Citibank introduces more payment categories for PayAll

Now you can also ‘buy’ miles at 1.5 to 2 cents per mile for payments for taxes, condo management fees and utility bills

The PayAll service has been an excellent solution in plugging the gap in the miles game and now it has gotten even better with the introduction of more categories.

Remember, PayAll can only be accessed through the Citibank mobile app, so be sure to download the app first (from Apple Store or Google Play Store).

New categories

When PayAll was first introduced earlier this year, Citibank only limited the payments to education and rent payments, although I’m still skeptical as to how they would enforce it.

In this recent development, Citibank has now expanded the list of payments to include tax payments to IRAS, condo management fees and electricity bills.

Unlike the first rollout of payments for rent and education, there is a fixed list of payees this time round. You will need to specify the MCST that you are paying to, for instance.

Recap: Cost per mile

Here’s the cost per mile analysis for PayAll, depending on whether you are targeted with 1.5% or 2.0% fee, based on the card you use.

Card	Earn rate (mpd)	Cost per mile
Card	Earn rate (mpd)	1.5% fee	2.0% fee
Citi Ultima	1.6	0.94¢	1.25¢
Citi Prestige	1.3	1.15¢	1.53¢
Citi PremierMiles Amex	1.3	1.15¢	1.53¢
Citi PremierMiles Visa	1.2	1.25¢	1.67¢
Citi Rewards	0.4	3.75¢	5.00¢

Of course, don’t ever do anything as silly as to use your Citi Rewards card for any PayAll transactions, you are better off buying miles directly from airlines if you do that!

Final thoughts

This is definitely a move in a good direction and I’m hoping that Citibank will continue to expand on its list of payees. In my ideal world, it should be all encompassing and one day, perhaps to include prepaid cards as well.

The additions are timely as well, for instance, the ability to pay off your taxes through this method is well timed in view of the tax season. If your tax bill is high (lucky you) and you are not adverse to buying miles, this is definitely a good way to earn more miles for your travels.