topic Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better. in Credit Cards

Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

pizza1 — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 13:25:53 GMT

Long story short...I pay my rent with my CC monthly for obvious reasons. Before, I could just walk into the Apt office, and they would do it. I also have flown under the radar, and not been charged their "service fee" either for a year now, LOL. Well....I walk in to pay, and the manager says, "we dont take CC payments in the office anymore because the residents now can pay online in our apt portal with a CC". Great!

Heres my delimma now......"service charge".

1) Visa-$42

2) Disc/MC-$25

Here's where I need help deciding which card to use to now pay my rent with, or if Im better off just paying with a good ole check (free). I have the following cards that I could use:

1) Venture

2) Discover

3) Sallie Mae

4) NFCU Cash Rewards (1.5% CB)

Monthly spend is only around $1900, and I have been using my Venture to pay rent until now. Sooooo....help me decide what to do, if anything, or just pay with check from now on. My monthly spend isnt very much compared to some people, so its hard for me to really utilize "rewards cards". Thanks!

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

Imperfectfuture — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 13:40:01 GMT

Use Radpad to pay rent, only 2.5% fee. Been doing it for months. Here is the catch: I only do that on miles cards for bonuses. Otherwise, I have a paypal business debit MasterCard, 1% cash back. I fund my paypal account in advance of rent (need this saved up). Then use Radpad to pay. Debit cards are free, and this includes the PayPal cash back one.

If you are paying extra for rent on CC, and your spend is a bit over mine (I am about 400 less), you are not earning enough in rewards to offset that fee. The most you would spend with Radpad for rent is 25 on 1k rent. So, if meeting spend for bonus on venture, then can use visa with Radpad, not deal with higher fee.

Hope that helps. (PS, since rent is due now, you do not have time to set up with Radpad, so just pay with check, then set up with paypal for next month). IF you do not have set aside for rent twice this month (to fund your paypal account), and have 0% on Discover, then pay with them for the double promo, fund PayPal this month, then pay discover off over time.

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

takeshi74 — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 13:49:07 GMT

@pizza1 wrote:
Long story short...I pay my rent with my CC monthly for obvious reasons.

Never assume. What's are "obvious" reasons? If rewards is one of them then you can do the comparison. Do you have a card that earns you more rewards on the charge than the fee? Which is the most? Are you enrolled in the Double Cash Back promo with Discover?

@pizza1 wrote:
Monthly spend is only around $1900

Is that the rent? If so, I'm not sure why a service with a 2.5% fee was suggested since that would be $47.50.

It's just a matter of running the numbers and comparing.

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 13:46:04 GMT

The real solution is to go back in to the office when the manager isn't there, and continue to pay with your CC without fees!

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

pizza1 — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 13:48:50 GMT

@Imperfectfuture wrote:
Use Radpad to pay rent, only 2.5% fee. Been doing it for months. Here is the catch: I only do that on miles cards for bonuses. Otherwise, I have a paypal business debit MasterCard, 1% cash back. I fund my paypal account in advance of rent (need this saved up). Then use Radpad to pay. Debit cards are free, and this includes the PayPal cash back one.

If you are paying extra for rent on CC, and your spend is a bit over mine (I am about 400 less), you are not earning enough in rewards to offset that fee. The most you would spend with Radpad for rent is 25 on 1k rent. So, if meeting spend for bonus on venture, then can use visa with Radpad, not deal with higher fee.

Hope that helps. (PS, since rent is due now, you do not have time to set up with Radpad, so just pay with check, then set up with paypal for next month). IF you do not have set aside for rent twice this month (to fund your paypal account), and have 0% on Discover, then pay with them for the double promo, fund PayPal this month, then pay discover off over time.

Thanks Imp!! Ill have to google Radpad, LOL!! and I dont have paypal (I know..hard to believe I dont have this)....My rent is $906 , and I have NO spend bonuses to meet, plus Im not acquiring any new CC at this point. It would be nice to continue to get the miles (which I can either get for travel, cash back, or gift cards), but now that I would have that monthly fee of $42, dont think my Venture is worth using. ugh

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 14:21:51 GMT

Hi, pizza. I'm sorry to hear that they are now charging you a fee!

Here are a few points to consider. First, if using your Venture, you have to decide if the 2x points are valuable enough to you to make paying the fee worthwhile. In other words, are you planning to use this card heavily for travel, or primarily having the Venture for an extra credit line and to help utilization? I don't know what your monthly rent payment is, but let's say for the sake of discussion it is $900. I'm not sure the points you would accumulate would be worth it, as you'd have to build up a lot to make the points useful. It would take years. After one year you would have 21,600 points, but you would have spent almost $11,000 on your card!. Many domestic airlines are running specials in the $200-$275 range for a ticket these days, so I don't think you are gaining a great deal by using your card in this way.

Many airfares are even lower -just noticed a flight from Dallas to Seattle this morning for $168, and one from NY to LA for $249!

Now, let's consider your cash back card. 1.5% of $900 would be about $13 a month back to you, so you'd be losing money by paying the fee.

Do any of your cards have spend bonuses that could offset the monthly fee? We do this with our mortgage payment. For example, it would be worth it to me to use a card that has a $1,000 spend bonus that I need to meet, because I'm getting $250 back, for example, and I need to use the card. Or in the case of Hyatt, I'm getting 2 (valuable) free nights with Hyatt for meeting that spend. So I'm thinking only if you have a bonus situation that this might be worthwhile.

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 13:50:20 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
The real solution is to go back in to the office when the manager isn't there, and continue to pay with your CC without fees!

Love this solution.

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

pizza1 — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 13:51:35 GMT

@takeshi74 wrote:
@pizza1 wrote:
Long story short...I pay my rent with my CC monthly for obvious reasons.
Never assume. What's are "obvious" reasons? If rewards is one of them then you can do the comparison. Do you have a card that earns you more rewards on the charge than the fee? Which is the most? Are you enrolled in the Double Cash Back promo with Discover?

@pizza1 wrote:
Monthly spend is only around $1900
Is that the rent? If so, I'm not sure why a service with a 2.5% fee was suggested since that would be $47.50.

It's just a matter of running the numbers and comparing.

obvious means rewards

rent is $906

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

pizza1 — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 13:53:17 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
The real solution is to go back in to the office when the manager isn't there, and continue to pay with your CC without fees!

right, LOL...The other people working in the office were also there, and said, they dont even have the capability now, and the feature was taken off their end

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 14:04:10 GMT

@pizza1 wrote:
@Imperfectfuture wrote:
Use Radpad to pay rent, only 2.5% fee. Been doing it for months. Here is the catch: I only do that on miles cards for bonuses. Otherwise, I have a paypal business debit MasterCard, 1% cash back. I fund my paypal account in advance of rent (need this saved up). Then use Radpad to pay. Debit cards are free, and this includes the PayPal cash back one.

If you are paying extra for rent on CC, and your spend is a bit over mine (I am about 400 less), you are not earning enough in rewards to offset that fee. The most you would spend with Radpad for rent is 25 on 1k rent. So, if meeting spend for bonus on venture, then can use visa with Radpad, not deal with higher fee.

Hope that helps. (PS, since rent is due now, you do not have time to set up with Radpad, so just pay with check, then set up with paypal for next month). IF you do not have set aside for rent twice this month (to fund your paypal account), and have 0% on Discover, then pay with them for the double promo, fund PayPal this month, then pay discover off over time.
Thanks Imp!! Ill have to google Radpad, LOL!! and I dont have paypal (I know..hard to believe I dont have this)....My rent is $906 , and I have NO spend bonuses to meet, plus Im not acquiring any new CC at this point. It would be nice to continue to get the miles (which I can either get for travel, cash back, or gift cards), but now that I would have that monthly fee of $42, dont think my Venture is worth using. ugh

It sounds as if radpad would charge about $23 in fees versus your $25 fee for Discover. It depends if it is worth it to you to use an outside service to save $2 per month. And as you mentioned, using a check is 100% free.

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

CreditCuriosity — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 14:10:11 GMT

Cash for now as radpad or plastiq is at least 1.5%+ depending on CC.. Only time it would be benefical to use a service or pay that fee your complex charges is meeting spend bonuses if help is needed. No more free ride for you .. You had a good deal while it lasted

Been using plastiq with my simplycash to pay my rent although it is 75$ for 3k I get $300 cash back for meeting spend so that is netting me 225$ cash plus just the normal 1% cashback on the non-cat spend so that is $255 I still get after meeting spend not bad as it is free money and don't have to do anything extra and continue meeting my Ritz spend by normal means

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 14:31:37 GMT

Pizza - does your rental company charge a fee if you use a debit card directly with them? If not, would it work to purchase a Visa debit gift card using your credit card, and pay the rent with that?

If not, I would say that paying with a check is your best option.

One additional thought - let's say you had a credit card on which you wanted to use that spend to gain a CLI; for example, Discover. You could consider using your Discover card for a time-limited period of a few months in a row to pay rent (use it, then pay it off a day or two later), and while there is no guarantee of CLI, it could help you achieve that particular goal. Then, go back to using a check and paying no fees under that method.

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 14:17:57 GMT

I use RadPad every month. I've used my Venture several times. You would only be charged $22.65 for the amount of rent you'd be charging. I'd go that route. :-)

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

Imperfectfuture — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 14:20:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Pizza - do they charge a fee if you use a debit card? If not, would it work to purchase a Visa debit gift card using your credit card, and pay the rent with that?

If not, I would say that paying with a check is your best option.

One additional thought -let's say you had a credit card on which you wanted to use that spend to gain a CLI; for example, Discover. You could consider using your Discover card for a time-limited period of a few months in a row to pay rent (use it, then pay it off a day or two later), and while there is no guarantee of CLI, it could help you achieve that particular goal. Then, go back to using a check and paying no fees under that method.

The fee is the same for debit card. Debit cards are free with Radpad. But there is still the fee for the gift card itself. It's best just to set up a cash back debit card with Radpad, maybe first use the Discover with Radpad because it is cheaper, then have the paypal account set up with cash back card, for free. Not sure if debit cards are free with plastiq, but I have had zero problems with Radpad. It is slowly becoming popular in the small complex where I live.

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

Imperfectfuture — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 14:22:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I use RadPad every month. I've used my Venture several times. You would only be charged $22.65 for the amount of rent you'd be charging. I'd go that route. :-)

But, to make it worthwhile, the cash back for regular spend on other cards needs to be considerable. There are cash back debit card for free, and a neat way to earn 9.06 a month.

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 14:29:35 GMT

I think her best bet is paying with a check at no charge. Radpad fees are practically the same as what her rental company charges in credit card fees. If she uses a debit card with radpad, she gives up the flexibility of paying with a credit card becasue she has to front the cash. It's a lot of maneuvering for minimal gain. Plus, using the Venture requires her to spend a lot more than she will ever get back since airlines are offering some great deals on airfares. Free sounds like the best way to be in this case.

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

CreditCuriosity — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 14:28:27 GMT

@Imperfectfuture wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Pizza - do they charge a fee if you use a debit card? If not, would it work to purchase a Visa debit gift card using your credit card, and pay the rent with that?

If not, I would say that paying with a check is your best option.

One additional thought -let's say you had a credit card on which you wanted to use that spend to gain a CLI; for example, Discover. You could consider using your Discover card for a time-limited period of a few months in a row to pay rent (use it, then pay it off a day or two later), and while there is no guarantee of CLI, it could help you achieve that particular goal. Then, go back to using a check and paying no fees under that method.
The fee is the same for debit card. Debit cards are free with Radpad. But there is still the fee for the gift card itself. It's best just to set up a cash back debit card with Radpad, maybe first use the Discover with Radpad because it is cheaper, then have the paypal account set up with cash back card, for free. Not sure if debit cards are free with plastiq, but I have had zero problems with Radpad. It is slowly becoming popular in the small complex where I live.

Paypal just changed their terms and conditions as well starting Feb 2016 incase you haven't seen..

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

Imperfectfuture — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 14:30:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I think her best bet is paying with a check at no charge. Radpad fees are practically the same as what her rental company charges in credit card fees. Free sounds like the best way to be in this case.

There is no fee for debit card. When I use paypal, get cash back, no fee. And I was on vacation when the check was delivered and cashed. Have auto debit from bank account to paypal, have automated with Radpad, free money. I am using right now for bonus on aviator, so I can earn cash back with regular spend on other cards. When done, just switch back to paypal. I used once on BCE to save for PayPal (I do not touch investments), used on SimplyCash like CC was talking about, switch back to PayPal, switch to aviator, switch back to PayPal. PayPal is FREE. And never have to worry about rent on time.

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

Imperfectfuture — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 14:32:38 GMT

@CreditCuriousity wrote:
@Imperfectfuture wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Pizza - do they charge a fee if you use a debit card? If not, would it work to purchase a Visa debit gift card using your credit card, and pay the rent with that?

If not, I would say that paying with a check is your best option.

One additional thought -let's say you had a credit card on which you wanted to use that spend to gain a CLI; for example, Discover. You could consider using your Discover card for a time-limited period of a few months in a row to pay rent (use it, then pay it off a day or two later), and while there is no guarantee of CLI, it could help you achieve that particular goal. Then, go back to using a check and paying no fees under that method.
The fee is the same for debit card. Debit cards are free with Radpad. But there is still the fee for the gift card itself. It's best just to set up a cash back debit card with Radpad, maybe first use the Discover with Radpad because it is cheaper, then have the paypal account set up with cash back card, for free. Not sure if debit cards are free with plastiq, but I have had zero problems with Radpad. It is slowly becoming popular in the small complex where I live.
Paypal just changed their terms and conditions as well starting Feb 2016 incase you haven't seen..

It is ran as a signature purchase. Ah, guys. I know what I am doing here.

Re: Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 14:38:13 GMT

@Imperfectfuture wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I think her best bet is paying with a check at no charge. Radpad fees are practically the same as what her rental company charges in credit card fees. Free sounds like the best way to be in this case.

There is no fee for debit card. When I use paypal, get cash back, no fee. And I was on vacation when the check was delivered and cashed. Have auto debit from bank account to paypal, have automated with Radpad, free money. I am using right now for bonus on aviator, so I can earn cash back with regular spend on other cards. When done, just switch back to paypal. I used once on BCE to save for PayPal (I do not touch investments), used on SimplyCash like CC was talking about, switch back to PayPal, switch to aviator, switch back to PayPal. PayPal is FREE. And never have to worry about rent on time.

I guess it depends if she wants to front the cash for a debit card and go through that process instead of just using her check. I don't see much value in having to front the cash in a debit card transaction, as it subverts the purpose of using a credit card. Just sounds like a lot of hassle for minimal gain, but everyone is different and at least she has several options now.