Want to Pay Rent or Mortgage on a Credit Card? Here’s How
A few months ago, Laqueshia Clemons and her husband were looking for a way to earn the most points through credit cards. After some exploration, they decided to give Bern
MasterCard
* bring it on.
Bilt Mastercard is a unique housing credit card, which aims to help you make rewards for paying rent. According to a report later this year Member letter BILT will also provide mortgage payment points on its website. Another kind of housing credit card, recently launched Mesa Homeowners Visa® Signature Preferred Credit Card*, also allows homeowners to earn credit card points to pay mortgage loans.
Clemons is a 35 -year -old financial therapist Free life therapy Headquartered in Connecticut, you now use BILT card to pay monthly rent, electricity, mobile phone fees, auto insurance premiums and streaming subscription fees. She and her husband deposited about $ 2,500 on the Bilt card every month, and got a lot of reward points in the process.
Since housing is the largest expenditure of most American families, the use of credit cards for large continuous expenditure, such as rent or mortgage Payment may make sense. But is the use of housing credit cards worth taking this risk? Let’s take a closer look.
Should you pay housing costs with a credit card?
Paying any fees (including housing) with a credit card may be worth it, but this always depends on your budget and expenditure model. If you are in a financial predicament or have unpaid medical expenses due to the recent unemployment, you don’t want your housing costs to cause interest and make you further lose.
However, if you are convinced that you can use the card carefully (which means that you can pay the balance immediately when expired), then using a credit card may be a good way to accumulate points.
For example, Clemons pays off her balance every week. Part of each salary is directly used for credit card payment, and she never has interest. Because her card is paid in full monthly, she can earn points without being affected by the high annual interest rate or cost.
“I can accumulate enough points to deduct money from my rent,” she said. Although it may only spend a few more dollars per month, these extra money can be used to buy things, such as drinking coffee on the way to work.
Beau Wirick, 38 years old, wealth consultant Morton Wealth He has lived in California in the past few years.
“Obtaining rent points can change the rules of the game, so I recommend using a BILT card to achieve this,” Wirick said. Wirick can get the best exchange value through the transfer of points and through BILT travel partners, and points can be used for flights, car rental, hotels and activities.
Why not pay for housing costs with credit cards?
The disadvantage of paying the housing costs using credit cards is that if you do not have enough money to pay the balance every month, you will accumulate more debt. Paying housing costs in traditional ways is usually safer, that is, to transfer, open a check or pass the bill through your bank account through ACH.
It is also important to verify the cost with your landlord or property manager. Although the BILT and MESA cards do not have the annual fee (the BILT card does not pay the rental transaction fee), if you use a credit card to pay, your landlord may charge a handling fee.
One way to avoid this situation with BILT is to choose from Belter ProtectionIt allows you to pay rent and earn points without using your credit limit. Through this function, funds can be extracted directly from your affiliated bank account. If you choose not to use this feature, your rent will be deducted directly from your Bilt Master Card, just like any other costs on your credit card.
Are there any requirements for housing credit cards?
There is no unique requirement for credit cards specially used to pay housing costs. To obtain Bilt Mastercaya qualifications, you must be a resident of 18 years of age and a territory in the United States or its territory. Technically, there is no minimum credit score for approval, but it is recommended to score into good to excellent (670 to 850).
To earn points on the BILT card, you need to conduct at least five transactions on each billing cycle. To ensure that you will never miss this threshold, try setting your BILT card to the default method of continuous expenditure.
Company representatives said that for the MESA card, anyone who has qualified devices and can access the App Store and Google Play can directly join the alternate list. Once you are invited to apply, you will need to provide additional information in order to make a credit decision on your application, similar to other unparalleled consumer credit cards.
What are the rewards for BILT and MESA card?
Bernoma
Bild discount You can earn 1 times your points per $ 1Up to 100,000 points each year. To earn points, you need to use the card at least five times during the period of the monthly bill. You can get higher points when you spend in travel and restaurants. As a Bilt cardholder, you can get special benefits in cooperative restaurants, fitness studios and carpool applications.
You can transfer points through the following ways Bolt’s travel portal You can also accumulate extra points when booking through the portal.
If you pay on time every month, in addition to improving your credit score, BILT also has an additional function, allowing you to choose to report your rent payment to the three credit bureaus. This can also be Improve your scoreEssence
MESA Homeowners Visa Signature preferred credit card
At present, you need to join the alternate list to register the Mesa Visa card, which can be purchased on the App Store and Google Play.
Messa Credit Card Different rewards The interest rate depends on your purchase: you can get 1x points for each US $ 1 per month; you can get 2x points for purchasing daily necessities (such as food grocery and gasoline); transactions related to home furnishings (such as public utilities, maintenance, decoration and decoration and decoration Home decoration projects) can get 3 times points; all other items can get 1x points.
You can also enjoy other benefits, such as SAM’s Club member qualifications and MESA brand partners (such as Thumbtack and WAG!). The earning points can be exchanged for bill credit, gift cards, travel and mortgage loans.
What are the protection measures for BILT or MESA?
Sharing sensitive information with the other side always bring risks, so it is important to ensure your account information security.
BILT and MESA credit cards have standard zero liability protection, which helps ensure the security of your sensitive personal and financial data and prevent fraud. Because BILT is a joint brand of MasterCard and Wells Fargo, it is equipped with 24/7 anti -theft protection.
“You need to ensure that they have appropriate guarantee measures to transmit your payment information to your landlords, property managers or mortgage companies,” said Jovan Johnson, a co -founder of CFP and co -founder. Part of wealth planningEssence “Find other card functions, such as fraud alerts or virtual card numbers, which can increase the additional protective layer.”
Is the housing credit card worthy of adventure?
Each credit card has specific benefits and bonuses, so it is a good idea to study its advantages and disadvantages before applying. BILT has become more mature and should soon expand its scope of influence. The coverage of MESA is still quite limited, so it is worth more research on terms and conditions.
Financial experts said that credit cards should be used only if they have the ability to pay the bills and avoid the balance. Otherwise, it is easy to immediately fall into debt due to high interest.
“The purpose of the credit card plan is to inspire you to spend more money, just like that,” Welk said. “As long as you can prevent yourself from getting into bad habits, do it.”
*All information about Bilt Mastercard and MESA Homeowners Visa Signature is independently collected by CNET and has not been reviewed by CNET.
