Pay Mortgage with Credit Card For Free

30 Comments on Pay Mortgage with Credit Card For Free

1. Robert on January 15, 2009 | permalink
   
    

   It’s a great news, I am sure plenty of people would latch on to this opportunity, I hope this lasts for a long time!
2. James on January 15, 2009 | permalink
   
    

   Thanks for the great tip. After all, for many of us, the mortgage payment is the single largest montly expense. Do you know how I can find out about other available FIA cards? For years, I was looking for something like this. Thanks
3. DoneToZen on January 15, 2009 | permalink
   
    

   Is this for real? I’ve been looking for a way to pay my mortgage with a credit card (so that I cane take advantage of the rewards, of course) ever since buying my home, but the only one I saw was the third-party service that charged an exorbitant fee for the convenience. If this works out, it will be a nice source of free money!
4. DoneToZen on January 15, 2009 | permalink
   
    

   Whoops. Just read that your mortgage payment isn’t good for rewards. You’ll still earn some money if you put it in a “high-yield” savings account, I guess…
5. TFB on January 15, 2009 | permalink
   
    

   James – I don’t know which other cards from FIA also have Bill Pay Choice. If you Google ‘FIA “Bill Pay Choice”‘ you will see some other cards.

   DoneToZen – I updated the post and made “no rewards” bold. Free float is good enough for me.
6. Oblio_A on January 16, 2009 | permalink
   
    

   Useless. If you are so strapped for money that you have to delay your mortgage payment every month, you have bigger problems than figuring out how to juggle your debt. An “interest free loan forever” – give me a break. If you really want to win, pay 10% extra on your mortgage payment every month and reduce your total interest by thousands! (and you need to stop listening to Suzie Orman and her “FICO-babble” – she is not all that clever.)
7. JeffieG on January 25, 2009 | permalink
   
    

   James – Just wanted to make it clear to your readers…not only do your mortgage payments not received the 2% cash back, actually none of your online checks used with this account receive the 2% cash back. Pretty disappointed – I thought I found a way to get back 2% cash on my rent and student loan payments.

   So really, the only benefit would be the float.
8. Jeff on January 28, 2009 | permalink
   
    

   James: you indicated you used auto-debit to pay “the full balance on the due date”. Is this the full balance of only the mortgage payment, or the full balance of all the charges on the card?

   If its the latter, I am confused; how could you know in advance what each month’s full balance will be?
9. TFB on January 28, 2009 | permalink
   
    

   Jeff – The full balance of all charges on the card, including mortgage payment. The credit card company manages that. They automatically debit my checking account on the due date for the full balance, whatever it comes out to be. Of course I receive the account statement a few weeks before the due date and I’m aware of what’s going to happen.
10. Lost on January 29, 2009 | permalink
    
     

    I called Schwab First Visa, they wont give you the 2% I call like 5 times different story each time. All the credit card company say you need to call your mortgage company and see how they treat the payment. If they treat it as cash advance you will be charge on the CC side. The fidelity one say the same thing call your mortgage company. Floating for 1 month is nice because with Schwab checking account you earn 1% for now before it was like 4%. If you have a few mortgage like I do it will help ALOT. I still want the 2% reward.
11. Justin on May 21, 2009 | permalink
    
     

    Have you actually done this?

    As I understand it you need to be grandfathered in to use MBNA’s Bill Pay Choice.

    I think the only people who can get this feature are the ones who set up Bill Pay Choice years ago, before MBNA was purchased by Bank of America. Also, I guess people who are authorized users on MBNA cards that have Bill Pay Choice already set up can get it too (at least that’s what I read on some fatwallet post).

    I guess that this is still an assumption, though–it’s just something that I’ve sort of pieced together through a lot of internet research (I don’t have this billpay but I want it badly). If anyone knows otherwise please shoot me an email at [removed by editor]… this feature is awesome and as far as I know I’m ineligible because I never had an MBNA card (I’m only 20 years old). If there’s a way, though, I’d love to hear about it.

    Justin
12. TFB on May 21, 2009 | permalink
    
     

    Justin – Yes, as I said in the post I’ve been doing this every month for more than two years and it’s still going. You need a card managed by FIA Card Services, not just Bank of America. Have you tried applying for one of the Fidelity or Schwab cards mentioned in the post?
13. Justin on May 21, 2009 | permalink
    
     

    I found out some more information on this last night.

    Unfortunately, no, a FIA Card Services credit card doesn’t automatically grant you access to Bill Pay Choice. If I signed up and got a Schwab Invest First card tomorrow I wouldn’t have access to the special billpay. Most people who have this feature were grandfathered in years ago through their old MBNA cards. What’s nice, though, is that once you’re in on one card, all your FIA cards get access… usually.

    Oddly enough, though, if I signed up for the Fidelity Visa card serviced through FIA tomorrow I -would- have access to Bill Pay Choice (probably–it worked for someone last year). It seems that the Fido Visa is the only option for newcomers to get access to this awesome feature. Fortunately, though, like I said before, once you get billpay on the Fido Visa you can extend it to any other FIA cards (like the Schwab or Merrill ones).

    Also, fyi, I’ve read that FIA Card Services -is- Bank of America–FIA is what card issuers use when they don’t want their customers to know that their cards are being services by BoA.

    Thanks for the blog, by the way! If it weren’t for this post I’d have had no idea that this feature even existed Take care~
14. dan on May 26, 2009 | permalink
    
     

    not sure if it is true, but I just called Charles Schwab cust. service and they said that as long as you dont use bill pay choice you are eligible for the 2% cash back on mortgage payments.
15. Justin on May 26, 2009 | permalink
    
     

    Yeah Dan, that is correct. Bills paid to lenders that accept credit card payments qualify for cash back here because technically they’re considered retail purchases.

    Unfortunately, though, not many lenders have it set up so you can make mortgage payments with your credit card (without using Bill Pay Choice, anyway). However, a lot of other kinds of payments, like utility bills, can be set up just fine. It sure sounds nice getting 2% off on stuff like that

    Justin
16. Justin on May 26, 2009 | permalink
    
     

    Also, I just got accepted for a Schwab Invest First FIA card and I’m going to try a few different ways to get Bill Pay Choice on it–I’ll let you guys know how it goes

    
17. Justin on June 2, 2009 | permalink
    
     

    Good deal! I guess the information I got before wasn’t entirely correct

    Someone with no ties to MBNA or FIA or anything can apply for a Schwab Invest First Visa and start enjoying Bill Pay Choice as soon as they get it, no questions asked. Just register on fiacardservices.com

    Worked for me, anyway Thanks guys!
18. cuse on November 28, 2009 | permalink
    
     

    they no longer let you pay with a credit card if you have a Bank of America mortgage i was told you can still pay with cc if you had a loan with countrywide tho
19. Anie on December 17, 2009 | permalink
    
     

    I just called B of A and they won’t let you pay your B of A mortgage with a credit card. They will let you pay with “convenience” checks though…but those are ridiculous with the fees that are attached.
    Still going to try to get in on the Schwab First card for benefits alone!
20. Sergey on January 22, 2010 | permalink
    
     

    I followed this forum and decided to try Fidelity Investment Card. I received the card today, went to http://www.fiacardservices.com and created a user login by registering the credit card. Once I created the profile I saw Bill Pay option and I had the ability to add merchants. I searched for my mortgage company, found it, added account number and the zip code and the Bill Pay added my mortgage company to the list of bills I can pay. I have not paid the mortgage yet but will try in February. I expect it to be pretty straightforward.
21. Lin on March 28, 2010 | permalink
    
     

    Sergey,

    So….did it work for February?
22. Paul K on April 2, 2010 | permalink
    
     

    “When every mortgage payment is deferred by a month, it’s equivalent to having one monthly payment in my pocket as an interest-free loan forever.”

    Wow, all that creativity in your head and you are still hopelessly in debt!

    If I set aside my lunch and wait until dinner-time to eat it – was it free? No.

    People who buy into this debt juggling act really need help. Perhaps there will soon be a pill for the condition.
23. Tyler E on May 3, 2010 | permalink
    
     

    To Paul K-

    Think outside of the box a little, man. If you get free float that means you can put that money into a CD or money market account where you can earn interest. Not everyone who would take advantage of this would use the money unwisely. If they do, then they should get what’s coming to them. However your comments are pretty narrow-minded.
24. Liran on May 4, 2010 | permalink
    
     

    Here’s another thing Paul – think about it this way.

    Let’s say you could pause all your payments by a month, interest free…just on inflation alone you’d be saving a tremendous amount because by the time you paid it all off the money would probably only be worth half, if that. This is a great deal – now if only there was a way to get some rewards out of this…
25. Deirdre on June 5, 2010 | permalink
    
     

    I think this is a great idea for those of us that have AMEX charge cards. You can’t get into trouble since the bill is due in full every month, but you get the benefit of the rewards points. I am sorry to say that my mortgage lender (SunTrust) is not set-up to take credit cards.
26. Wonderer on June 7, 2010 | permalink
    
     

    “If you have upgraded Bill Pay Choice to pay bills using your credit card, all payments funded with your credit card are Out-of-Network AND WILL NOT EARN POINTS. unless there is an In-Network logo In-Network next to the make a payment button.”
27. Scott on July 30, 2010 | permalink
    
     

    Just recently got my FIA Fidelity Amex and started using bill pay. I want to make my BofA mortgage payment using bill pay but I can’s find BofA under possible bill pay merchants. Help?
28. TFB on July 30, 2010 | permalink
    
     

    Scott – I heard FIA (owned by B of A) does not allow paying bills owed to B of A from the card. Paying credit cards or mortgage from other banks is OK.
29. Rob on August 1, 2010 | permalink
    
     

    I’ve been using this set-up for awhile, paying my american express bill and auto-loan payments with my BoA MasterCard. I do this to avoid monitoring my checking account balance with each paid bill, I just check it once a month, when I pay my BoA MasterCard.

    Unfortunately it appears BoA is eliminating that option this year. Earlier this week I received a letter from BoA saying “As of September 30, 2010, customers will no longer be able to use their Bank of America credit card to make or schedule payments to merchants through our online Bill Pay Service”

    So I can continue to pay bills online, but I must pay those bills with my BoA checking account.

    I tried calling them to find out why they made the change, but just got passed around from rep to rep and nobody really seemed to know why it was occurring.

    Does anyone know any other credit card that offer this service?
30. Alex on August 29, 2010 | permalink
    
     

    I have been using this service as well for several years now. It offers convenience, flexibility and of course float. I can accumulate points in all of the other credit cards and then pay it all at once.

    The service is being eliminated and I cant seem to find another company that does this without charging a fee, and this has me very frustrated. Apparently, bank of america bought FIA card services, the cards that have this ability.

    Well its life I guess….

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