MilesBuzz! - CC payments between individuals--alternatives to Paypal?

I looked into using Paypal to pay my rent via CC, but the fees are ridiculous for accepting credit card payments (naturally, I would have to cover any fees my landlord would incur as a result of my creative payment plan).

Does anyone know of alternative methods of using a credit card to pay another individual? My landlord is not a business entity, and therefore does not have and will not get a CC merchant account. This would have to work like Paypal.

Google Checkout is your friend.

Google Checkout is your friend.To be fair, Google still charges 2%+$0.20 ... this is a full 33% lower than PayPal, but is still not zero and could be non-negligible for large payments like rent.

If you have a credit card issued directly by American Express (rather than an Amex card issued by another bank), you potentially pay using the traveler's cheques that you can purchase fee-free (but only from travel centers owned and operated by Amex). You'd have to be able to complete the transaction in-person though ... travelers cheques are treated like cash so you'd have to get a receipt in case the landlord disputes that you paid in full.

I can't think of any other way to do it without significant (2-3%) fees.

I hate paypal after they demanded a huge pile of documentation including photos of my house, electricty bills and a bunch of other personal information when my credit card address did not match the location indicated by the IP number I was using to send the application.

try www.ikobo.com

Not cheap, but efficient and the costs are reasonable.

Thanks, everyone.

I just checked out Google and the 2% charge means that I will basically be buying skymiles for $.02/mi, which is not worth it to me.

I will probably go the route of buying AMEX cheques and depositing them in the landlord's bank account. At this point, I have to pay in person at a bank branch anyway, since the landlord is in another country and I refuse to pay wire fees.

Can you deposit travelers cheques in your own bank account, to use them the same way the OP wants to, but instead make the payment from your checking account?

I think there are some alternatives discussed at www.paypalsucks.com

I hate paypal after they demanded a huge pile of documentation including photos of my house, electricty bills and a bunch of other personal information when my credit card address did not match the location indicated by the IP number I was using to send the application.


Concur. PayPal is a nightmare if they decide (and it's totally arbitrary) that something isn't "right" with your account. They will lock down your account, freeze your funds and not allow you to do anything until you fax them reams of documentation to "prove" who you are.

You might think the odds of this happening to you are slim, or that only people engaged in shady transactions have this happen to them. You'd be wrong on both counts.

In general, you're not going to find a way to make credit card charges with a fee less than what the miles are worth. That fee is what pays for the miles in the first place, so the credit card company is not going to want to give you miles for free.

However, there have been various loopholes -- the Amex T/Cs are one. How would your landlord feel about a bunch of rolls of dollar coins?:D

How would your landlord feel about a bunch of rolls of dollar coins?:D

LOL

Unless you spend on vendors who regularly accept CCs, you are most of the time better of buying the miles at ~ $0.01. If you are willing ot fork out the cash, thne you should have plenty of options, but personally I have never understood the schemes where people pay to play.