topic Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card in Credit Cards

Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 00:20:09 GMT

So sorry if this has been asked before. I've just done an exhaustive search and the topics only seem to either cover down payments, talk about the American Express MB cards or they're so out-dated, I'm not certain the information is still accurate.

I have a car lease through Mercedes-Benz Financial Services for about ~$650/month. I've been paying direct from my bank account monthly, but heard from a friend a few weeks ago that they were able to pay with their credit card for a $15 fee. They put it on an AMEX and apparently got the points and it was treated a purchase. Though I love my AMEX, I personally fly American Airlines and Oneworld and so want to earn AA miles for this transaction. This leaves me with Barclay Aviator and Citi AAdvantage as my options. I called MBFS, Barclay's and Citi - all state it will be treated as a cash advance with the associated fees and no rewards. My curiosity, though, is why they would all say it'll be handled as a cash advance, but American Express in this example handled it as a purchase that just comes through with the description "MB FIN SERV". I'm wondering if it's one of those "It should be this way", but their system is perhaps not seeing it as such?

Does anyone here have any experience specifically with MBFS and paying with credit cards for this purpose? Did it work out for you?

EDIT: MBFS did say the payment would be processed through Western Union.

Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 23:56:50 GMT

@travisrauh wrote:
So sorry if this has been asked before. I've just done an exhaustive search and the topics only seem to either cover down payments, talk about the American Express MB cards or they're so out-dated, I'm not certain the information is still accurate.

I have a car lease through Mercedes-Benz Financial Services for about ~$650/month. I've been paying direct from my bank account monthly, but heard from a friend a few weeks ago that they were able to pay with their credit card for a $15 fee. They put it on an AMEX and apparently got the points and it was treated a purchase. Though I love my AMEX, I personally fly American Airlines and Oneworld and so want to earn AA miles for this transaction. This leaves me with Barclay Aviator and Citi AAdvantage as my options. I called MBFS, Barclay's and Citi - all state it will be treated as a cash advance with the associated fees and no rewards. My curiosity, though, is why they would all say it'll be handled as a cash advance, but American Express in this example handled it as a purchase that just comes through with the description "MB FIN SERV". I'm wondering if it's one of those "It should be this way", but their system is perhaps not seeing it as such?

Does anyone here have any experience specifically with MBFS and paying with credit cards for this purpose? Did it work out for you?

I seriously doubt that either Citi or Barclays is going to treat a lease payment as a cash advance. Try it once and find out but more than likely it will go thru as a regular charge.

Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 00:14:58 GMT

I know when I had a car note through Chyrsler Capital and I used my chase csp trying to get points and they treated it as a cash advance because the payment went through western union

Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 00:16:19 GMT

Yeah - MBFS told me they use Western Union to process their payments and their website also says they submit it as a cash advance - that's where my confusion comes in. I'm 50/50 right now.. trying to get a few more responses before I try

Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 00:31:34 GMT

@travisrauh wrote:
Yeah - MBFS told me they use Western Union to process their payments and their website also says they submit it as a cash advance - that's where my confusion comes in. I'm 50/50 right now.. trying to get a few more responses before I try

Well then that adds more to the equation. If it's processed thru Western Union, it's going to be considered a cash advance.

Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 00:19:40 GMT

Yeah sorry - I just noticed I had forgotten to mention that during my initial post. But that still doesn't seem to answer why it came through just as "MB FIN SVC" on my friend's AMEX. :-/

Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

mssher — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 01:55:17 GMT

I just paid my GM Financial car lease for the 1st time on my Discover IT . . . . it shows up as paid through MoneyGram, and the category was processed as "Automotive". I'm hoping that category will qualify it for the rewards.

Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

SOGGIE — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 02:04:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@travisrauh wrote:
Yeah - MBFS told me they use Western Union to process their payments and their website also says they submit it as a cash advance - that's where my confusion comes in. I'm 50/50 right now.. trying to get a few more responses before I try
Well then that adds more to the equation. If it's processed thru Western Union, it's going to be considered a cash advance.

Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 04:10:57 GMT

I never used a CC for my car payments with MBFS. But i am using one of my Serve cards to pay MBFS. Unless you have an ISIS Serve card which still allows Visa, MC cards to load, you would need a co-branded Amex card to load. In my case, I am using the Amex Flexperks issued by US Bank. At least I earn some points for airfares rather than getting nothing if paying MBFS through my bank account.

$15 fee/$650 (=0.023) payment seems steep since MR points are valued at $0.02/$1 spent unlessyou fly long-hauled international flights

Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

tmoney — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 04:23:46 GMT

I've benn using my Mercedes Benz Amex to pay my car payment to MBFS for the last couple yeers and their is the 15 dollar western union fee but I do get my points every month for my payment.As far as the whether it's a cash advance really doesn't matter Pay it off every month but like I mentioned I do get the points

Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 04:25:16 GMT

Do you get 1 point or 5 points with the MB card?

Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 04:27:43 GMT

I wonder if I could ask.. I do have the MB Platinum Card so that sounds like an option.. You're not getting any Express Cash fees (3% or $5) for those charges, are you? I'd rather get my AA miles but.. Any points are better than nothing for $15 IMO. Do you pay directly with MBFS by phone doing that?

Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

tmoney — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 05:37:56 GMT

It's 1x point for every dollar. Yes I make my payment over the phone, system links my phone number to my account and keeps my credit card number on file .All i have to do do is put in CVV code when asked . Takes only a minute or two ,very convenient . It also says to make your payment at least two buisness days in advance but I've made my payment on the due date a few times with no problems (late fees)

Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 05:41:51 GMT

@tmoney wrote:
I've benn using my Mercedes Benz Amex to pay my car payment to MBFS for the last couple yeers and their is the 15 dollar western union fee but I do get my points every month for my payment.As far as the whether it's a cash advance really doesn't matter Pay it off every month but like I mentioned I do get the points

It's does make a difference to the OP because he doesn't want to use an Amex card to pay but instead a Citi or Barclays card. If those are coded as cash advance charges then he won't get any of the AA points he's looking for.

Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

myjourney — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 05:51:24 GMT

@travisrauh wrote:
Yeah sorry - I just noticed I had forgotten to mention that during my initial post. But that still doesn't seem to answer why it came through just as "MB FIN SVC" on my friend's AMEX. :-/

Was your friend using the Amex MB card perhaps which could explain the difference?

Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 10:08:58 GMT

That's what I would've thought too - it was just a regular Platinum Card, however.

Re: Mercedes-Benz Financial Payments w/ Credit Card

UncleB — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 15:27:02 GMT

@tmoney wrote:
I've benn using my Mercedes Benz Amex to pay my car payment to MBFS for the last couple yeers and their is the 15 dollar western union fee but I do get my points every month for my payment.As far as the whether it's a cash advance really doesn't matter Pay it off every month but like I mentioned I do get the points

On each of my credit cards it very much matters if something goes through as a cash advance as none of my cards have a grace period on interest for cash advances, i.e. even if you PIF you will still pay interest for each day you had the cash until the day the payment posts. Im not familiar with the card the OP is using, so it's possible this doesn't apply to him/her.

Personally, I would call my bank and have my cash advance limit changed to $0 to keep things simple, but that's just me.