Paying a CC Balance with another CC (w/o Transferring)

May 12, 2005 11:39 AM

I bought an engagement ring with the store CC and was given 6 months no interest. Well that six months is almost up, and I'd love to be able to get my CC's 1% cash-back. Problem is, if I transfer the money to my CC, I don't get the 1% back. I have the money and can pay it off, but 1% is a significant amount and I'd like to finagle that 1% into my wallet if at all possible. Is there anything I can do? Thanks for the help, SEINFELD
posted by seinfeld to Shopping (3 answers total)

Purchase something for a friend of equivalent amount (I understand the difficulty in this proposition). Have them pay you cash (and the difficulty in this proposition) and then use that case to pay off the store.

You could always just ask the store if you could pay off your remaining balance with a credit card. I am pretty sure the answer is no, but nothing ventured nothing gained.
posted by caddis at 11:56 AM on May 12, 2005

Your question is: Can you charge the balance of credit card A to credit card B? Well it is likely that credit card B has a balance transfer program where they will issue you a blank check to pay the balance on credit card A. However, it is unlikely that you will earn 1% on back since that is a transfer and not a *purchase* ... so IMO, no, there is nothing you can do.
posted by fourstar at 12:02 PM on May 12, 2005

The store will pay (at best) 1.8% extra for the use of the credit card. My store pays 2.5%, which is actually good by industry standards (AMEX charges 5%, which is why I just charge 5% extra for AMEX users -- who cares, it isn't like anybody actually *HAS* an American Express card where I am anyways -- I've only ever seen 2 in as many years).

On an item where it's worth it to *you* to futz about to save 1% of the price, imagine how much more effort that place will put on keeping you from using that credit card to pay off the item. They may just charge you the 1.8% upfront. This is not always allowed by various agreements, but retailers regularly break it. The credit card companies don't say much about it because the other choice is the company will just say "screw off" to the fees and just not accept credit cards. Which would *YOU* prefer if you were VISA/MC.
posted by shepd at 12:02 PM on May 12, 2005