Credit card to pay mortgage

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Goblue97
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Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by Goblue97 »

Ladies and Gents,
Do you know any way indirectly to use a credit card to make mortgage payments. This is for the purpose of rewards travel, no hardship exists.
Thanks!
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FelixTheCat
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by FelixTheCat »

I thought of that one too. Pay my mortgage via credit card to get the points. Pay off credit card immediately.

I never found that option.
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sesq
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by sesq »

Amex Serve or Bluebird are pre-paid cards with billpay (you can't have both). If your vendor is in the database (Pen Fed is not), Evolve Money can be done via purchasing visa/MC debit gift cards.

I use BlueBird. But frankly the mortgage payment a smaller part of my mile printing activities.
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jimb_fromATL
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by jimb_fromATL »

Not very likely. Merchants and vendors and even utility companies and state and local governments have to pay a processing fee for credit cards. So they're not going to do it for free. At the very least, they'll charge a fee for smaller bills, and a percentage on really big bills.

It's remotely possible -- but not very likely-- that some big lenders who carry the mortgages themselves might allow credit card payments from their own credit cards, since it doesn't really cost them anything when it's their own card. It's just taking money out of one corporate pocket and putting it in another. Plus it would give them a new flock of lambs to be fleeced by being late on the payments and paying interest at credit card rates in addition to their mortgage interest. But even if they were to allow it, they would not be offering points and rewards or cash back for it.

Interestingly, there was a short while a few years ago when you could purchase US savings bonds with cash-back credit cards, but the gubbament soon realized that it was not a good idea.

jimb
EddyB
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by EddyB »

jimb_fromATL wrote: It's remotely possible -- but not very likely-- that some big lenders who carry the mortgages themselves might allow credit card payments from their own credit cards, since it doesn't really cost them anything when it's their own card. It's just taking money out of one corporate pocket and putting it in another.
jimb
Presumably they still need to process via the Visa or MasterCard network, though, paying those fees.
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Meg77
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by Meg77 »

I work for a bank, and I've never seen a lender who would accept credit card payments. You usually have to write a check or provide checking account info for electronic withdrawals (routing number and account number - not debit card number). As others stated, even if you find a workaround for this, be wary of fees. Usually they are prohibitive.
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tecmage
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by tecmage »

You have to pay a fee but charge smart appears to be one of the largest sites that lets you put bills on credit cards.

https://www.chargesmart.com/
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UroloJay
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by UroloJay »

So far, the only fixed expenses I have ever been able to pay by CC are TV, internet, cell phone, and auto insurance.
Too many people spend money they earned..to buy things they don't want..to impress people that they don't like. -Will Rogers
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Tyrobi
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by Tyrobi »

You can indirectly use credit card to pay for mortgage for a small profit.

Chase sent me a promo check with 0% interest for a year and 1% fee to use it on one of my CC with credit line of $35k. I used $15k to put into a higher rate mortgage.

One down side is that I've to build and maintain an emergency fund that's $15k higher than normal for a year in order to pay off when 0% promo rate expires. This method only works for a selected few.
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Topic Author
Goblue97
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by Goblue97 »

AMEX Serve appears to be the best option but the load-up limit is $1k a month. Need to find an additional card.
lululu
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by lululu »

Flood insurance is payable by credit card with no or some very minor additional fee. I am waiting to see how long that lasts.
Carl53
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by Carl53 »

tecmage wrote:You have to pay a fee but charge smart appears to be one of the largest sites that lets you put bills on credit cards.

https://www.chargesmart.com/
Would you provide the fee structure, as their website does not?
tecmage
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by tecmage »

Carl53 wrote:
tecmage wrote:You have to pay a fee but charge smart appears to be one of the largest sites that lets you put bills on credit cards.

https://www.chargesmart.com/
Would you provide the fee structure, as their website does not?
I've been too cheap to use it. I had the same thought for airline miles and points but it really only makes sense if you need to meet the minimum spend threshold on a card and not for monthly use.
When I plugged in some sample numbers here's what I got:
Payment Type: Credit Card
Payment Amount: $2000.00
Fee: $52.99

So a bit over 2.5%. My guess for the mortgage company I picked it's 2.5% + $2.99 fee since when I tried 1000 it was 27.99.

You don't have to sign up or even fill in all the information to find out what they would charge, just pick a company to pay fill in the amount and click credit card.
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runner9
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by runner9 »

A few years ago someone posted a site that did this, but they charged 3 or 4 percent.
Carl53
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by Carl53 »

tecmage wrote:
Carl53 wrote:
tecmage wrote:You have to pay a fee but charge smart appears to be one of the largest sites that lets you put bills on credit cards.

https://www.chargesmart.com/
Would you provide the fee structure, as their website does not?
I've been too cheap to use it. I had the same thought for airline miles and points but it really only makes sense if you need to meet the minimum spend threshold on a card and not for monthly use.
When I plugged in some sample numbers here's what I got:
Payment Type: Credit Card
Payment Amount: $2000.00
Fee: $52.99

So a bit over 2.5%. My guess for the mortgage company I picked it's 2.5% + $2.99 fee since when I tried 1000 it was 27.99.

You don't have to sign up or even fill in all the information to find out what they would charge, just pick a company to pay fill in the amount and click credit card.
Thanks, but this would be no deal for me.
placeholder
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by placeholder »

Tyrobi wrote:Chase sent me a promo check with 0% interest for a year and 1% fee to use it on one of my CC with credit line of $35k.
Are you sure you received rewards when using the check?
tecmage
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by tecmage »

Carl53 wrote:Thanks, but this would be no deal for me.
Yeah that's what I decided too, I'd rather have the $ in my pocket rather than the points/miles where they can be devalued.
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Quidnam
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by Quidnam »

placeholder wrote:
Tyrobi wrote:Chase sent me a promo check with 0% interest for a year and 1% fee to use it on one of my CC with credit line of $35k.
Are you sure you received rewards when using the check?
You wouldn't receive rewards from this kind of arrangement since it would not be counted as a purchase. In this instance, the only "reward" involved would be the interest rate arbitrage provided from the difference between A) the after-tax mortgage APR, and B) the 1% paid up front to float the CC balance for 12 months.
opus360
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by opus360 »

sesq wrote:Amex Serve or Bluebird are pre-paid cards with billpay (you can't have both). If your vendor is in the database (Pen Fed is not), Evolve Money can be done via purchasing visa/MC debit gift cards.

I use BlueBird. But frankly the mortgage payment a smaller part of my mile printing activities.
I have used both Serve and Bluebird. Serve is a pain in the ***, as it keeps on asking me to verify identify everytime I use a new card. Now, I can't find anywhere to buy vanilla to load into bluebird. Too much work going to Walmart.
crowd79
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by crowd79 »

I'm able to send my rent for free via Amazon pymts to my abroad-living landlord via my Miles-earning credit cards.

Miles for paying my rent, can't beat that.

Just another reason that, for me, renting beats the living hell out of owning a house. :D
sesq
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by sesq »

opus360 wrote: Too much work going to Walmart.
I am "lucky" in that I drive by one in my commute and in the morning its pretty quiet.
Jerrybaby
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by Jerrybaby »

I pay my mortgage with Amex Serve every month, my monthly limit is $1500 (Isis adds $500 to get it to $1500) and that is exactly what I need. And its free. And it takes about five minutes. Payment is made in two days. I currently get 4% with a Discover card promotion, but in Oct. I'll have to switch cards to Fidelity Amex for 2%, but I'll take that free $30 month/$360 year for five minutes per month.
Topic Author
Goblue97
Posts: 185
Joined: Mon Nov 11, 2013 11:46 pm

Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by Goblue97 »

Jerrybaby,
What is Isis that allows you add to add the extra 500? I am only aware of the 1k limit? Thanks!
tony44
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by tony44 »

I've been searching for a while to find a mortgage company that takes a CC. All to no avail. So I thought I would make it up by paying 2 college tuitions using a CC and sending a check right away. Unfortunately, some schools do and some schools don't. [my daughters school charges a 3% fee, my sons doesn't] At least I got one on the CC!
Five Scoop
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by Five Scoop »

Jerrybaby,

The Amex Serve webiste mentions that cash advance fees may apply when loading from a credit card. Do you get assessed cash advance fees from your credit card company? Or, is there another way to load Amex Serve but still get credit card points?
itslikepaper
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by itslikepaper »

Goblue97 wrote:Jerrybaby,
What is Isis that allows you add to add the extra 500? I am only aware of the 1k limit? Thanks!
Here's the link to the AmEx Serve w/ Isis page: https://www.serve.com/isis/

According to FT, here are the load limits for Serve with ISIS:
Serve loading via VR/MP or WM load: $1,000/day and $5,000 total per calendar month
Online Debit Card Load - $500/day and $1,500/month
Online Credit Card Load - $500/day and $1,500/month
Checking/Savings Account - $2,000/month
Checks - $2,000/day and $10,000/month
ATM Withdrawals - $750/day and $2,000/month
NOTE: You can only load a maximum of $500 on your temporary card. Once you get your permanent card, then you can load more. $500/$1500 limit applies after receiving permanent SERVE card.
Five Scoop wrote:Jerrybaby,

The Amex Serve webiste mentions that cash advance fees may apply when loading from a credit card. Do you get assessed cash advance fees from your credit card company? Or, is there another way to load Amex Serve but still get credit card points?
Also according to FT, but I'd recommend calling your CC company to verify:
Treated as purchase, earns points/miles:
Citi
Chase
Capital One
Barclay
FIA

Treated as purchase, but doesn't earn points/miles:
Amex

Jerrybaby,

So, if you were able to load your Serve account with a cashback/rewards CC (and have it not be considered a Cash Advance), then you can write checks to your bank/landlord via Serve? Theoretically could you also load the maximum with cashback/rewards CC ($1,500 per month w/ Isis) then use Serve to payoff the the CC balance?
Jerrybaby
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by Jerrybaby »

itslikepaper wrote:
Goblue97 wrote:Jerrybaby,
What is Isis that allows you add to add the extra 500? I am only aware of the 1k limit? Thanks!
Here's the link to the AmEx Serve w/ Isis page: https://www.serve.com/isis/

According to FT, here are the load limits for Serve with ISIS:
Serve loading via VR/MP or WM load: $1,000/day and $5,000 total per calendar month
Online Debit Card Load - $500/day and $1,500/month
Online Credit Card Load - $500/day and $1,500/month
Checking/Savings Account - $2,000/month
Checks - $2,000/day and $10,000/month
ATM Withdrawals - $750/day and $2,000/month
NOTE: You can only load a maximum of $500 on your temporary card. Once you get your permanent card, then you can load more. $500/$1500 limit applies after receiving permanent SERVE card.
Five Scoop wrote:Jerrybaby,

The Amex Serve webiste mentions that cash advance fees may apply when loading from a credit card. Do you get assessed cash advance fees from your credit card company? Or, is there another way to load Amex Serve but still get credit card points?
Also according to FT, but I'd recommend calling your CC company to verify:
Treated as purchase, earns points/miles:
Citi
Chase
Capital One
Barclay
FIA

Treated as purchase, but doesn't earn points/miles:
Amex

Jerrybaby,

So, if you were able to load your Serve account with a cashback/rewards CC (and have it not be considered a Cash Advance), then you can write checks to your bank/landlord via Serve? Theoretically could you also load the maximum with cashback/rewards CC ($1,500 per month w/ Isis) then use Serve to payoff the the CC balance?
Yes, no cash advance fees, totally free for me. Serve doesn't have checks, but Serve sends the check for you. You just check to see if they have your biller in their listing of billers; most of mine are. You just click, they mail checks. Again, free. And I have paid credit card bills with Serve, but I don't do that too much because I really don't want to contribute to killing a good thing. Best to pay real bills. What's also great is that you can auto load. The first three days of every month, $500 auto loads each day until the limit is reached on the third day.
protagonist
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by protagonist »

Goblue97 wrote:Ladies and Gents,
Do you know any way indirectly to use a credit card to make mortgage payments. This is for the purpose of rewards travel, no hardship exists.
Thanks!
Promotional offers for miles are usually so generous that I would look into finding new ones with good promos....you can easily pick up 30K-50K miles/points with a modest spending requirement.

If you have good credit and pay off your cards every month in full without fail, this is a much more efficient way of accumulating miles than actually spending money.
G-Force
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by G-Force »

I use my Fidelity Amex and load $1500/month to my Isis serve account. It's treated as a purchase and no cash-advance fee. The above links give you all the information you need.
Topic Author
Goblue97
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Re: Credit card to pay mortgage

Post by Goblue97 »

Thanks again folks. Went with the standard Serve account. The Serve Isis required a special device be added on to my cell and was a pain in the butt working with the Verizon and Amex folks.
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