Why is that I can't pay my utility bills or a car payment using?
This depends completely on the Merchant (utility or car finance entity); if they wished to, they could sign up with an acquiring bank and offer card payment services. My guess, based on similar situations here in our home market, is that the merchant does not wish to pay the card processing fees from the transactions. (a % of the transaction that the bank deducts from the merchant's payments) Utilities are traditionally a low-margin business, and asset financing is a competitive game where every percentage earned counts. In some markets, these types of low-margin service providers offer the facility to pay via card, but with a surcharge of whatever the card processing fees are. Hope this helps!