Author Topic: Big principal mortgage payment each month....any way to get some cash back?  (Read 5962 times)

medinaj2160

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Hello-

Me and the wife are trying to pay off the house before we have kids, I am 28 and she is 29. As of today we have a mortgage of $73,050 we been making principal payments of around $3000 a month on top of the regular payment. We have freed up some money and we are going to be able to make a $4000 dollar payment on top of the regular payment. I wonder if there is a way to make the house payment with a credit card or do something to get some cash back or rewards since we have the cash to pay a credit car each month.

Thanks


Daleth

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Probably, sure. Your mortgage lender and/or your credit card are the best people to ask about that.

MKinVA

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Find a credit card like discover that pays cash back, but be very careful that the lender doesn't charge a fee for paying with a credit card. Some charge a higher percent than you get the cash back.

medinaj2160

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Anyone knows for sure? I have a cash back credit cards but I am sure that a mortgage cannot be paid with a credit card.

gimp

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Ask them.

Chances are they're not stupid, and will either not allow cards or charge a fee bigger than what you get in cash back.

When the sums are big, the merchant fees are high, and no mortgage servicer will want to take a 4% loss or however much the card charges...

iamlindoro

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Almost no lenders allow credit card payments for mortgages.  They're unwilling to pay the multi-percent transaction fees on such large payments as it would substantially cut into their profitability.

chicagomeg

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Use a credit card to load a Bluebird account and then use their billpay service to cut the check.

iamlindoro

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Use a credit card to load a Bluebird account and then use their billpay service to cut the check.

Nice tip!  I have every recurring bill that will allow it going on my best points card, but this may allow for me to get most of the rest on there too-- is the refill/bill pay process super painful?

iamlindoro

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Upon looking into the Bluebird card, it looks like the tricky part would be keeping Amex from closing your account if you use it for nothing but bill pay.  Apparently they review and close accounts which are not profitable to them by having enough credit transactions.  I suppose you could stave this off by also making your credit transactions with the card after loading it, but then in my case I'd miss out on double and triple points offered by the "parent" card for lots of things like travel, gas and food.

Do you pay your bills with the Bluebird card?

http://millionmilesecrets.com/2012/10/24/bluebird-bill-pay/
http://millionmilesecrets.com/2012/10/22/american-express-bluebird/

Under "Cautions" in the second link:

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- Use Bluebird for lots of routine transactions as well.  If all you do with Bluebird is withdraw money from the ATM or to your bank account, you are likely to be shut down because you are unprofitable for American Express.

I would think billpay would be the same.

NV Teacher

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My mortgage and cash back rewards CC are both with my local credit union.  When I asked about paying my mortgage with their credit card and I was told that it would not qualify for the cash back reward because it is considered a cash advance and the cash back reward was only on purchases made with the card. 

medinaj2160

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Use a credit card to load a Bluebird account and then use their billpay service to cut the check.

Is there a calculator or something to see how much cash back I will get?

It seems that the process will be the following:

Use a cash back credit card and buy a Vanilla visa gift card. (get points)
Use the Vanilla visa gift card to refill the Bluebird card and use the blue bird card to pay my mortgage payment and send the principal payment.

I currently use the following credit cards:

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Chase sapphire preferred:
2X POINTS ON TRAVEL1
Earn 2 points per $1 spent on travel when you use your card to pay for airfare, hotels, cruises, rental cars, train tickets, taxis, tolls and more.
2X POINTS ON DINING1
Earn 2 points per $1 spent at restaurants. No matter where, or what, you eat – from fast food to fine dining.
1 POINT PER $1 SPENT ON ALL OTHER PURCHASES1
In addition to earning 2 points per dollar at restaurants and on travel, you'll earn 1 point for every dollar you spend on all your other purchases.
1 ADDITIONAL POINT ON TRAVEL1
Earn 1 additional point (total of 3 points) per $1 spent when you book airfare or hotel accommodations through Ultimate Rewards.1
7% ANNUAL POINTS DIVIDEND1
Chase Sapphire Preferred® will automatically award you a 7% Annual Points Dividend on all new points earned on purchases throughout the year – even points you have redeemed.

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American Express Blue Cash:
Cash Back. Earn 3% Cash Back at US supermarkets up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1%), 2% Cash Back at US gas stations, 2% Cash Back at select US department stores, and 1% Cash Back on other purchases made by Additional Cardmembers. Terms and limitations apply.1 Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit.

My mortgage is $500 and make a $4000 principal payment.

There is a $4.95 activation fee on the Vanilla card.

How much cash back will I get a month if I do this? is there a better credit card I could use?


iamlindoro

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1%, $45.  This wouldn't be the optimal use of the points, though-- I'd save them and use them towards travel/airfare/hotels, where you get 20% off on ultimaterewards.com and can transfer them to partner airlines/miles programs.

medinaj2160

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1%, $45.  This wouldn't be the optimal use of the points, though-- I'd save them and use them towards travel/airfare/hotels, where you get 20% off on ultimaterewards.com and can transfer them to partner airlines/miles programs.

But you have to subtract the vanilla gift card activation fee.