Rent/CC dilemma. Help me understand better.

pizza1 · ‎12-29-2015

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!

Imperfectfuture · ‎12-29-2015

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.

Signature needs updating

takeshi74 · ‎12-29-2015

@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.

Anonymous · ‎12-29-2015

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!

pizza1 · ‎12-29-2015

@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

Anonymous · ‎12-29-2015

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.

Anonymous · ‎12-29-2015

@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.

pizza1 · ‎12-29-2015

@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

pizza1 · ‎12-29-2015

@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

Anonymous · ‎12-29-2015

@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.