Paying Off Credit Card Question

[lonelyt]

I have a Wells Fargo checking account and a Wells Fargo Visa, so I can transfer money from the checking to the Visa very easily through their Wells Fargo Online website.

I recently signed up for an Amazon.com Visa for the $30 promotion and because I figured I might as well start earning some reward points on regular purchases. I was wondering if its possible to pay off this Amazon Visa with my Wells Visa, then pay off my Wells Visa with my checking. I just don't want to get into writing paper checks. I'm just afraid to accidentally wade into the "balance transfer" waters (which I know nothing about) when I'm really just trying to pay a bill.

Then I thought to myself, what if I have a rewards program on my Wells Fargo Visa, and by paying the Amazon.com Visa off with my Wells Fargo Visa, wouldn't I be earning points for both cards?

For example, $100 purchase with Amazon.com Visa (+100 points for Amazon), pay off $100 Amazon.com Visa bill with Wells Fargo Visa (+100 points for Wells), pay off Wells Visa with Wells checking.

I'm not saying I'm planning on doing this, just wondering if that made any sense or if that would be a reason they wouldn't allow paying off a credit card bill with another credit card.

 

[zanieladie]

I don't think they let you pay one credit card with another credit card unless you are doing a balance tranfer.

 

[dullard]

Think of it this way:

In your proposed situation, where does Wells Fargo earn its 4% transaction fee? Ie, where does it profit, and where does it get money to give you those rewards.

If you can't answer that, then you know the answer to your question.

 

[lonelyt]

So I probably cannot pay off the Amazon.com Visa bill with my Wells Fargo credit card?

I'm not even enrolled in the Wells Fargo Visa rewards program because there's a fee. I'm just wondering if I can use it or not to pay off my Amazon.com Visa bill. If I can't, would I be able to use my debit card #? I just want to avoid having to write checks; I just want to do it electronically.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: lonelyt
So I probably cannot pay off the Amazon.com Visa bill with my Wells Fargo credit card?

I'm not even enrolled in the Wells Fargo Visa rewards program because there's a fee. I'm just wondering if I can use it or not to pay off my Amazon.com Visa bill. If I can't, would I be able to use my debit card #? I just want to avoid having to write checks; I just want to do it electronically.

You may be able to transfer balances. But doing that outside a special promotion is quite costly on your part. There is often a upfront fee AND you pay interest from the day the balance is transferred, and interest on the interest, etc.

Most places let you pay online and withdraw directly from your checking for free, I don't know about Amazon. As a last resort, you could pay your bank a small fee to pay Amazon (some banks do this for free if you meet certain requirements).

 

[Mermaidman]

AFAIK, the only way you can pay one CC bill with another CC is through a balance transfer or with a 'check.' Here are the pitfalls:
-Balance transfers usually don't earn rewards or points
-As you mentioned, you don't know when the balance is actually transferred
-Credit card 'checks' usually have a fee and sometimes a higher APR. I don't know if you earn rewards/points when you use such checks.

In other words--clever idea, but ain't gonna work.

 

[Kelemvor]

It's called a Balance Transfer and it takes a week or so to go trough most times. Can also get those checks they send you with your statement every so often and use those. Basically the same thing. And balance transfers sometimes get extra interested charged to them.

 

[kranky]

You can't pay one credit card with another without going through the long hassle of a balance transfer. And you certainly can't do it every month.

You'll probably find you can pay the Amazon card online using your checking account.

 

[astrocase]

You don't get reward points when you do a balance transfer. Trust me I've tried. I've got a 0% credit card and figured I'd just transfer it over to my other card after a year, pay it off and win-win with no interest payments and all those extra points. No dice though.

Personally I could care less about those points. You get what? A free airline ticket after spending $25,000? That's stupid. What I've come to realize is that by getting a 0% C.C. and then putting that money away in a money market account I can get 4.5%-4.7% on that money for a year. Not bad. I'm hoping to transfer my 0% to another 0% and keep that racket going.

Granted all this is based upon the fact that you have the money to pay off your credit card in full.

 

[dabuddha]

So what about bill pay services with credit cards? Are those considered "balance transfers?"

 

[RossMAN]

I'll make it simple.

This requires a balance transfer from Wells to Chase (Amazon) which does NOT earn any rewards. Most cc's only allow you to earn rewards on PURCHASES not balance transfers

If you have the funds in a checking account, just login to your online banking and send a payment to Chase after you have received your first statement.