Pay mortgage with Visa for reward points?

[dizcrazy]

Thanks to all of the great posts here on the budget board, DH & I got a Visa credit card that lets us earn miles on USAir.

We've used your advice and use the card for everything (gas, food) but I don't know how to pay bills (such as mortgage!) with the card.

Do you just use those checks they send me every month?

Can anyone help?

Thanks

 

[mad4themouse]

Those checks that they send every month are treated like a cash advance by a lot of credit card companies. That means that the interest begins acruing from the date of purchase, so that even if you pay your bill on time and in full every month, you end up paying interest.

Also, most rewards cards do not offer points/cashback/miles for cash advances.

If your mortgage company will take a credit card payment, you can charge it to your card. Since every lender is different, you would have to contact them to find out if you can do this.

 

[Ellester]

I agree that you have to be very careful with those "checks". Many also have a transaction fee of 2-5% or max of $50. Most companies seem to let you pay with a credit card over their websites these days. My DH sometimes pays his work phone bill with our Visa if he hasn't gotten his expense check yet. I'd look for the website on each of your bills/statements and go from there.

 

[dizcrazy]

Thanks so much!!!

I admit, I am a little leery about getting into the credit card game!
We had our Polynesian room key linked to our credit card, and at the end of the week, we spent more than we thought we did! (but that always happens in Disney - we spend more than we should have spent!)

 

[maggiew]

I've tried every which way to have our mortgage paid with the Visa and can't do it.

Maggie

 

[wuv tigger]

This is the "Holy Grail" of credit card purchases, but alas there is currently no way to do it. Some people were able to "launder" the payment through their C2IT account, but that was closed by Citibank.

Some landlords will take credit cards for rent payments.

David

 

[BoyLovesBuzz]

Originally posted by wuv tigger
This is the "Holy Grail" of credit card purchases, but alas there is currently no way to do it. Some people were able to "launder" the payment through their C2IT account, but that was closed by Citibank.

No, they true Holy Grail was about 13 years ago, our local AAA office would let you put Travelers Checks on any Credit Card. Lots of folks toured Europe on that one.

 

[CajunDixie]

Most mortgage companies and banks will only take a credit card on a last option deal. They feel if you use a credit card to make your payments then possibly you cannot afford your current mortgage. Our phone, DISH and electric bills I now use our debit card to pay for by calling their 800# and selecting make a payment over the phone.

 

[DavidandDenise]

Another big reason is that they company has to pay a percentage of the charge as a fee to VISA. Many fast food places dragged their feet on accepting credit cards because it would cut into their profits. Now that a few do, they all do. It's just standard business.

 

[disneysteve]

You may not be able to pay the mortgage, but there are lots of other things you can pay by credit. Check all your insurance policies. We currently pay our auto insurance by credit card. Also our local, long distance and cell phones, alarm company, charitable donations, magazine and newspaper subscriptions and lots more. When my daughter was in daycare and pre-school, we paid the tuition by credit card. It never hurts to ask. Up until 12/31/03, you could buy US savings bonds with credit card, but they stopped that unfortunately. We earned tens of thousands of points doing that.

Steve

 

[Lisa3]

I have a friend who put's their child's college tuition on their credit card for flyer miles. It's worth looking into.

 

[Weluvdisny]

Hello!

I just thought I'd throw my two cents in and let you know that I work at the bank where my mortgage is and they will take credit cards for a mortage payment, but it would be considered a cash advance.

My sons play indoor soccer and I payed the team fee for them and all the parents just paid me back. Easy points!

I even called my school and town tax collectors to see if they would take a credit card as payment and they sadly, said no.

If anybody can think of any other ways to earn points I'd love to hear it!

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by Weluvdisny
My sons play indoor soccer and I payed the team fee for them and all the parents just paid me back. Easy points!

Free point are the best kind. Whenever we go out to dinner with family or friends, I usually pay the bill with my card and everyone else pays me their share in cash.

When we vacation, I often charge everything and get reimbursed. For example, we're taking a cruise in June with my MIL. I charged her cruise fare and air fare and she reimbursed me.

Steve

 

[MK Familystone]

HI ALL!
I go along with previous post using the Disney Visa for all purchases also suggest using a cash back credit card inconjunction with it.
The Disvisa will take care of your WDW destination experience but to get there you will need transportation. The cash back credit card will take care of the cost of getting there.
A family with $30,000 disposable income to spend all on living expenses can get rebated @ 1% or $300 , or 300 Disvisa rewards points.
If you go with the cash rebate DON'T SPEND IT!, put it in a jar or that good old savings book.
By having the Disvisa You already get a $50 to $100 discount when the codes are released, which based on a 5 day stay equals $250 to $500.
"something to think about "
ENJOY!
"THE MAGIC HAPPENS!!!"

 

[WIcruizer]

Back to the original question. I believe in some states it's actually not even legal to pay your mortgage with a credit card.

 

[TeenaS]

I paid all four years of my daughter's college on my VISA - - I use mine for frequent flyer miles. I had my daughter charge all her books at college to my VISA also.

I also book flights for people at work and I put it on my credit card and they give me a check to cover it. Some of the girls don't have credit cards (they don't like them) so it is doing them a favor and it gets me miles. We always use the miles for our trips to Orlando and when we fly to the west coast, we purchase a cheap fare and use 20,000 miles to upgrade it to first class. We are moving to Orlando in 5 weeks and I have the mover's fee charged to my VISA too.

 

[barbnbrian]

I just quickly looked through some of my monthly bills sitting here to be paid and noticed I could pay my telephone bill electronically through their website. I enrolled at their website and will start paying my two monthly phone bills online and charge it to my Miles one acct. I use this card for everything and enter the charges in my checkbook register just like a debit card. That way when the monthly bill comes in, the cash is there waiting in my checking account. I only need 18,000 points for a rt ticket to Florida. Last summer I was able to get three free tickets and had to purchase two tickets for my family of five.

As of today, I am exactly 101 points short of one free ticket. I really want to book my airfare for our girls' only trip in June, so I called CRO back today and gave my credit card to put my one nights' deposit down ($104.00) Now I'll be able to call up and reserve my one free flight and purchase two tickets for my daughters.

 

[LKS]

We run everything through a cash back card - groceries, medical bills (like ER for son #3's broken arm Sunday night!), gas, power, phone, cell phone, car ins. etc...) The only things I found I can't charge are mortgage, car pmt, life insurance, water bill, church offering and children's lunch, field trips etc... at school.

 

[thechangingtable]

what about paypal? I pay a bunch of my bills using PAYPAL's billpay, but usually just with my existing paypal funds. Has anybody tried to pay a bill using a credit card through PAYPAL? I know that FPL, my water bill, cable bill and other bills, credit lines, etc are on that PAYPAL list.

 

[jordgubben]

The only things I found I can't charge are mortgage, car pmt, life insurance, water bill, church offering and children's lunch, field trips etc... at school.

I'm sure church offering are just a matter of time....