help
edit

Forums ›
Finance

How to pay bills with CC

  • filter:
  • Email Topic
  • Text Only
  • Search this Topic »
  • switch to 'Classic' view
  • Go to Page :
  • 1 2
rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 1:52p
alert mods    

Hey, new member here. Thanks for all the lessons about credit cards. I just doubled my credit lines in a week (to 26K total--don't get too excited) thanks to this forum.

Anyway, I'd like to pay my bills with a credit card. This has *nothing* to do with not having enough money to pay rent. Rather, I want the $24,000 of yearly spending to earn reward points. I'm fine with getting a new card if need be, and I plan to PIF each month as usual. Right now I'd only use this for rent and utilities, which is about 5 payments per month.

Is there some kind of credit card convenience check that I could use which, if PIF immediately, has no finance charges? Do you know of any services that help with this kind of thing? Is there any kind of credit card that will mail a check to my landlord like my online checking/billpay account does?

I do not want to pay fees for this if possible, though I'd like to hear any ideas for brainstorming purposes. A small fee, <1%, might still be worth it.

Thanks in advance!

Message edited by: missfrustration on 2008-04-13 14:30:07 CDT
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 1:52p

Quick Summary is created and edited by users like you... Add FAQ's, Links and other Relevant Information by clicking the edit button in the lower right hand corner of this message.


rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 2:28p
alert mods    

Your lanlord has a lease, obligating you to pay each month. Why would he increase his cost by accepting credit card payment, as well as subjecting himself to the terms of the credit card companies? Your best shot would be for your landlord and yourself to set up GCO accounts, but i think the promotion for free GCO for sellers may be over.

Message edited by: RedCelicaGT on 2008-04-13 14:29:07 CDT
rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 2:40p
alert mods    

RedCelicaGT thanks for the response.

The main reasons for landlords to accept rent via CC is regularity of payments. It costs the landlord time to deal with late payments, checks can generate fees too, and more stable cash flows are better for the business. There's a bunch of searchable info on the web, some here: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B00E1D9123EF93AA15751C1A9659C8B63

NYT said:Jim Eitler, a Visa USA vice president, cited a survey by his company last summer that showed that credit and debit card payments made for rent were processed 72 percent faster than checks and that there are at least 20 percent fewer delinquent payments by credit and debit cards than by check.

David Robertson, publisher of The Nilson Report, which tracks the credit and debit card industry, said that charged rents allowed landlords to avoid the costs associated with bounced checks, which are at least $35 per check. And automatic payments save time, since envelopes do not have to be opened and checks do not have to be taken to the bank.

That said, please take it as a given that my landlord does not process credit card payments. The solution is going to have to be on my end, not his. So his best interest, the fees he would pay, etc aren't really the point.

I've not heard of GCO accounts. General credit obligation account, perhaps? It's an apartment complex, so I doubt they'd be willing to set up a special account just for one tenant. I'd appreciate if you could clarify what GCO means.

rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 2:45p
alert mods    

GCO = Google Checkout

rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 3:08p
alert mods    

I was just looking for something similar yesterday. I found a site - billcharger.com - that will do it, but they charge a 5% ($20 minimum) fee and only take Visa and Mastercard, so no SPG AMEX

I know nobody (other than the CC companies themselves) could offer this for free, since there's obviously going to be merchant fees and overhead, but 5% is too steep for this to be worthwhile to me. Doubt there's a better solution out there but I'd love to hear about it if there is.

rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 3:20p
alert mods    

Are you planning a cruise, or do you have a casino nearby that counts credit card chip purchases as "purchases" not "cash advances"? This will allow you to pay for chips with CC, and redeem them for cash. Kind of a round about way of doing it, but it could work.
FW Travel Discussion

EDIT:
If you got a CC with 0% APR on purchases for 12 months, and were planning a cruise this could be hot. (10K limit per person for customs?)

Message edited by: RedCelicaGT on 2008-04-13 15:23:53 CDT
rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 3:29p
alert mods    

RedCelicaGT, the gambling chips are a great idea. Very clever. Unfortunately, I'm landlocked in a gambling-free area. I'd have to drive for hours to get to a casino. Good thought though.

Now, to think of other convertible cash instruments. I know some store gift cards can be sold on eBay, even above "par" value, but the amount of $ I need to process makes this too risky.

rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 3:48p
alert mods    

RedCelicaGT said:Your lanlord has a lease, obligating you to pay each month. Why would he increase his cost by accepting credit card payment, as well as subjecting himself to the terms of the credit card companies?

Hmmm .. interesting angle. I was filling my car up the other day ... why would the gas station increase its costs by accepting my credit card? I mean, sure I don't have a lease with them, but I would have to fill up every week anyway ...

rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 3:50p
alert mods    

OP: just send yourself some money via PayPal, and collect the rewards ...

Message edited by: dimatkach on 2008-04-13 15:54:00 CDT
rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 4:00p
alert mods    

Ooh! Any idea if PayPal fees apply? Otherwise this sounds very promising. Think I'll test it with $50.

If this works, I can collect interest on the 2K in two bank accounts at once, which is nice.

Obviously screwing up would be bad too, so this should be scheduled automatically.

Edit: Nope, won't work. There are fees and limitations.

Message edited by: missfrustration on 2008-04-13 16:15:30 CDT
rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 4:29p
alert mods    

dimatkach said:RedCelicaGT said:Your lanlord has a lease, obligating you to pay each month. Why would he increase his cost by accepting credit card payment, as well as subjecting himself to the terms of the credit card companies?

Hmmm .. interesting angle. I was filling my car up the other day ... why would the gas station increase its costs by accepting my credit card? I mean, sure I don't have a lease with them, but I would have to fill up every week anyway ...

You can fill up at any gas station you wish, at any time you wish. Gas stations sales are extremely elastic when it comes to convenience. If you're going to draw situational parallels, make sure the situations are parallel.

Message edited by: RedCelicaGT on 2008-04-13 16:32:37 CDT
rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 5:14p
alert mods    

sorry..but i think that boat has sailed!

i've done that successfully in the past....once walking off the ship with $21,000!!!

good score....esp since i got frequent flyer miles AND an interest free loan.

but those days are (i believe) over!

i've tried that three times in past 18 months...no go for me anyway

Now...if you want chips....they charge you a convenience fee of several per cent.

rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 5:27p
alert mods    

RedCelicaGT said:
You can fill up at any gas station you wish, at any time you wish.

Oh, I see. And you think I cannot rent from whoever I want for some reason... Is that it?

rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 7:20p
alert mods    

dimatkach said:RedCelicaGT said:
You can fill up at any gas station you wish, at any time you wish.

Oh, I see. And you think I cannot rent from whoever I want for some reason... Is that it?

Apparently, you can't figure out that there are differences in factors that affect the demand for gasoline vs. the demand for housing.
[\argue]

rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 8:06p
alert mods    

I think commenting on the price elasticity of demand to dimatkach is pointless, he doesn't understand what that means

Credit Cards cost money to process. While they generally do help with cash flow, I would think it's unlikely that a small time landlod wants to go through the hassle of having to set those kinds of things up.

In reference to the OP, most places allow autobilling to crecit cards, those that do not and do not take cards, have no *easy* way to do so. Of course there are ways (funding bank accounts with CC's or Manipulating GCO) but these are usually against the rules, and in the case of opening and closing large numbers of bank accoutn funded wiht credit cards is a great way to end up on a DHS watch list. Just put your groceries and other dailies on tere and you will gain lots of points

Edit:L @ dimatkach Micro-Economics 101

Message edited by: pdpyromaster on 2008-04-13 20:08:31 CDT
rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 9:00p
alert mods    

missfrustration said:The main reasons for landlords to accept rent via CC is regularity of payments. It costs the landlord time to deal with late payments, checks can generate fees too, and more stable cash flows are better for the business. I am a landlord.

It will be a cold day in hell before I ever accept credit card payments. I could not care less about the interchange--I can just raise rents to cover it. The problem is chargebacks.

Part of the way I keep my rents as affordable as possible is by getting rid of non-paying tenants as quickly as possible. That means I begin the eviction process the instant rent is late so the tenant can't get too far behind. If a tenant leaves owing me thousands of dollars, my paying tenants have to make up the difference, and that's just not fair. With chargebacks, a non-paying tenant could become months and months delinquent before I even found out!

By way of example: January's rent is due on Jan 1 and late after Jan 5. So let's say a tenant pays me on Jan 2 and is billed for the transaction on Feb 1. The tenant now has 60 days to file a chargeback: April 2. Then, the credit card company has to have a resolution within 90 days of having received the chargeback: July 1.

So admittedly it's a longshot, but there is the potential that I won't find out January's rent went unpaid until freakin' JULY! And a tenant could potentially become 6 or 7 months delinquent before I even found out about it! There is absolutely no way I could run my business this way. Credit cards are completely unacceptable for rent payments.

You may think I'm being paranoid. That no way it would ever go the maximum number of days. But you don't understand that there are "professional tenants" out there. Normally I can reject them through my screening process, but occasionally one gets through. I need to know that I have a problem tenant ASAP so I can get him evicted ASAP. Realistically, if a malicious tenant wanted to abuse the credit card consumer protection laws, he would definitely charge at the beginning of his billing cycle and wait the full 60 days, that's 90 days minimum before I could find out about his charade. Given how the banks move, it would probably be about 100 days before I even knew rent was late.

72% faster, my ass.

rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 9:32p
alert mods    

RedCelicaGT said:
Apparently, you can't figure out that there are differences in factors that affect the demand for gasoline vs. the demand for housing.
[argue]

I never said that. Of course there are differences. There are fewer gas stations that don't take credit cards than landlords that don't. That's a difference. And I can understand it. That's not what we are talking about though. What you said is that a landlord will never accept credit card payments because ... And that's just plain false.
I have rented apartments for several years and have always paid with credit cards. I have also been a landlord (a really "small time") for a few years, and accepted credit cards for payment.
There are many things not as elastic as gas that you can pay for with a credit card. Turning down a good customer because of his preferred form of payment is just a bad way of doing business, IMHO.

Message edited by: dimatkach on 2008-04-13 21:36:47 CDT
rated:
   posted: Apr. 13, 2008 @ 11:24p
alert mods    

OP - Sorry your thread got hijacked, but lorcha's post will probably help clarify why you're having problems paying rent with a CC. I'm out of ideas, but will check this thread again to see if anyone pipes up with a good way to pay rent with a CC. I'd love the points just as much as you.

rated:
   posted: Apr. 14, 2008 @ 12:22a
alert mods    

chipcollector said:sorry..but i think that boat has sailed!I assume you are talking about getting cash at the cruise casino and charging it as a purchase to your credit card (you did not bother to quote anything from a previously post in your reply, not a good practice). The answer is that it depends. Some cruise lines (Royal Caribbean and Celebrity among them) that still allow you to do this. Others do not.

 Close

Sign Me In
Nickname: 
Password: 
Remember My Login Information:

Forget your login information?

Not Already A Member?
Sign Up Now!


Disclaimer: By providing links to other sites, FatWallet.com does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to FatWallet.com.


  • © 1999-2008
  • Message Board Statistics RSS Feed Information