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!

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.

GCO = Google Checkout

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?)

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 ...

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.