What does recurring bill pay do for you?

Any time you enroll in recurring bill pay, you are less likely to miss critical bill payments (which can cause services to be cut off and may hurt your credit score). When you use any Discover Card to auto pay a recurring bill you also: Earn rewards with every bill payment Don’t risk overdrawing your bank account or debit card Are likely to see your recurring payment in your Recurring Charges Dashboard Are less likely to incur a late fee for a missed or overdue payment Consolidate your regular spending in one place to more easily budget and track

How do you make a recurring payment?

Often, when you sign up for a membership, utility, or other ongoing service, you’re asked to provide a credit card or bank account. You may even agree that the merchant can pay your recurring bill with an automatic debit from your payment method. If a merchant doesn’t require bill autopay, you can receive a paper bill or emailed paperless bill that shows what you owe for that billing term. You’re then responsible for keeping track of the due date and will have to mail payments (by check, money order, or sending your credit card account number on a payment slip) or pay online with your credit card or debit account.

What bills can you pay with recurring bill pay on your Discover Card?

Chances are, you can use your Discover® credit card to pay any recurring bill from any merchant, since Discover is accepted at millions of places nationwide according to the February 2022 issue of the Nilson Report.

How can you set up recurring bill pay payees on your Discover Card?

You will have to provide your Discover® account number to the recurring bill merchant or service. (In other words, you can’t set it up through your Discover® account online.)

How can you manage your recurring bill payments?

If possible, it’s smart to set up an automatic payment for a recurring bill. If a merchant doesn’t allow you to do this, create a calendar reminder to “pay bill” on your phone or computer. Another good idea is to use one payment method to pay all of your bills—it helps with budgeting and spend tracking. How to manage your bill pay settings on your Discover Card: Your Discover credit card gives you multiple ways to manage your account payments. Just as with your other recurring bills, autopay on your credit card account can help you avoid late fee charges and give you fewer deadlines to keep in mind. And remember—with Discover it® credit cards, you don’t have to pay a late fee on your first late payment on your credit card account.

What are the steps to changing your bill pay settings on your Discover Card?

Just as you can set up autopay to pay bills that you receive regularly, a credit card issuer usually allows you to make automatic credit card payments. Discover has a process called DirectPay that withdraws your credit card payment from a bank account automatically. To adjust your Discover bill pay settings, make sure you have your bank account number ready. Then choose one of the following methods: Sign in to your account online. Select “Make a Payment” from the account overview, or “Payments” from the main account screen. Select “Automatic Payments” and follow the prompts to set up automatic credit card payments for your Discover Card. Sign in to your Discover mobile app, select your credit card account, and choose “Payments.” From that screen, you can pay online one time or set up “Automatic Payments” from the labeled tab. Follow the prompts provided to set up recurring online bill pay. Call the customer service number on your Discover Card and we can help get an automatic debit set up from your bank account.

A woman sits at her kitchen table with her laptop and reviews her paper credit card statements.

A Guide to Recurring Bill Pay for Discover® Card

Last Updated: October 16, 2024

5 min read

Table of contents

Key Points:

The Recurring Charges Dashboard shows you the regular payments you make for utilities and memberships using your Discover Card.
You can make automatic credit card payments for your Discover credit card bill using the Discover DirectPay tool.
Autopay for your credit card bill or other account payments can be a smart way to manage your finances and avoid late fee charges.

A recurring payment (or “recurring charge”) is a payment that you make on a regular basis (annually, monthly, etc.) to maintain a service. Common types of recurring charges include:

Mobile phone
Electricity and utility bills
Gym membership
Streaming/subscription services

Adding automation to your recurring bills can help make sure you never miss a payment and maintain your credit score.

What is recurring bill pay for Discover Card?

Because it can be difficult to keep track of every payment (and their due dates) you need to make each month, Discover has created a Recurring Charges Dashboard. This dashboard can help you view and manage each automatic payment you make with your Discover credit card.

Did you know?

Your Discover^{^®} Recurring Charges Dashboard populates automatically. If the merchant tags your payment as a recurring charge, these transactions may appear on your Recurring Charges Dashboard. It will also detect and pull in repeated online payments to a specific merchant.

Frequently asked questions about recurring bill pay for Discover Card

When you enroll in a recurring bill pay program, you’re less likely to miss important bill payments. A missing payment can cause you to lose your services.

A recurring bill pay program allows you to automatically deduct a payment from a specific account. You can also select the date to pay your bill—before or on the due date. When you use your Discover Card to autopay a recurring bill you:

Earn rewards with every bill payment
Avoid overdrawing your bank account or debit card
Are likely to see your recurring payment in your Recurring Charges Dashboard
Are less likely to incur a late fee for a missed or overdue payment
Consolidate your regular spending in one place to more easily budget and track

Often, when you sign up for a membership, utility, or other ongoing service, you’re asked to provide a credit card or bank account. You may even agree to pay this bill with an automatic debit from your preferred payment method.

If a business doesn’t require bill autopay, you can receive a paper bill or a paperless e-bill that shows what you owe for that billing term. In this case, you’re responsible for keeping track of the due date and will have to manually make payments by check or money order in the mail or pay online with your credit card or debit account.

Chances are you can use your Discover credit card to pay any recurring bill from any merchant, since Discover is accepted nationwide by 99% of places that take credit cards.¹

You can set up a recurring bill directly through your service provider. You’ll have to provide your Discover account number to the merchant or service provider.

For example, if you wanted to set up a recurring payment for your Netflix account, you’d start by logging into Netflix from your computer. Next, navigate to the account center and manage membership. Finally, manage your payment method by adding your Discover Card and making it your default payment.

If possible, it’s smart to set up an automatic payment for a recurring bill. If a merchant doesn’t allow you to do this, create a calendar reminder to “pay bill” on your phone or computer. Another good idea is to use one payment method to pay all of your bills—it can help with budgeting and tracking your spending.

How to set up your Discover Card bill for autopay

Your Discover credit card gives you multiple ways to manage your account payments. Just as with your other recurring bills, autopay on your credit card account can help you avoid late fee charges and give you fewer deadlines to keep in mind.

And remember—with Discover it^® credit cards, there’s no late fee on your first late payment and no interest increase for late payments.²

Learn More

Frequently asked questions about setting up an automatic payment or scheduled payment for your Discover Card

Just as you can set up autopay to pay bills that you receive regularly, a credit card issuer usually allows you to make automatic credit card payments.

Discover has a process called DirectPay that withdraws your credit card payment from a bank account automatically. To adjust your Discover bill pay settings, make sure you have your bank account number ready. Then choose one of the following methods:

Sign in to your account online. Select “Make a Payment” from the account overview, or “Payments” from the main account screen. Select “Automatic Payments” and follow the prompts to set up automatic credit card payments for your Discover Card.
Sign in to your Discover mobile app, select your credit card account, and choose “Payments.” From that screen, you can pay online one time or set up “Automatic Payments” from the labeled tab. Follow the prompts provided to set up recurring online bill pay.
Call the customer service number on your Discover Card and we can help get an automatic debit set up from your bank account.

Just as you can set up autopay to pay bills that you receive regularly, you can make ongoing automatic monthly payments to your Discover Card with DirectPay. You can set a scheduled payment to automatically pay your credit card bill in the amount you select. This could be your full statement balance, minimum payment amount, minimum payment and a fixed amount, or another credit card payment amount.

It’s a great idea to establish an automatic payment for each recurring bill to help you pay bills on time. But remember—autopay shouldn’t mean “out of sight, out of mind.” Review your account statements and bills each month to track your spending and the status of your various accounts.

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