Originally Posted by rrgg
I read through the thread and did a search for "debit," but am very surprised no one discussed a point about debit cards.
Early in this thread, there's a link to a NYT article on paying taxes by credit card. It reads, "
Link2Gov waives the fee for users of debit cards, though such cards rarely have rewards programs. (Link2Gov is at pay1040.com or 888-658-5465."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/04/bu...Ny+M5wruoDbDpQ
I'm about to upgrade my Citi debit card to a Citi Aadvantage Debit Card.
https://web.da-us.citibank.com/popup...age_Debit.html
If the convenience fee continues to be waived in 2007, I could
earn miles for my entire tax bill with no convenience fee. The only potential fee is the annual fee for the card (which I think may be waived depending on your relationship with Citi).
Did anyone try this?
Thanks.
Edited to add: I could not find this documented at the pay1040 site and asked them about it. They said this was offered in 2006 by H and R Block, when filing using tax software and making a debit payment through pay1040.com. They won't know until January whether it will be offered again.
(For the record, I could not find this policy documented at the pay1040 site and am waiting for them to respond to my email.)
Thanks
The NYT article considers it "unusual" to have a credit limit of as much as $24K on own's card. Really?
The article explains to those who cannot figure such simple things out for themselves that it is not worth it to pay 2.49 cpm, maybe not worth it at even half that price (1.245 when getting double miles). But this conclusion is base on using the miles for a saver domestic ticket. (A saver domestic ticket for most will require 25K miles, not 24K, and the cost of miles will actually be just be bit less than 2.49 or 1.245, but we won't quibble with the author over such fine points.) It does not consider what miles might be worth to someone who wanted to top off their balance with just a few thousand miles to get them an award, nor does it consider the much greater value of miles when used for a C or F international ticket. That's good, though, since then there won't be more people encouraged to go after the choicest of award seats.
And if you are the type who makes only the monthly minimum payment and flirts with bankruptcy, then maybe the advice offered in this NYT article will be worthwhile. For those who are more sophisticated about FFPs and personal finance, the article is pretty useless, like so much of the personal financial matters offered in the NYT, WPost, and even the WSJ.
And I very much doubt that there is any way to finesse the "convenience fee" when paying taxes by credit
or debit card. And I will believe it is possible to use either a credit or debit card without any such fee
and earn miles doing so when I see a working model of a perpetual motion machine.