Credit-Card Debt Nears $1 Trillion as Banks Push Plastic

Re:Credit-Card Debt Nears $1 Trillion as Banks Push Plastic by bluedino on Friday May 20, 2016 @01:47PM (#11739916)

Your landlord accepts credit card payments and you pay him/her with your credit card? No different than any other vendor. Mine charges like 2% or something to cover costs.

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Re:Credit-Card Debt Nears $1 Trillion as Banks Push Plastic by dionidium on Friday May 20, 2016 @02:26PM (#11740247)

"Mine charges like 2% or something to cover costs."

What I meant to ask was, "How do you pay rent with credit (without paying $30-40 each month for the privilege)?"

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Re:Credit-Card Debt Nears $1 Trillion as Banks Push Plastic by epimetheus on Friday May 20, 2016 @02:36PM (#11740347)

My last landlord waived the fee if we had it set on automatic bill pay (via the credit card), I'm not sure if the peace of mind was worth the loss, but considering rent was 750 dollars, 2% would have only been 15 dollars. They probably pad the rent a bit to make up for it, but 750 for a 2 bedroom apartment was still a pretty good deal for the area at the time.

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Re:Credit-Card Debt Nears $1 Trillion as Banks Push Plastic by dmoy on Friday May 20, 2016 @03:16PM (#11740633)

My card gives back 2% on everything so that would work out as a wash. (That said my fee would be closer to like 3-5% for paying via cc so I don't...)

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Re:Credit-Card Debt Nears $1 Trillion as Banks Push Plastic by urda on Friday May 20, 2016 @02:06PM (#11740076)

Considering it is 2016, many Landlords have some form of payment processor they can use to accept credit card payments.

Love it, as it's how I get a ton of miles / points for money I'm already spending anyway.

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Re:Credit-Card Debt Nears $1 Trillion as Banks Push Plastic by itchyouch on Friday May 20, 2016 @02:13PM (#11740122)

With the additional 2-3% that is charged, it comes out to about very similar to purchasing the points directly.

Like Amex SPG costs $157 for 5000 points. If I pay my $1500 rent via my Amex but with an additional $50 premium, after 3 months, I have 4500 points for $150, versus being able to purchase 5k points for $157. If I spend $525, I can get 20k points. So it's better for this particular card to put aside the extra fees paid in rent then purchase the points in bulk at discount than earning the points directly.

Ideally, there's a landlord that doesn't assess an extra 2-3%, then it would totally be worth charging rent on a card.

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Re:Credit-Card Debt Nears $1 Trillion as Banks Push Plastic by SeoxyS on Friday May 20, 2016 @03:51PM (#11740910)

The key is using the right card with the right processor. There are certain cards that earn multiples with certain processors. Personally, I use a card that gives me 3 points per dollar and pay 2.5% in fees… so I'm "purchasing" points for 0.8c per point. Those points are worth 1.5c+ per point, at the very least.

In fact, I just used 75k of them for a first class ticket to Asia. At a "purchase cost" of $600—so I'd call that a sweet deal.

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Re:Credit-Card Debt Nears $1 Trillion as Banks Push Plastic by chinathrow on Friday May 20, 2016 @03:06PM (#11740552)

Wouldn't you (or any other reader here) prefer a system/world/setup where merchants wouldn't charge an extra 2-3% and not have those rewards?

I have been thinking a lot lately on how the credit card rewards/payback and fee split works - I dislike it.

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