amount to credit card accounts of most card issuers. Almost instant settlement for major card issuers like Axis Bank cards, SBI Cards, etc.
- Rewards in the form of Paytm cashback points or brand discount vouchers. Paytm cashback points can be converted into Paytm wallet cash or can be used to redeem brand vouchers.
- UPI, debit cards, and Internet banking are available as payment methods.
- 24×7 customer support via in-app ticketed chat.
- Features “Late Fee Protection”, where Paytm will compensate if your payment fails due to technical issues after your bill payment is marked successful on the Paytm app, and your card issuer levies late payment penalties on your card. You have to pay the bill on Paytm before the due date for this feature to be available to you.
- Automatic credit card bill fetching from SMS (if allowed) and regular reminders of pending bills via SMS, email, and push notifications.
- Ability to pay bills of not just self-owned credit cards but also other people’s credit cards.
- Free credit score check: In addition to paying your credit card bills, you can also check your CIBIL score (and comprehensive report) for free on the Paytm app. You can refresh your CIBIL report for free once per month. This lets you keep track of your active and closed credit cards, repayments, and more.
Paytm Cons
- Complicated and bloated user interface of the app that may be confusing for many users
- Coupon codes need to be applied manually in order to earn rewards or cashback points
- Cashback point redemption ratio is low (1100 cashback points = ₹10 Paytm wallet voucher). However, cashback points can be used to redeem other discount coupons and vouchers from other brands. For example, you can get several products for ₹1 using cashback points, or you can get swap 1500 cashback points for a ₹50 Paytm Movie cashback voucher.
- Frequent promotional communication for loans, credit cards (like their own co-branded credit cards), etc. You can, however, control these notifications to an extent.
As per the latest data from Paytm, more than 15 lac users are paying their credit card bills on Paytm every month. So, it isn’t only in our list of the best credit card payment apps. You can join them if you find the features and rewards worth considering.
Google Pay
Formerly known as Tez, Google Pay’s credit card bill payment system is also something we’d call “Tez” 😁
This app probably has the simplest, cleanest interface for paying credit card bills. There are no credit card mockups; there’s no box for you to enter random promo codes; there are no fancy animations, none of that! You just enter your credit card details and pay. That simple. Following are the points you should keep in mind if you’re adding Google Pay to your list of best credit card payment apps:
Google Pay Pros
- Clean, simple, and straightforward app interface
- Good reliability and close to zero bugs or glitches
- Supports BBPS (Bharat Bill Payment System), where bills can be fetched from a centralized bill organization platform without having to scan SMS or emails for bills. Payments made via BBPS also settle instantly in most cases. Note that not all credit card issuers are live on the BBPS platform, so this feature is limited to BBPS-enabled issuers only.
- Fast settlement of bills to most cards. Usually, payments are deposited to credit card accounts within a few hours.
- Rewards in the form of scratch cards or third-party discount vouchers.
- Free credit score check: You can also check your CIBIL score for free on Google Pay for free and refresh it once every month.
Google Pay Cons
- Only UPI as payment method for credit card bills.
- Average customer support.
- Relatively lower rewards. Users must keep track of the push notifications to grab the best credit card bill payment offers.
Basically, you would consider Google Pay if you value simplicity and efficiency more than rewards. Any rewards you get, you’ll consider them as bonuses. It is just a very clean, simple credit card bill payment app.
Cred
This is the app that kinda normalized and popularized the whole “rewards for credit card bill payments” scene in India through clever and smart ads. Cred has been the default credit card bill payment app of the masses for a really long time, and there are good reasons why you should put it in your list of the best credit card payment apps.
Cred Pros
- Consistent and reliable app with a slick modern user interface.
- Cred Protect: the best credit card bill tracking and reminder system out there. Cred has this gem of a feature to connect to your email and SMS inboxes, scan for statements and bills, and analyze and present them in a simple fashion. It can even notify you of probable unintentional transactions, like two transactions of the same amount, and scan through your statements to detect hidden fees and charges. As for the reminders, there are push notifications, emails, and WhatsApp messages to help you clear your bills on time.
- Consistently decent rewards program: Cred rewards you with Cred coins for credit card bill payments. You can use Cred coins in the app to avail discounts on their partner brands, unlock games and jackpots, and redeem discount vouchers. In our experience, this is the best app to pay credit card bills for cashback.
- Fast payment settlement: payments on Cred are settled to most credit card issuers almost instantly.
- UPI, debit cards, and net banking as payment methods for credit card bill payments.
- Free credit score check: Users can check their CRIF credit score and report on the Cred app for free. Similar to other apps, one free refresh per month.
Cred Cons
- Support could be improved. For such a good app experience, the support experience can be improved.
- Deterioration in the value of Cred coins: over the years, Cred coins have gone lower in value. Unless you use them on the app to purchase products and services, they hardly carry any monetary value. In contrast, you get direct cash back into your bank account when you scratch a Google Pay scratch card, or you can convert your Paytm cashback points into Paytm wallet voucher which you can then practically use anywhere.
- Spreading out (or branching out?): From just credit card bill payments, Cred has added a lot of bits and pieces to the app, ultimately making it convoluted over time.
We hope Cred works on the drawbacks and makes it the “Indiranagar ka gunda” of credit card bill payment apps 😄
Amazon Pay
While Amazon Pay isn’t a standalone app, it is a crucial part now of the Amazon India shopping app.
Amazon Pay Pros
- Consistency and reliability of Amazon, which is kind of the best in class.
- Cross-platform availability, and similar to Paytm, bills can also be paid on the website.
- Decent rewards: Amazon is a giant marketplace, so it distributes rewards that can be used throughout Amazon, not just limited to bill payments. Mostly, you get Amazon Pay balance as cashback, but you also get scratch cards with cashback and discount coupons for the Amazon marketplace.
- Best in class customer support: again, it goes without saying, it’s Amazon.
- Free credit score check: Similar to the other apps in our roundup of the best credit card payment apps, users can also check their CIBIL score on Amazon Pay, for free.
Amazon Pay Cons
- The app has become too heavy, which leads to poor user experience. Amazon might wanna consider giving Amazon Pay its separate app and keep it independent from the core Amazon shopping app.
- Unavailability of certain payment methods: As of the time of writing this article, we can only spot UPI as the payment option, but the debit card option keeps coming and going randomly.
Amazon Pay also has bill fetching via BBPS, but considering only a small number of issuers are live on BBPS, we’re not considering this. Amazon Pay makes it to our list of the best credit card payment apps solely for the simplicity and reliability of Amazon.
CheQ
This is the new kid on the block. CheQ aims to build a comprehensive solution for credit management in India. Through the CheQ app, you can pay your credit card bills and earn rewards in the form of CheQ chips, which can then be redeemed for brand vouchers or money that you can use to pay your credit card bills. We really like this app’s rewards structure, which is why we’ve included it in our roundup of the best credit card payment apps. Following are the pros and cons of the CheQ app for credit card bill payments:
CheQ Pros
- Constantly improving bill payment experience.
- Fast settlement of bills. While it took days to settle credit card bill payments initially when the app was new, the pace of settlement has improved multiple folds, and now bills for several major card issuers like Axis Bank, RBL bank, Kotak, etc. are settled very fast – within few minutes.
- Clean, streamlined user interface. No ads, no bloat, pretty simple and straightforward bill payment process.
- Rewards are earned in the form of CheQ chips – CheQ’s proprietary reward system. 1% CheQ chips for credit card bill payments. CheQ chips can be used to redeem brand coupons and vouchers at up to a 1:1 ratio (1 CheQ chip = ₹1 voucher) or converted to cash and used in future bill payments at a 4:1 ratio (1 CheQ chip = ₹0.25).
- A growing catalogue of brand vouchers for redemption.
- Bill reminders on WhatsApp.
- Free credit score check: users can check their Experian credit score for free on the CheQ app too.
CheQ Cons
- Reliability concerns: as the app is new to the market and is experiencing sudden increases and decreases in the number of users and transactions, users have complained of reliability issues with the app. We have also observed occasionally failed payments (even after CheQ said the payment was successful), random bugs and glitches in the app, and even an inability to log into the app a couple of times. A few features we’d expect to be ‘basic’ for a payment app like this are missing, too.
- Broken bill detection: The app can detect credit card bills from SMS, but in our experience, this feature isn’t dependable. Sometimes, it works; sometimes, it doesn’t.
- Back-to-back devaluations: in the mere months of its existence, the app has gone through several devaluations. Be it their rewards program, the availability of vouchers for redemption, short-lived brand partnerships, or additional fees and charges implemented in the process, it remains to be seen if they further devalue the experience.
- CheQ got rid of the convenience fees in January 2024, so consider this con void. There are no convenience fees for paying credit card bills (for now, that is).
Convenience fees for credit card bill payments: CheQ is probably the only app where users must pay an extra convenience fee of 0.2%. This is an industry-first move, and CheQ says it is implemented so that they can ensure the app improves and stays clean of ads and third-party interference. - Below average customer support: be it their in-app chat support, their email support, or their social media support. Support is something CheQ would be looking to improve immensely on over the future.
- Limited to paying bills of self-cards only, in case you wish to pay someone else’s credit card bills, use any of the other apps but CheQ.
It is important to note that CheQ is a very new app. Compared to other established apps like Paytm that have been in the space for almost a decade, it is thrilling to see how fast CheQ is growing, improvising, and improving. Some users may find it controversial, but as far as we are concerned, CheQ definitely makes it to our list of the best credit card payment apps.
If you are new to CheQ, you can get it from the below link
So yeah, those were our top picks of the best credit card payment apps. Below are some other credit card bill payment apps that you can also consider in addition to these.
Honorable Mentions
We were supposed only to pick five of the best credit card payment apps, which is why we couldn’t include and describe some other decent apps. But you can definitely consider apps like PhonePe, Freecharge, Mobikwik, Postpe, and PayZapp to pay your credit card bills. These are all decent apps, too, with their own pros and cons.
Things to keep in mind
When you use a third-party app to pay your credit card bills, you must understand that you’re getting middlemen involved in the process. There are chances of these middlemen failing at their job, and therefore, it is all that more important for you to make sure that your credit card bill payments are successful. Look out for confirmation from your card issuer, not just the app. Because versus paying the card issuer directly, you have an additional mechanism in this case, which is prone to breakdowns.
Also, most of these third-party apps will require you to tokenize cards for your convenience. That involves taking all your credit card details (including the CVV) and making a small transaction to save the card in the tokenized form in their systems. If you are paranoid about sharing this sensitive data, you’re better off paying your credit card bills directly via your issuer’s bill payment channels.
And finally, these are just our picks for the best credit card payment apps. It is absolutely okay for you to have different opinions. Don’t just take our word for it; we have compiled this list after a first-hand experience with all these apps. We suggest you do the same, too. Do your own research, get some first-hand experience, and then stick to the app that works best for you!
FAQs
Below are some of the most commonly asked questions about the topic and about our list of the best credit card payment apps, with our short and sweet answers.
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Which app is best for credit card payment cashback?
You can consider Paytm, Amazon Pay, and CheQ to get consistent cashback for paying your credit card bills.
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Which is the best way to pay credit card bill?
The best (smartest) way is to pay bills via trusted third-party apps because alongside clearing your bills, you also get rewards for paying credit card bills. Check our list of the best credit card payment apps to know more.
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What is the most secure way to pay credit card bills?
The most secure way to pay your credit card bills is to pay directly via your card issuer’s bill payment channels.
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What are the best credit card bill payment offers in India?
Apps like Paytm, Google Pay, Cred, CheQ, etc., have numerous offers for credit card bill payments throughout the year.
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How to earn rewards for credit card bill payments?
You can consider paying your credit card bills on apps like Paytm, Cred, CheQ, Google Pay, etc., to get rewards like vouchers and cashback.
We hope this roundup helps you find your best credit card payment apps and answers any related questions you might have had. Let us know your list of the best credit card payment apps if it is different from ours. If you have any more questions to ask, or if you know of better ways to pay credit card bills, please use the comments section. We’re all ears 👂🏻
3 Responses
Cred is not giving good cashback rewards these days, only useless coins…
Now Paytm has also taken away all the wallet cashback offers thanks to RBI 💀
True. Sad state of affairs. We’re looking for better alternatives, we’ll update the post when we manage to find some.