How Can I Pay My Mortgage Using a Credit Card? [EXPIRED]

February 4, 2015

Howie Rappaport | Google+

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For most of us, the biggest debt we’ll ever pick up in life is the mortgage to our home. Looking at a mortgage of $225,000 financed over 30 years with a 4% interest rate, the monthly payment would be just under $1,100.

What if it were possible to pay that mortgage using a points-earning credit card? Every year there would be an additional $12,890.16 in credit card spend to help cover minimum requirements to reach those lucrative bonuses, or at least another 12,000 plus points in whichever rewards program is linked to the credit card used. But are there actually any banks that’ll take a credit card as a form of payment for a mortgage?

I’ve heard through email of a few people that are able to pay their monthly mortgage on a credit card, but these are few and far between and should be considered the rare exception, not the norm. So what about everyone else? Is it possible to use a points-earning credit card to pay off a mortgage? The answer is yes, but not directly. To do this an intermediary product must be used:

This is a great way to pick up some points or miles paying what is, in many cases, the largest recurring bill every month. Use your Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express to pick up my most valuable and favorite SPG point. Or, if you’re looking to bulk up on Ultimate Rewards, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card would be the way to go.

	Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Add to Favorites	$0 intro first year $95 annual fee	Earn 50,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $625 in travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards® Read Review »
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Sign Up Bonus	$0 intro first year $95 annual fee Earn 50,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $625 in travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®
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Read the FTG Review »

In either case, while a credit card isn’t being used to directly pay a mortgage, a fantastic (and free) intermediary product provides a vehicle where earning points for paying a mortgage is possible for everyone.

You can use this same method to pay other bills that don’t accept credit cards or that charge a hefty fee for credit card use. A few that stick out to me are electric bills, taxes, daycare or tuition. Think outside the box — a little effort can have a nice reward without any additional out of pocket costs.

Have questions about this or other topics? Feel free to email me.

*Terms and restrictions apply.

[Photo via Getty]

Howie Rappaport As a kid travel meant hopping in the family station wagon and spending a day at the park or the beach. Everyone got older and longer trips were possible; yes that meant driving from New York to Orlando...
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SportDoc

This was a good read: http://www.extrapackofpeanuts.com/target-redcard-pay-mortgage-with-credit-card/

There is a link in the article to tell you what Targets will sell the card. However, what I don’t know is if EVERY Target is capable of reloading your permanent prepaid card.

Gisele

Yes, you can load it at any Target.

Horologium

According to the website, the nearest Target to me that sells the Redcard is about 90 minutes away. However, if I am following this correctly, I would only have to drive there once, but can reload it at my local Target (5 minutes away)?

Gisele

That’s correct. You can only buy the card in certain locations however, you may load it at any target.

Horologium

Great. I think this is a great way to generate more points on my card, but it would not have been worth it if I had to drive an hour and a half every month to do this. Thanks Gisele!

Aylee Bits

Online (https://amex.serve.com/prepaidredcard/), it says I can load the card with direct deposit, cash, checking or savings account, or debit card. No mention of credit card. Can someone please confirm that I can use my credit card to load the redcard. Thanks.

dee seiffer

Yes. Hubby and I both have Redcards and load them with credit cards.

A tip: set up your credit card fraud alerts to text to you. We consistently get declined transactions when we load our cards because of fraud alerts. I get the text, answer yes it is me and the transaction goes through immediately on the next try….as do the next two.

They used to be able to do the $2500 in one transaction. The registers wouldn’t allow it the last couple times. It had to be 3 transactions ($1000, $1000, $500).

Aylee Bits

Thank you Dee!

dee seiffer

You are welcome

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@deeseiffer:disqus thanks for chiming in and sharing your experience. These are great cards 🙂

ginav

Hi Dee, my question is does your credit card treat that transaction as cash advance?

dee seiffer

Target no longer allows credit card loads onto Redcard.

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@deeseiffer:disqus just need an intermediary now 🙂
dee seiffer

I should have said “direct” load. Yes, you can still load Visa gift cards, but NOT Amex gift cards or Target gift cards.
Michael Rick

Can you load a Red card with Discover gift cards?
http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@michaelrick:disqus I’ve never seen a “discover gift card” Red card can be loaded with PIN-enabled debit cards. If this gift card from discover is PIN enabled and is a debit card then yes; otherwise no.

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@disqus_Gl6E6XukiM:disqus when target allowed a credit card to be used it was NOT treated as a cash advance on any card. It was a purchase.

http://www.LiveSmartNotHard.com/ Steve | LiveSmartNotHard.com

Howie, how about some of the intermediaries available to do this? Any recommendations?

dee seiffer

I have tried all 3… Bluebird, Serve and Redcard. They are all easy to use to pay the mortgage, utilities, and anyone who doesn’t take credit cards. They all have similar limitations.

Bluebird was great when I lived in an area that periodically gave huge gas points for $500 Visa gift cards (New England/NY/NJ/Eastern PA Stop & Shop/Giant).

Serve is the easiest if you don’t want to leave home and only need $1000/month for your rent or mortgage…$1000/month limit auto load from a cc on line. Otherwise, you need to load at a store with GCs.

Now I live in Southwestern PA and Target Redcard is the easiest. Two trips a month to Target. Direct load with cc.Target is close and I shop there often anyway. Plus, my Target has a parking garage…. pretty nice in winter.

Angie Smith

I just went to reload my Target prepaid red card and they stated that on May 6, 2015 they no longer will let you reload with a credit card 🙁

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@disqus_lJkm20COlH:disqus that is correct. You now need to use something other than a credit card to load up your redcard. You might look to purchase something with your credit card that you can use to load your redcard…

Lsand

Like what?
http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@disqus_iugbMhEUA8:disqus well, what mechanisms can you use to load REDcard? Other than cash that is …

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@SteveBierfeldt:disqus AccountNow also has a product that works similarly using a different reload style card to Vanilla Reload.

Kim White

Hi Everyone, I was going to sign up for the AM Exp Target Card, but came across the Bluebird option as they provide check writing capabilities. So it’s my understanding so far, I can sign up for Bluebird (more available than Target as I’m in Iowa) and use my Chase Preferred to re-load and earn travel rewards, then write a check from Bluebird to pay my mortgage? Seems too easy.

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@disqus_4PsEUmLrv3:disqus you cannot load a bluebird card with a credit card.

Kim White

Thanks Howie. I figured I was missing something along the way. Sounded too easy. Would be nice to find a card with check writing capabilities, loaded via credit card to pay for our mortgage to earn those travel points.

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@disqus_4PsEUmLrv3:disqus The redcard supports check writing … but you need a Target of course to load.

Kim White

I didn’t realize the redcard supported check writing. Bad part is I live in Iowa and from what I can see, there is no Target within Iowa or the surrounding states where I could get one. Thank you for the information.

Joe

Can you use target gift cards to load Redcard?

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@disqus_CpJcXvrZZq:disqus no you cannot.

Joe

Thanks

norahs

In the case where your lender accepts credit card payments, do the credit card company treat the charge as cash advance or charges?

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@disqus_ANtCzVpBVY:disqus it depends on the credit card issuer and the specific card. Best thing to do is call your card issuer and set your cash advance limit to $0 or as low as it gets and always charge above that.

norahs

Thank you for the answer. I think I’m gonna give it a try to test it out since my lender allows it. Gonna try a Chase card, keeping my fingers crossed!

Nightcrawler

Are there other options out there other than RedCard that we can use to do the same?

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@disqus_gLjFAOoLAk:disqus nothing that I know of that allows you to load directly like this. Products like Bluebird are similar but you cannot load it directly with a credit card. You must purchase some intermediary product (debit card perhaps) and then use that to load it.

ajc1970

Hi, Once you have a Redcard, is there anything stopping you from adding your spouse (or self, or other friend/family member) as a payee and just cutting them a check for $5000 each month?

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@ajc1970:disqus there is not.

alyon

You can no longer load your card with gift cards. They will only accept direct deposit, cash, bank transfers or debit cards. In addition, the limit is now only $2000 from a checking account but still $2500 with cash.

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@disqus_LRFPjOLUiD:disqus pretty sure you’ve never been able to pay with gift cards — ever. Debit cards yes, and thats what you should use now too.

Steve

Previously, you could load with PIN-enabled prepaid Visas.

http://www.williamgood.com William Good Photography

FYI loading the Red Card with Credit is no longer allowed. However, there is an alternative described here: http://millionmilesecrets.com/2015/05/07/you-can-still-load-target-prepaid-redcard-with-pin-enabled-gift-cards/

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@william_good:disqus correct — simply use an intermediary as has been discussed.

Julie Toomey

Can you give us the play by play now of what we have to do? Purchase a gift card Load it up with a credit card and then load the prepaid red card?

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@julietoomey:disqus pretty much. You’re purchasing a prepaid debit card and loading it. It may seem like semantics but you’re not buying a gift card (it may have the word gift on it); you’re buying a prepaid debit card and using that to load the target redcard. It is NOT a prepaid red card, it is a reloadable target redcard.

rdeanbro

What is the difference between a “prepaid red card” and a “reloadable target redcard”? On Targets site, this is what I found. Is it the correct card?

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com Howie Rappaport

@rdeanbro:disqus they are one in the same.

parttimeadjunct 15

Fellow frugalites, fear not. I have created a prelaunch of an app to pay your mortgage through your smart phone. It’s a free download. Please take a look:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mortpay.app

Currently only available on android devices, plans for iphone in the future. One of it’s kind on the playstore!

These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

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