Has anyone used a credit card to pay for add on?

[MBELSANTI]

I was going to finance my add on through Disney or TTS resale, but those are at 10.75-10.95% interest. I have a high limit credit card with an offer to us their check for 6.99% until 08/08 and then it drops to 4.99 for the life of the loan. There is NO transaction fees. I can either do this as balance transfer, or use the check they sent me with my name on it. Would this be a better way to do since I will be financing it anyway?

 

[dianeschlicht]

Yep, that's what I did when we added on at AKV in March.

 

[vwlvette]

Do whatever you have to in order to get the best deal! The lower the interest the better.

 

[JimMIA]

We did that with a 120 point add-on at SSR a couple of years ago. We put it on a credit card and then paid it off when the bill came. Doing that was just quicker, simpler, and more convenient than writing and mailing a check.

That was direct through Disney. When we bought our original contract, which was resale through TTS, they didn't take credit cards so we had to send a certified check. I don't know if that is still their policy, but it was when we originally purchased.

 

[Anthony1971]

If you are going to finance using a credit card understand the terms first.....
In general if you make a late payment you interst rate can go up a LOT -- this can happen by accident not on purpose...
Also understand that Dinsey calculates interst using simple interest where as credit cards compound daily so teh actual rate is about 1 % higher as you are paying interest on the interest.
if you charge anything else on that card you will pay interest on that as well.
in a lot of cases they chrge a fee or percenatge to use those checks or transfer a balance.
You do get a small tax break through Disney if you qualify as this is considered a Mortage loan so long as you do not have a second house already.
Weight your options wisely and become informed about both before deciding on either as with Disney you know what you are paying with a credit card you can end up paying a lot more if you do not follow thier rules.

 

[dwelty]

We did an add on in March and were told we could put it on a credit card, but NOT a Credit card check. My guide checked with accounting and they verified that this was correct. They could not, however, tell me why this was the policy. (It was a check thru American Express). I would check with your guide first before proceeding.

 

[50 years Too!]

We've put all our purchases on our Disney Visas. (We both have one). Then we pay it off when the bill comes. Quick, easy and you earn points to pay the yearly dues!

 

[MBELSANTI]

I checked the terms again for the checks and it is no transaction fee and can be used either to cash it or make check out to another credit card to pay balance. They do not consider it a "cash advance". What stinks is my Disney Visa is the lowest credit limit of my cards. The other ones that I have have over 15K credit. I wonder if I can call Visa and ask them to up it? I am never late paying it and usually pay it off each month and I have 841 credit score. I would love to have enough credit to put it on there and then pay off.

 

[Stitch 03]

Here is how I financed my add-on:

1) Used Disney financing (there is a short interest free period which I seem to recall as ~45 days).

2) As soon as interest started accruing, I paid it off with my Visa card right after the statement date. This resulted in about 1.5 months interst free.

3) Just before interest was to be charged on my Visa, I transferred the balance to my line of credit.

The net result was about 3 months interest free with whatever I still owed sitting on a low interest line of credit.

 

[groverdog]

I just used my Disney Visa to add on 50 BW points and because I used this particular card, the first $2500 was 0% interest. And I earned 49 Disney Dollars!

 

[3DisneyKids]

We've put all our purchases on our Disney Visas. (We both have one). Then we pay it off when the bill comes. Quick, easy and you earn points to pay the yearly dues!

This is what we do, too! In fact, I have to call on Monday morning to pay for that AKV add-on I just did! Using the Disney Visa and paying it off when the bill comes.

 

[mikeandkarla]

Here is how I financed my add-on:

1) Used Disney financing (there is a short interest free period which I seem to recall as ~45 days).

2) As soon as interest started accruing, I paid it off with my Visa card right after the statement date. This resulted in about 1.5 months interst free.

3) Just before interest was to be charged on my Visa, I transferred the balance to my line of credit.

The net result was about 3 months interest free with whatever I still owed sitting on a low interest line of credit.

I am sure there is no "free" financing period from Disney. If you add - on in the middle of the month, your first payment is more than the proceeding ones because of the extra interest till the end of the inital purchase month.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

I just put a resale on the Chase Disney Rewards card. You get $2500 of that purchase 0% interest for 6 mos.

 

[wdw1972]

I've added on about a dozen times or so through Disney, and have always had them throw it on whatever credit card I was using at that time (currently the Disney visa so I earn the rewards points). Keep in mind I NEVER fail to pay it off in full, as I'm not crazy enough to pay interest unless it's a car loan or home mortgage. I do have a very high credit limit, even though I never carry a balance (so the credit card company doesn't make money off me).

When I added my 150 points at AKV I did have to call the credit card, as they're not used to seeing a $15,000 charge come through at one time - my previous addons have been much smaller. But, it was no problem - and I ended up earning around 160 points that month, which I use to pay for food/incidentals on my solo wdw trips.

 

[KevGuy]

I put my 160 pts at SSR on the Disney Visa when we bought in last April and use it for a ton of other stuff. Of course we pay it off by the end of the month or transfer the balance to a no or low interest card. I have a little over 300 rewards dollars now and plan to add some more by using it for the upcoming holiday shopping. We hope to have enough to pay for the DDP on our trip next spring and give ourselves free dining lol. You just have to stay on top of that Disney card though, lets be honest the interest rate on that card is rediculous. If I didn't love Disney so much and have a way to use it to my advantage, Disney or not I wouldn't have that card at those rates. My highest other card is a fixed 9.9% rate and I constantly get offers from them to transfer balances for 4.9%.

 

[Caskbill]

I assume this is not the Disney VISA card as they have some special promotions for purchasing DVC.

If it's another card, then be careful. Generally when you make a payment it applies 100% toward the balance with the lowest interest rate and the other balances accrue interest charges.

Example: You charge $10,000 at the 6.99% rate.

During the month, you charge an additional $500 as regular purchases.

You make a payment of $1000. ALL of the $1000 applies toward the $10,000 loan and none of it applies toward the $500 monthly charges. Those charges will accrue interest at whatever the cards' normal rate is. This could be anywhere from 17% or higher. That $500 will be charged interest each and every month until the original $10,000 is paid off in full.


Look at the fine print. If it says all payments are applied toward the lower interest rate balances first, then the above is what can happen.

You can still use the card, just be careful to put it away and not make any further charges on it until the original loan is paid off.

(the Disney Visa card has offered special incentives where they apply your payment to both your current regular balance and to your special loan balance. This is not typical for most CC's.)

 

[Slakk]

If you are going to finance using a credit card understand the terms first.....
In general if you make a late payment you interst rate can go up a LOT -- this can happen by accident not on purpose...
Also understand that Dinsey calculates interst using simple interest where as credit cards compound daily so teh actual rate is about 1 % higher as you are paying interest on the interest.
if you charge anything else on that card you will pay interest on that as well.
in a lot of cases they chrge a fee or percenatge to use those checks or transfer a balance.
You do get a small tax break through Disney if you qualify as this is considered a Mortage loan so long as you do not have a second house already.
Weight your options wisely and become informed about both before deciding on either as with Disney you know what you are paying with a credit card you can end up paying a lot more if you do not follow thier rules.

I use Checkfree for bill paying and they lost my payment for a day and so my Citibank bill was late. They assumed liability for it but my friends at Citibank decided that after 10+ years of spotless payments that I deserved my 9.99 APR to move to 32.99

That card still 5 years later is 32.99 and gets to purchase a tank of gas once a quarter then paid off. I refuse to allow them to do paperless...however I can cost them more money I do.

I would never EVER use a CC to make a major purchase unless I planned to pay it off immediately.

 

[KandiB47]

I never carry a balance (so the credit card company doesn't make money off me).

Every time you purchase anything on a credit card, the credit card company charges the person you buy from 2-3% so the credit card companies DO make money off you

We put some of our SSR purchase on the Disney Visa so we could get the points. If we buy at CRV we will probably put the entire purchase on the Visa and then pay that bill with money out of savings. It's a quick way to earn Disney Dollars

 

[tomandrobin]

We used a credit card for all four of our DVC purchases. We paid the bill off when the next statement came in the mail. We do this to maximize our points earned on our American Express.

 

[MBELSANTI]

I assume this is not the Disney VISA card as they have some special promotions for purchasing DVC.

If it's another card, then be careful. Generally when you make a payment it applies 100% toward the balance with the lowest interest rate and the other balances accrue interest charges.

Example: You charge $10,000 at the 6.99% rate.

During the month, you charge an additional $500 as regular purchases.

You make a payment of $1000. ALL of the $1000 applies toward the $10,000 loan and none of it applies toward the $500 monthly charges. Those charges will accrue interest at whatever the cards' normal rate is. This could be anywhere from 17% or higher. That $500 will be charged interest each and every month until the original $10,000 is paid off in full.


Look at the fine print. If it says all payments are applied toward the lower interest rate balances first, then the above is what can happen.

You can still use the card, just be careful to put it away and not make any further charges on it until the original loan is paid off.

(the Disney Visa card has offered special incentives where they apply your payment to both your current regular balance and to your special loan balance. This is not typical for most CC's.)

No this is a Capital One which I usually don't use, but they sent an offer for 6.99 until 08/08 and then it drops to 4.99 until it is paid off with no transaction fee. I thought that since I would be financing my add on anyway, I would go this route as the Timeshare Store has 10.95% for 10 years. I plan to pay it off in 2 years and I will not be using the credit card for any other purchases.