Paying for City Services

[dsw283]

At work I submit drawings to different cities quite often for permits.  These permits are normally $100 plus, so ideally I would think this would be perfect to use for my new cards.  I have the Quicksilver which I think is going to be the one that gives out the best rewards for purchases like this but I also have BCE and the Freedom.  Currently I'm in the garden so I really can't get any new cards, but there isn't any other cards that would be ideal for this situation is there?  Work re-imburses me for the permits so it's like free money.

[longtimelurker]

I doubt if any card has this type of thing as a special category, so you would look at the cards with high non-category rates.   So Quicksilver is fine. If Amex is accepted, Fidelity Amex would be 2%.   Other alternatives, more geared to travel redemption, include Barclays Arrival and Cap One Venture, which both have an annual fee.

[user5387]

If this could be considered a business context, then there are cards like Chase Ink Cash.

I don't think you'd get more than 1%, but there's a nice signup bonus.

Beyond that, it's either 1.5%, or 2% for the Fidelity Amex.

[mfcastro79]

You could buy $500 Visa/MC Gift Cards at grocery stores using BCP for 6% and load those to a Bluebird account and then have Bluebird issue the city a check. Alternatively, you could buy $500 Vanilla Reloads at office stores using a Chase Ink card for 5% back and load those to Bluebird. A little bit of effort but like you said, it's free money.

[longtimelurker]

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@mfcastro79 wrote:

You could buy $500 Visa/MC Gift Cards at grocery stores using BCP for 6% and load those to a Bluebird account and then have Bluebird issue the city a check. Alternatively, you could buy $500 Vanilla Reloads at office stores using a Chase Ink card for 5% back and load those to Bluebird. A little bit of effort but like you said, it's free money.

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Which office supply stores sell VRs for purchase with a credit card?  

To load a gift card onto a BB, you now have to go to Walmart (and in some places they are refusing, insisting on "real" debit cards with your name on), but in theory, this can work, providing you don't already need the $6K on BCP for groceries etc.  OP would have to decide whether the extra work is worth the rewards  (~ $25 per $500)