Is it possible to pay apartment rent with a credit card if the complex does not accept them as a method of payment? My rent is by far my biggest expense and it sucks not getting those reward points every month. Are there any services/workarounds/websites that make this possible? Thanks Tdub!

10/22/2008 3:18:18 PM

Drive to the post office and purchase a postal money order with your credit card. Costs like $1, and I don't know of any complex that won't accept a money order. Plenty of other places you can buy one too, like Wal-Mart/Food-Lion/etc, but USPS is usually easy.

10/22/2008 3:21:20 PM

Generally you have to pay with cash or debit to get a mo.

10/22/2008 3:22:05 PM

apparently my mom has some thing where the credit card company gives her like a few checks with her credit card...she used one for my apt and they accepted it...i dont have a credit card so i dont really know much about nothing

10/22/2008 3:26:38 PM

Purchasing as much as you can with cash is the best way to keep track of your expenditures. Putting everything on a credit card can lead to a big balance sneaking up on you if you're not careful.

There's sometimes a limit on the amount you can put on a single money order, so ask ahead of time. You can always buy multiple MO's at one time, of course.

10/22/2008 3:28:31 PM

Yeah I thought you needed cash or a debit card to get a MO. Is there anywhere that would take a credit card for one? It seems sort of counter intuitive though since the whole point of a MO is guaranteed money right?

10/22/2008 3:29:10 PM

I bank with Wachovia and I heard that you can do some kind of bill pay with them. I have no idea if your credit card is with them, but it's worth looking into. I hope that helps you!

10/22/2008 3:29:41 PM

Quote :

"Drive to the post office and purchase a postal money order with your credit card"

have to use debit or cash for money orders--there would be an insane amount of fraud if they let you buy them with a credit card

edit: some places have an online payment system--although there is often a fee that would cancel out the rewards you're trying to gain



[Edited on October 22, 2008 at 3:31 PM. Reason : ^bill pay isn't going to help.]

10/22/2008 3:31:04 PM

^Really? My friend, who also banks with wachovia, also said that you could pay someone personally through this service. For example, if you wanted to pay your parents back for someone you could enter in their account # and pay them through that. Just thought maybe that would work? Not sure though. Don't quote me on it!

10/22/2008 3:33:32 PM

I'm not saying it wouldn't work, I'm saying the point is he wants to use his credit card to pay them because he gets rewards (cash back) for using his credit card. Doing bill pay means you aren't using your credit card thus don't get the rewards and besides convenience there is no advantage to using it

10/22/2008 3:34:33 PM

I bank with BB & T and it looks like I can only use my checking account for bill pay.

10/22/2008 3:34:34 PM

Quote :

"Purchasing as much as you can with cash is the best way to keep track of your expenditures. Putting everything on a credit card can lead to a big balance sneaking up on you if you're not careful."

so trying to remember mentally or having to write everything down when you spend money is better than having someone else automatically store my spending in an organized fashion that I can easily export to something like Excel?

[Edited on October 22, 2008 at 3:40 PM. Reason : typo]

10/22/2008 3:36:46 PM

Yeah, that's how it works.. they'd be crazy to give you cash back by letting you use your credit card lol



[Edited on October 22, 2008 at 3:38 PM. Reason : ^lol, whoever said using cash is the bestway to keep up with expenditures is an undisciplined idiot]]

10/22/2008 3:37:08 PM

Quote :

"apparently my mom has some thing where the credit card company gives her like a few checks with her credit card"

these are just cash advance checks. They will rape her with fees and interest rates. Minimum of 3% fee, and if she's not getting a special or introductory rate for the cash advance, probably at least 19% on the balance.

10/22/2008 3:37:48 PM

yep, and i believe they have mandatory minimums so you'll be paying out the ass even if you pay it off that month

10/22/2008 3:38:56 PM

The only option to pay rent w/ a credit card is through the checks that the credit card company occasionally sends out. The checks do often times have different terms than the credit card itself, so you need to read the fine print. *Sometimes* the terms are better, other times it is like ^^ said. They will rape you.

[Edited on October 22, 2008 at 3:41 PM. Reason : .]

10/22/2008 3:41:08 PM

Yeah with cash advance I think you get hit with a fee even if you pay it off immedietely. Also BB&T doesn't count cash advances toward rewards anyway.

10/22/2008 3:41:45 PM

^^^^^

I just realized he is the same person that said:

Quote :

"I've opted out of the credit system entirely. I'm sure I could use it responsibly, but why pay a fee to use someone else's money when I can use my own for free?"

Obviously they dont understand how to use a credit card properly anyways if they are paying a fee to use a credit card.

10/22/2008 3:43:49 PM

lol, damn.. i guess he missed the part about rewards and cash back. and the whole part about you don't pay interest if you pay it off every month

10/22/2008 3:45:08 PM

Quote :

"I'm not saying it wouldn't work, I'm saying the point is he wants to use his credit card to pay them because he gets rewards (cash back) for using his credit card. Doing bill pay means you aren't using your credit card thus don't get the rewards and besides convenience there is no advantage to using it"

Ahh gotcha. I know Wachovia has rewards if you use your debit/credit card, but I have no clue how it works with Bill Pay.

10/22/2008 3:45:50 PM

Look, you seem not very smart about money, so a few notes:

Don't ever use a credit card unless you need to or unless you are 100% goddamn sure you can pay it off immediately.

Do not use the cash advance checks or features of your credit card unless you are in an emergency.

Those credit card "points" are not worth nearly what you think. For most, you have to spend untold thousands and thousands to simply get $100 back.

10/22/2008 3:46:14 PM

^^^Yup, paying it off and accumulating rewards FTW. My grandfather took me to Greece for graduation with his accumulated points.

^Was that directed at me? I just figured if I can get reward points with my rent then why not? The rewards are equivalent to like 1% of what I spend so if it cost more than that to use my credit card to pay rent then it would obviously be dumb.



[Edited on October 22, 2008 at 3:48 PM. Reason : ]

10/22/2008 3:46:31 PM

I'm just going to assume slackerb is a troll

10/22/2008 3:47:20 PM

Quote :

"Those credit card "points" are not worth nearly what you think. For most, you have to spend untold thousands and thousands to simply get $100 back."

its not going to pay the bills or anything but I've gotten about $350 in cash or gift certificates that I planned to utilize as soon as I got them this year.

10/22/2008 3:50:31 PM

I just figured since I have to pay rent each month I might as well to get some points for it (if it makes sense economically to do so). I was *hoping* to accumulate enough points to get a plane ticket to london for the 2012 olympics. Probably wishful thinking though...

[Edited on October 22, 2008 at 3:54 PM. Reason : ]

10/22/2008 3:53:38 PM

The convenience checks given to you by your card company are treated as cash advances.

Sorry I got called away and it looks like this thread blew up. gg agentlion

[Edited on October 22, 2008 at 4:18 PM. Reason : .]

10/22/2008 4:16:22 PM

Quote :

"Is it possible to pay apartment rent with a credit card if the complex does not accept them as a method of payment? My rent is by far my biggest expense and it sucks not getting those reward points every month. Are there any services/workarounds/websites that make this possible? Thanks Tdub!"

Buy a house and take it off your taxes. PM me for more info.

10/22/2008 4:17:54 PM

Quote :

"I'm just going to assume slackerb is a troll"

Fact is, most people think that the need to use the cards to get the rewards...free money right!? Wrong...

Rewards are usually 1% on the good cards....if you miss only one payment or if there are any fees, they can totally wipe out your "rewards".

People, including myself, think they can use cards responsibly and get the rewards, but the truth is that very few can. It's a hard lesson to learn, especially if you don't have a lot of money already. I'm just trying to stress: be careful. There's a reason they give you these free "rewards".

10/22/2008 4:55:57 PM

i see yall know the thing that my mom used...i got the impression she like never uses them...idk why she wanted to use it with my apt complex that one time but i was just posting that the apt folks accepted it

10/22/2008 5:13:48 PM

Cash Advance checks are not all that scary as long as you READ THE FINE PRINT.

I have two cards with free, no fee cash advance checks. They carry a 23-29% interest on them, but just like with the credit card interest rate, as long as you PAY THE BALANCE within the billing period, there is no interest.

I used to use them for rent, and accumulated about 10k a year in rewards with absolutely no penalties. Not doing it now for a variety of reasons, but if you are fiscally responsible, there is nothing wrong with doing it and you CAN rack up some serious bonus points.

10/22/2008 6:32:49 PM

Quote :

"I used to use them for rent, and accumulated about 10k a year in rewards with absolutely no penalties. Not doing it now for a variety of reasons, but if you are fiscally responsible, there is nothing wrong with doing it and you CAN rack up some serious bonus points."

true.

10/22/2008 6:48:13 PM

Quote :

"Is it possible to pay apartment rent with a credit card if the complex does not accept them as a method of payment? My rent is by far my biggest expense and it sucks not getting those reward points every month. Are there any services/workarounds/websites that make this possible? Thanks Tdub!"

both my captiol one VISA card and my HSBC mastercard came with check books + cash advance credit line. you could use that method.

10/24/2008 2:45:43 AM

that has already been discussed as a bad idea.

10/24/2008 8:16:30 AM

cash advance fees are like 3% usually

10/24/2008 8:28:40 AM

^right, and the rewards are only equivalent to about 1% of what i spend so it wouldn't make much sense to do that. FWIW i've pretty much given up on this idea. thanks for the help everyone.

10/24/2008 8:56:34 AM

Quote :

"Is it possible to pay apartment rent with a credit card if the complex does not accept them as a method of payment? "

I'm not sure I understand. You are asking if there is a way to force your apartment complex to take your credit card as a method of payment?

10/25/2008 12:17:10 AM

^That's not what he was asking, and the discussion has already moved beyond your level of comprehension.

10/25/2008 1:19:33 AM

^ uh, i doubt it. sounds like he only read the first post.



I use a credit card for everything I can. I have stuff like cell phone bills autopay with my credit card. I have no annual fees on either card. One card pays 1% cash rewards on all purchases, and has a pretty low APR (though I don't remember exactly what it is, because it doesn't matter). The other card pays 5% rewards on anything purchased from a gas station/grocery store/drug store, plus 1% on anything else. The APR is high, but again, it doesn't matter. I never carry a balance.

I probably get $500-1000 in cash rewards per year from my credit cards. It's definitely worthwhile. I also don't have to carry much cash around.


___________________________________

other notes:

I don't know of anywhere that will let you buy a money order with a credit card. If they did, it would probably be treated as a cash advance, which generally doesn't count towards rewards.

Quote :

"Purchasing as much as you can with cash is the best way to keep track of your expenditures."

I strongly disagree.

Quote :

"Look, you seem not very smart about money, so a few notes: Don't ever use a credit card unless you need to or unless you are 100% goddamn sure you can pay it off immediately. "

More like: Always use a credit card, and always pay it off in full each month. This is easy--only spend what you can pay off.

Quote :

"Those credit card "points" are not worth nearly what you think. For most, you have to spend untold thousands and thousands to simply get $100 back. "

Well no shit. You think they're just going to reimburse you for your purchases? Still, it's free money, and on cards that pay, say, 5% on gasoline, it can add up quickly.

Sounds like you're not savvy or disciplined enough to take advantage of a credit card. Plenty of other people are, though.

Quote :

"Buy a house and take it off your taxes."

that may or may not be the smartest move.

Quote :

"People, including myself, think they can use cards responsibly and get the rewards, but the truth is that very few can. It's a hard lesson to learn, especially if you don't have a lot of money already."

Yep. Being an idiot is expensive.

10/25/2008 9:23:40 AM

Quote :

"Fact is, most people think that the need to use the cards to get the rewards...free money right!? Wrong... Rewards are usually 1% on the good cards....if you miss only one payment or if there are any fees, they can totally wipe out your "rewards". People, including myself, think they can use cards responsibly and get the rewards, but the truth is that very few can. It's a hard lesson to learn, especially if you don't have a lot of money already. I'm just trying to stress: be careful. There's a reason they give you these free "rewards"."

Seriously, how hard is it to pay your bills on time???
Also, the reason they give you the rewards is so that they'll make money off of transaction fees.

10/25/2008 9:28:37 AM

Yeah, besides, it's usually 3% for most purchases on the "good" cards.

Quote :

"Purchasing as much as you can with cash is the best way to keep track of your expenditures."

You've got to be kidding me. With credit card purchasing I can review my purchases anywhere with an internet connection, or by phone. I can also download them and have a program categorize my purchases, or use one of the many free online tools, or use the tool which my credit card company provides. How on earth could one possible think it's easier to keep track when using cash? Do you go home and crayon in a pie chart every day?

10/25/2008 10:53:41 AM

THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS YOU CAN DO THIS

1) open a two paypal accounts, tie one to your CC & the other to your bank, send money from you CC to your other account, and transfer it to your Bank account, but you'll be hit with a 3% fee

2) open a merchant account, charge yourself the money using your CC and it goes into your Bank account, you'll be hit with roughly 2%



but those are not good choices so i'd say just ask your appartment complex if they accept CC's
otherwise forget it

10/25/2008 11:44:28 AM

My primary reason for not using credit cards is to avoid leaving a record of my purchases. Regardless of how mundane my purchases may be, I would feel disturbed if someone could draw up a complete report of everything I'd ever bought with a credit card and everywhere I'd ever used it. The only such records for me are clothes & shoes I've bought online with a debit card.

10/27/2008 12:31:00 PM

Do you also wear a foil hat?

10/27/2008 12:32:16 PM

Some of y'all have high interest rates.

10/27/2008 1:05:10 PM

^^ lol.

^^^ and that is worth not being able to get a decent car loan or mortgage in your own name? I guess I can't see myself being paranoid enough to worry about someone seeing what I buy, unless of course there were things being purchased that you don't want people to see which is what I am going to assume.

10/27/2008 1:10:00 PM

I cringe when I see ANYONE buying ANYTHING with cash. Especially college students, I understand if you aren't disciplined enough to miantain a managable balance, but credit cards basically give you free shit/money for spending money you would have spent anyways (unless you play that stupid game of buying shit just to get points, been guilty of this btw)

And those cash advance checks are great if you HAVE to use them, ie won't have rent money in time to avoid a late fee, in my case I used one once and paid about 12 in interest/fees, which is better than the 55 dollar late fee on rent.

One thought I have had, does anyone know if you can use a credit card at one of those places that will accept payments for progress energy? (plaza west jewelry and pawn on jones frankling for example) this is the only way I can see being able to pay power with a card. The only good thing about time warner is they accept credit cards as payment.

^^^^it seems your paranoia might make you want to have a record in case you need an alibi after being framed for a crime...

[Edited on October 28, 2008 at 9:03 AM. Reason : ^^^^]

10/28/2008 9:00:29 AM

He probably doesn't want a record for when he does commit a crime.

10/28/2008 10:22:02 AM