How to pay for things with a credit card when they don't take credit cards?

[Gin1984]

We are putting our daughter into daycare and for the first time, they don't take credit cards.  I am loathed to give up the $200 I get from FIA AMEX for paying for daycare.  Does anyone have a solution for me?

[I'm a red panda]

Will they take paypal? You can link a CC there. 
Or see if they will offer to process it if you pay the fees? (Of course, they would need an account...) That is generally the reason small businesses do not take credit cards- it is expensive.

My daycare will only take check. Paid weekly.  I am not looking forward to this hassle.  Direct deposit people! I'm going to have to go buy checks.

[Gin1984]

No paypal, sadly.

[GizmoTX]

Before you buy checks, see if your bank has Bill Pay, preferably free.
Schwab Bank has free checks, but its free Bill Pay does all the work of creating & mailing a check, & doesn't deduct the money out of your account until the pay-by date. Wells Fargo demands a week in advance.

[AlwaysLearningToSave]

Posting to follow.  Don't have any great ideas of my own but hope someone else does...

[ohyonghao]

You could purchase gift cards with your credit card, use the gift card to load to a prepaid card like Target REDCard or Bluebird, or Serve, then use the bill pay feature in one of these to pay the daycare.  Depending on amount needed gift cards can be bought for fees of $3.95-$5.95 in denominations ranging from $10-$500.  At the right places you may get gas points at the market you shop at, or depending on credit card used you may get bonus categories, if say, your card has a 5x bonus at Office Supply stores then you could go to Office Max or Office Depot and purchase them for 5x rewards.

I pay my mortgage in this fashion.

[Gin1984]

You could purchase gift cards with your credit card, use the gift card to load to a prepaid card like Target REDCard or Bluebird, or Serve, then use the bill pay feature in one of these to pay the daycare.  Depending on amount needed gift cards can be bought for fees of $3.95-$5.95 in denominations ranging from $10-$500.  At the right places you may get gas points at the market you shop at, or depending on credit card used you may get bonus categories, if say, your card has a 5x bonus at Office Supply stores then you could go to Office Max or Office Depot and purchase them for 5x rewards.

I pay my mortgage in this fashion.

What giftcards work with Serve?  I just got an offer with AMEX to give me $25 for opening and loading a serve account.

[ohyonghao]

You could purchase gift cards with your credit card, use the gift card to load to a prepaid card like Target REDCard or Bluebird, or Serve, then use the bill pay feature in one of these to pay the daycare.  Depending on amount needed gift cards can be bought for fees of $3.95-$5.95 in denominations ranging from $10-$500.  At the right places you may get gas points at the market you shop at, or depending on credit card used you may get bonus categories, if say, your card has a 5x bonus at Office Supply stores then you could go to Office Max or Office Depot and purchase them for 5x rewards.

I pay my mortgage in this fashion.

What giftcards work with Serve?  I just got an offer with AMEX to give me $25 for opening and loading a serve account.

I can't say for certain since these accounts are all mutually exclusive, so you can have one or the other, but not two of them, and I have the REDCard.  But they have to be Visa or Mastercard because those have PINs and can be used as debit.  Google should help you narrow down exactly which cards work, and which don't, along with where to buy and load.