@NRB525 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@NRB525 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I have a new ED card. It says 0% apr on purchases and balance transfers for a year. Does that mean no balance transfer fee?
I'm wondering if I could pay my house insurance with a card which gives me double points for paying utilites (is insurance a utility) or any card really, then transfering that balance to the ED and paying it off. I need to spend $500 more to meet my min spend. The insurance company doesn't accept amex, or i probably never would have gotten this idea. Will I also earn points from amex?
No, the balance transfer offer comes with a fee of either $5 or 3% whichever is greater. Also balance transfers do not earn any rewards points
OP is finding out why a "$3,000 spend requirement" with AMEX bonus requirements is a different number than a "$3,000 spend requirement" with any MC or VISA bonus
The AMEX $3k is a bigger number, harder to get to, than the easy $3k on a MC or VISA spend.
If time is short to meet the spend requirement then there is always the option of buying Amex gift cards and using them as needed. I never really found it that hard to meet the spend requirements for any of my Amex cards
True enough, but OP would like to pay house insurance with a card, which apparently doesn't have a transaction fee, and avoid gift card fees.
With MC and VISA spend requirements, one can also pay a mortgage, but that incurs a transaction fee to the cardholder. I've used that route, because for the bonus it made sense. Same with the AMEX gift cards, extra fee to get to the spend bonus. I haven't used that route, mostly because that simply shifts the AMEX spend requirement to a new piece of plastic; one still has to find merchants who take AMEX to complete the cycle. It allows more time to complete the cycle, but still an AMEX merchant to be located.
If one is trying to stay pristine in just "regular spend items" during a specific time period to get to the bonus, the AMEX dollar is still harder to get to, which was my main point.
I get your point, and it's true that is an option to follow, but it comes with a cost.
True it comes with a cost but I don't think the OP has a no cost option to pay home insurance as home insurance isn't considered a utility.
@Anonymous wrote:
True it comes with a cost but I don't think the OP has a no cost option to pay home insurance as home insurance isn't considered a utility.
I pay my State Farm insurance plan bills with all manner of cards, including AMEX. When I need to route some spend to a card in a given month, I just update the Payment Plan payment method, and route a nice chunk of regular spend to that card.
Other insurance companies don't accept AMEX, but often accept MC/VISA.
