Can You Pay a Mortgage With a Credit Card?
Q: I would like to know how I can use a credit card to pay my mortgage?
A: Well first of all, you know I’ve got to ask… are you looking to pay a mortgage with a credit card for rewards/cash back? Or do you need to pay by credit card because you can’t afford payments? If it’s the latter, then this “how to” advice isn’t for you. If you can’t afford your mortgage I would recommend speaking to attorney to explore options (i.e. loan modification, foreclosure, short sale, etc.)
But if you want to know if you can pay your mortgage with a card for free points or rewards, then keep reading!
For starters, it’s important to point out that the real estate bubble changed everything. During the ’00′s there were all kinds of crafty ways to pay mortgages. However after the crash that all changed.
American Express Mortgage Payment?
In 2007 (back at the peak of the bubble) American Express cardholders could pay any prime level mortgage from American Home Mortgage for a one-time fee of $395. If you paid you always paid your credit card bills on time and in-full, this option definitely made sense considering the up to 1.25% cash back offered on the AmEx Blue Cash.
However in the years since, the option to pay a mortgage with American Express no longer appears to be available.
Bank of America Credit Card Mortgage Payment?
The other company which offered options (abeit indirectly) for paying a mortgage using a credit card was Bank of America. All FIA issued cards (which is a wholly-owned BofA subsidiary) offered the ability to pay bills for free using your credit card. Although this option specifically created for mortgages, many would use this service to pay mortgages with credit cards from Bank of America. Sounds like a cool trick until you hear that no points or rewards were given on FIA bill payments… so there really wasn’t any point in using it for your mortgage.
In Sept 2010 the FIA Bill Pay Choice was canceled.
Is there any other way to pay mortgage with credit card for points?
Unfortunately, not at this time. Some have brought up the idea of using Paypal to get money to pay their mortgage, but that will always be a losing proposition… even the best cash reward credit cards won’t make up the 3% in fees that Paypal charges.
If anything changes in the future, simply leave a comment and this post will be updated!
A cashiers check or money order, is backed by cash and guaranteed by the bank that issues it. To purchase with a credit card, a bank would cash advance your card and use the cash to purchase the cashiers check / money order. This requires a 3-5% fee on the total depending on your card agreement. The amount goes into the cash advance category which accrues interest daily (no grace period) at the highest rate. Also rewards are not available for this for any card. Lastly the sale of a Monetary Instrument requires reporting under the Bank Secrecy Act for amounts over $3000.00
I wonder if you can purchase a cashiers check with a credit card and then use the cashiers check for the mortgage?
The USPS will not let you use a cc to buy a money order. Most retailers will not either, I have read that some small local retailers might accept a credit card to purchase a money order but i have not found one yet.
There is a bill paying service called Charge Smart that for a fee will let you use your credit card to pay a mortgage, auto or student loan or even an utility bill. How it works: The company acts as a middleman, accepting payment from your credit or debit card and then arranging a funds transfer to pay your bill. But it charges a fee of as much as $9.95, in the case of a car payment.
Thanks for the heads up Fred. I checked it out and it looks like in addition to the fee, there is also a percentage fee on the amount of a few percent.
The cash advance does not count towards points, so withdrawing [a cash advance] from you credit card would not create a benefit. Also, for money orders, you have to pay with cash… they will not let you use a credit card for money orders.
I can’t imagine the money order thing working because of two reasons. The first being that whomever you purchase the money order thru will charge you a fee. How much of a fee, I do not know. The second being that your CC issuer will view this as a cash advance and charge you the appropriate rate. I’ll have to read my agreement but I can’t imagine them doing that for free. Perhaps if I were to pay my full bill monthly, which I do, I would avoid fees.
i dont think you can buy Money orders with CC.. i was thinking if you can withdraw money from the CC for points?
That is an awesome Idea about purchasing a money order, did this work?
I’ve been trying and trying to think of a way to do this, yes to capitalize on a rewards card since we’re paying so much money toward the mortgage each month. Someone suggested using your credit card to purchase a money order each month, and then using the money order to make your mortgage payment. But I don’t know if you can buy a money order with a credit card. And if you can, perhaps that would be excluded from rewards on credit cards. Do you know the answer?