bocastephen

Actually since I was an ardent critic, I'll step in and say the issue with Wells Fargo appears to be fixed.

The 'big fee' cutoff is about $1,200 - but is subject to change depending on the size of payments that are made by WF customers. Let's hope people start making bigger payments and bump that number up.

We compared the cost of doing 4 transactions of $1200 each and avoiding the big fee, vs. just making one big payment and sucking up the large payment fee - the difference in the end was about $15 which was not worth the hassle.

By using the Travelocity Mastercard, we're earning about $2,500 in gross credits each year against a ChargeSmart fee cost of about $1,300 for a net benefit of about $1,200 - which in my view, still makes it OK - but if it was any less, we'd probably not bother, especially given these results assume no future changes to the Travelocity Mastercard program and a continued ability to earn 2pt per dollar.

4Health

What's the deal with jacking up the fee? The fee for my WF payment went from $9.95 before they fixed "the glitch" to $24.95, which just made this deal go from bank to bust. And Bocastephen, you are right, the cutoff for me is around $1200 as well.

bocastephen

They are making about 2% on each transaction with the higher fee - as long as you make 4% or better from your rewards card (not many cards can pull this off), you're still profiting. With Travelocity, I can still earn airline mileage on the flights, which can be used for free tickets, thus adding a little 'compounding' to the benefit.

It's still a good program if you have the right card - but if not, it probably won't work for most.

4Health

Which card would allow me to earn 4% on each transaction? I have my fair share of cards but I don't think I have any that will give me 4%. Thanks!

bocastephen

The Travelocity Mastercard might be one of the only examples of a card that can do this, and only if choose the annual fee option to earn double points - although there could be one or two other cards out there. I'm not even sure if the Travelocity card is still being issued.

MilesToGoBeforeISleep

here's another datapoint I did as a test:

amount $3890

fee - $22.95
security fee - $69.xx

about 2.4%

lender : chase

I would NEVER pay this fee as it is too high and there are other ways to get to miles for a lot less (groceries etc).

Also, I really don't like the way you don't know the fee without putting in all of your info including your CC. i think that is very sneaky and frankly not necessary. you should be allowed to put in your amount and bank and get the total fees. My opinion of a business that does it this way is that they are not trustworthy.

could work for some but I would not do it

Ritz

+1^

bocastephen

This product only works for three categories of customer:

1) those without sufficient cash to pay their obligations who need to float the payment or pay it off over time

2) those with a rewards card that pays a return significantly higher than the cost - I believe only the Travelocity Mastercard was in this category (4% return depending on the award tier you selected). The TM card is no more and ChargeSmart doesn't take Amex, so this deal was toast before it ever got started. My other half is probably going to charge 2-3 advance mortgage payments using CS and TM before the card is turned off so they can snag an extra 30,000 Travelocity points.

3) those with a rewards card that pays on par with the cost, but offers other benefits that make the card worth keeping and charging as much as possible on it

For everyone else, this is probably not a program or process that makes sense.

TGGDEL

Forgive me if this is a silly question and I am just not getting it...
If you are paying a mortgage anyway, and not currently making any miles/points on the money spent, then doesn't this offer a way to at least make some miles/points on money you would otherwise not get anything for?

It is entirely possible that I'm not understanding this and missed a crucial part of the process.
Yes, the fees may be higher than anyone would like, and as someone mentioned, Chargesmart is trying to make a profit and maybe once they increase in size they can lower their fees. Ultimately, they are providing an opportunity to make miles/points where no one could before?

Edit - the only thing I can think of is if it would be cheaper to buy the same amount of miles? If the fee associated with Chargesmart is more than it would cost to buy the same or more miles directly from the airline, or whatever, then it's a no brainer that this is a bad deal...

rrgg

The main issue is whether the fee outweighs the value of the miles earned. The other issue is whether you can buy the points outright for less than the fee. These can be personal decisions.

The other thing to consider is that this might help you meet a spending threshold, for example the $30k thresholds on the Chase BA Visa or SPG AMEX.

ooodsie

If the fees werent so high, or if they took Amex - I would have approx 12k of mortgages to charge per month, as well as 2 car payments.

bocastephen

If they took Amex, the fees would need to be much higher - I believe even Amex cards issued by non-Amex banks carry the higher merchant fees. They would probably need to charge around 4% to cover their merchant costs and make a profit, making it impossible for one of us to make our own 'profit' on the deal.

koctail

I can pay my property taxes in the county I live in (Santa Clara) via CC, and even AMEX is accepted with 2.5% fee. My taxes are approx $7K a year. I see it only making sense to hit a spending limit, such as the SPG 15K in 6 months, but even then I don't know if I would do it. I am extremely cheap...ha and I just can't rationalize paying one cent more in property taxes than the outrageous amount I am paying now.

garimell

I completely agree with the analysis thus far that, if one needs the miles in big doses + quickly and if buying the miles from the airline is cheaper, then, ChargeSmart's fees do not make sense.

For my mortgage payment + fees, the math works out to about 2.42 cents per mile. With some bonus promos from time to time, AAdvantage miles, for instance, can be had from American at times for under 2 cents per mile.

BUT, I've been plodding on with making my mortgage payment via CS! Why?

- I do like the ~45 day float of the payment on the credit card (which I do religiously pay off when due).

- And, spreading the cost of accrual of the miles (the fees in ChargeSmart's case) over several months by making monthly mortgage payments via CS is, in my opinion, more palatable for me than plonking down several hundred dollars in one shot to buy the miles from the airline. It has also been my experience that buyAAMiles does NOT seem to have bonus promotions exactly when I need the miles

4Health

I just put in all my info to see if the fees had changed and I noticed that they offer a $10/month discount if you sign up for recurring payments. Is that something new? I don't recall seeing that before. That would bring my monthly fees from $24.95 to $14.95 on a $1,200 payment. Still not cheap enough for me to do it. For $10 a month, I would consider it, but I'm just too darn cheap.