making money off paying down debt?

[janelikes]

Hello friendly people - Is there any way I can make any kind of reward/benefit by paying down my debt? It's all student loan debt and it seems like I need to use a bank account VS credit card. Are there any workarounds? I was hoping to get a 0% interest rate cc with cashback or travel rewards and pay off the debt with the cc and get some kind of benefit back....Any ideas? Lettmeknow!

[AMandM]

I think the fees that you would be charged for making loan payments by credit card would exceed the value of any cash back rewards. I'm sorry. But the bank that holds the loan doesn't want to lose the 3-4% that the credit car company would charge them.

[Kazyan]

Generally, companies aren't keen on letting you make regular payments with a credit card. What you *could* do is put as much of your spending as possible on a credit card with 0% APR and at least 1% cash back, then put your actual cash towards the high-interest student loans. Just make sure you leave yourself enough months at the end of the 0% APR intro period to pay off the credit card debt before you cycle to another big 0% APR card.

[lukebuz]

5+ years ago, my SL consolidation company let me pay via CC, with no fees.  2% of 30,000 is still a huge debt....

[AK]

I used giftofcollege.com to purchase their gift cards with credit cards and then they send a check to the student loan servicer. It takes a few weeks for the payment to post but was successful. There was a 3% fee so make sure your benefits exceed the cost. For various sign-on bonuses, it was for me. Was able to net about 1300 off of about $10k in spend.

Please only do this if you have the extra cash to pay it off immediately and not carry a balance. The trouble I ran into was staying under Chase's 5/24 rule and getting denied for opening too many cards in a short time period. After this, I paid off my student loans in full since I didn't want to wait.

[Indexer]

There have been tricks over time to do this, but companies normally realize the error of their ways and fix it quick.

Examples:  Target redcard(I think) let you deposit money onto a debit card using a credit card, and this debit card had bill pay functionality so you could pay your mortgage/student loans with it. I don't believe it's an option anymore.

There was another pre-paid card, I think with Greendot, that you could load at Walmart using a credit card, and it also had billpay functions.

So they occasionally pop up, but normally not for very long.

[Nevaco]

This isn't "paying down" your debt specifically but one option is to refinance with various companies that offer a bonus. I've seen some "bonuses" as high as a $750 for larger balances. Each time will be a hard pull on your credit but so would a new credit card for a bonus and a refinance has the advantage of not risking a high APR like a credit card does.

ETA: if you go the refinance route, be careful about prepayment penalties that could wind up costing you more in the long run!

[kenner]

Depending on your lender, you may be able to sign up for Plastiq and pay your student loans through them--I don't use them for student loans so I can't speak to specific lenders there, but I do use them for other fixed bills when it makes sense.  The standard fee is 2.5%, which I don't bother with, but when they run 1% or fee-free-dollar promotions (there's been 3-4 this year with a combined one going on now through Sept. 30, not sure if it's targeted or not) it's worth it with a 2% card or for sign up bonuses.  If you want a referal let me know, I think we'd each get some fee-free-dollars (meaning you can send that amount of money without being charged a fee) although I haven't looked at it recently so I'm not sure how much.

[kpd905]

I used giftofcollege.com to purchase their gift cards with credit cards and then they send a check to the student loan servicer. It takes a few weeks for the payment to post but was successful. There was a 3% fee so make sure your benefits exceed the cost. For various sign-on bonuses, it was for me. Was able to net about 1300 off of about $10k in spend.

Please only do this if you have the extra cash to pay it off immediately and not carry a balance. The trouble I ran into was staying under Chase's 5/24 rule and getting denied for opening too many cards in a short time period. After this, I paid off my student loans in full since I didn't want to wait.

This would be one of the best options if you can find a place near you that sells $500 GoC gift cards.  I think it is a $5.95 fee per card, so brings it down near 1% fee.  Though a 3% fee can still be profitable if you use it to hit sign up bonuses.

Plastiq is 2.5%, and you also get a bonus after signing up through a referral link, letting you make a $500 payment for no fee.