Originally Posted by
nvtech
Hello FT Community,
I have recurring Insurance payments and unfortunately, the provider doesn't take cards and it has to be only bank EFT.
The other option I have is to send a check.
I am trying to explore the options of using credit cards or visa gift cards to make payments from external providers.
I checked Western Union, Money Gram, and Plastiq and found the provider is present at all of those places.
Plastiq is the only one I see with the lowest fee of 2.5% on credit cards.
Do I have any better options to use Visa gift cards?..maybe WM bill pay?...appreciate your suggestions.
I have the same problem.
I have explored many ways to try and pay my Life Insurance (and I am being specific about Life Insurance) bill, but my company will only accept, as you noted, EFT or personal check.
Unfortunately, Life Insurance can be used for money laundering, especially whole life where there is a savings element to the policy along with the insurance. So, for example, a criminal who wanted to wash 3 million dollars of ill gotten cash, could go and buy a 3 million dollar whole life policy (using lots of MOs, for example) which for the first year had a insurance cost of $100K and a savings segment of $2.9M. He then takes a loan on the $2.9M savings portion and lets the policy lapse. It cost him $100K to wash $3M. This is why the Feds strictly regulate how money is paid into buying Life Insurance policies.
Now to your question.
I do my usual MSing by buying GCs and converting them into MOs. I deposit the MOs into a specific bank checking account and use that account to pay my life insurance bills as well as any other bill that only accepts cash or checks.
While my purists do not consider this true MSing, I don't see the difference. I have used my CC to buy GCs and convert to MOs to pay a bill (albeit by check).
Hope this helps.
Edit: I thought that your question was about "Life Insurance". I think that since your provider is in multiple sites such as Plastique, your question may be more general about insurance such as Auto or Home. People with knowledge about using WMBP, etc. can answer your question more correctly. However, my point about Life Insurance payments stands.