Payments to third parties with credit card
 

Sorry if this has already been answered -- but as I understand it, services like ChargeSmart allow you to use your CC (for a fee) to pay certain types of vendors (mortgage, rent, auto insurance etc., but some specific categories). And others, like Amazon, let you pay anyone, but that person has to have an Amazon account.

Is there a service that would allow me to use my CC to pay a third party who doesn't have an account? Ideally the service would just cut a check to the third party and send it on my behalf. I realize this would entail a fee; I don't particularly mind the fee (obviously lower fee is preferable to higher, but I'm willing to pay ~2-3% for this).

Thanks (feel free to merge into another thread if necessary).

If you are looking for a service that cuts a check, I think williampaid does this. I have not used it nor have I read through the entire thread, but here's the info: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...nt-online.html

You could do somehing similar by using two Paypal accounts. I think the Paypal fee in a Premier account for receiving payments funded from a credit card is something like 2.9% plus 30 cents. This will allow you to charge cash to a credit card and get the points/spend for a fee, but it won't handle the "send a check" part.

Williampaid says they're designed to "pay your rent". I'm more interested in paying a generic third party. The paypal option doesn't work because the recipient doesn't want the hassle of opening an account. They're generally paid by check and want to continue receiving a check from me.

My bank will do this from my checking account but obviously that doesn't earn miles.

The business model for williampaid is to pay rent, but basically it just cuts a check to whomever you designate. You can basically set your third party as a landlord and send them a check. 2.95% fee, so it is not cheap, but in theory you can send yourself a check. I have been using this site for more than a year, grandfathered to 2.45%, use it to meet minimum spend. I hate the website and user interface, not intuitive, but it does the job.

paydivy and paypal have same fee of over 3% i think.
don't know any other sites where you can send money to another person with credit card and fee is just 3% or less?
i am not talking about chargesmart or williamspaid.

Venmo is also 3% and you can deposit the money straight to the bank

Thanks for the tip about williampaid -- I didn't realize you can just designate anyone you want as your "landlord".

Of course what would be easiest is if the guy would just sign up for Amazon Payments but, ah well.

so have you sent money (thru credit card) to anyone using williampaid yet?
just select LANDLORD right? still a 3% fee?

for a second, get the word "landlord" off your mind, when you do a payment it just asks you the name of who to write the check and address of where the check is going to be sent to. WP could care less of who you send it to, as long as they get their 2.95%.

Lets do a test, I can PM you my name and address and you cut a check for $1,000. When I get the check and cash it I'll let you know.

Funny
 

Funny, I would also be willing to help you out with this test :)

@ORD-TGU - Have you had any experience with different credit cards using this services, different banks?

I am troubled by a trend that I fear is being repeated in this thread.

Williampaid is a service designed and intended to pay a landlord for rent. For those of us who use it legitimately, it works well.

I like the service so much that I called and asked if they would also allow me to pay my mortgage, which they declined as they said they are only set up to pay landlords at this time.

For those of you who think nothing of trying to "scam" the system by substituting someone other than a landlord to avail yourselves of the service - have you no shame? This is no different than those who would also think nothing of buying a high priced item at Costco.com, charging it to a Visa card and then returning it to a store and getting a cash refund.....all in the name of collecting points and miles.

This service works well for the use it is intended for. Please do not ruin it for us by forcing them to take more restrictive measures or to raise fees because of increased overhead necessitated by people trying to use the system for a purpose other that as it was designed.

FrAAmer, no disrespect, but what does WP care who you send the check to, they collect their 3% either way? This is not the same as Costco who has to eat the fee from the credit card company when you return something - WP is passing it along to you. Are you suggesting that the more business they have, the more they will need to charge in fees?

Agree with cjpat on this one. I've got to make a monthly payment of about $1100 to a third party. Not sure why WP would care if it's my "landlord" or someone else.

That said, if they have a rule that says you can only use it for rent, I might stay away; I wouldn't want to have funds frozen or anything like that.

(But of course that was the very reason I posted in the first place -- I wanted to know if there are services that will cut a check to a third party that don't have these restrictions (rent, mortgage, auto, etc.))