u2jrmw

This is my situation. I am looking at $22,000 OTD on a car I am about to buy. I plan on paying 10k and financing the remaining 12k.

I had an idea that if I put the 10k on my mastercard I can get 1% back (I have the cash in the bank so I can just pay it off the next day). However from what I read most dealers won't allow this because they are charged a merchant fee.

Anybody had any success with this?

sillyuser

Good luck with that. I tried to pay for the whole car to get miles and cash back -- they'll only let me put a $1,000 on a card.

They probably pay close to 2% merchant card fee so it's understandable.

snagitseven

It depends on the dealer and the deal. If they worked it tight, they are less likely to accept a significant credit card amount. In the past I've been able to put as much as $5K but on my A4 only $2K. Unless you paid near list price, it's very doubtful they'll accept anything close to $10K using your card.

Bayman48

I was able to put 5k on my card, and paid 5k in cash...so we split the difference...it might help to come to the dealer when closing the deal and then say, well i only have my credit card, no check or cash...or i only have xxx amount of cash on hand or in my account so i have to put the rest on credit card...they may be anxious to finish the deal after coming so far and just give in and let you..it worked for me to split the difference.

dk1

One of my cheap friends tried to buy a Lexus like that. He always does ridiculous and embarassing things to same a buck and he was only able to put 2000 on the credit card. Something tells me it's pretty much the limit of what you can charge for a new car.

Lyman_T

Just call the credit card company and have them issue a bank check for the amount you want put on your card account. That should take care of both problems.

u2jrmw

I've never heard of doing something like that... Assuming I am closing the deal on Saturday I probably don't have time. Also I wonder if they would honor cashback for that.

u2jrmw

If I put the full $10000 on my cc I would get $1000, that is pretty significant.

need_TQM

1% of $10,000 is not $1,000.

Hobbes

Most credit card companies will treat that as a cash advance and tack on a fairly significant fee. They also often charge a higher interest rate for those charges in many cases (for those who won't be paying it off immediately).