It is possible to pay a credit card with a credit card by doing a balance transfer or a cash advance, for example, but you cannot make a credit card the regular payment method for another credit card account. Accepted payment methods for monthly credit card bills generally include bank transfers, checks, and money orders.... read full answer
You cannot consistently pay a credit card’s bill with another credit card for several reasons. For one thing, credit card companies won’t let you. Credit card transactions are also more expensive to process than bank transfers, which means accepting credit card payments would eat into credit card companies’ profit margins. Besides, if you could pay credit card bills with credit cards, it could be possible to keep shifting debt around without ever actually paying it. But with some maneuvering, there are ways to make a one-off transaction work.
4 ways you can pay a credit card with another credit card:
- Do a balance transfer: If you’re unable to pay your credit card bill in full and are paying a high interest rate, you may want to consider a balance transfer. This allows you to transfer your credit card balance to a different card with better financing terms (perhaps an introductory period with a 0% APR for a set number of months). That way, you can pay off your credit card bill over time without worrying about as much interest being applied. This does amount to paying your credit card bill with a credit card, but it’s more of a one-off way to save money on interest than a viable recurring option.
- Use a mobile payment service: One way to pay a credit card with another credit card is to use a mobile payment app such as PayPal or Venmo as a middleman. These apps allow you to transfer money from user to user, and you can fund them with a credit card. In other words, you could use your credit card to pay a friend or family member through the app, and they can then make your credit card payment for you or give you the money to do it yourself. You can earn rewards with this method, but there may be fees to contend with. In addition, be aware that some person-to-person credit card transactions on Venmo will show up as cash advances on Mastercard and Visa credit cards, which typically come with high fees and APRs.
- Purchase a money order: Companies like MoneyGram and Western Union allow you to send money to a particular phone number or email address, or pick up cash from a physical location, and fund the transaction with a credit card. However, this is usually treated as a cash advance, which means expensive fees and interest charges would apply, in addition to the fees charged by the service.
- Do a cash advance: You could take out a cash advance at an ATM, deposit the money into your checking account, and then pay your credit card bill from there. However, considering the high fees and interest rates that accompany cash advances, not to mention the low limits on such transactions, that’s unlikely to work very well. It would be a very expensive way to pay one credit card bill, let alone recurring bills over time. The same generally goes for the various other ways you can transfer money from a credit card to a bank account, too.
Despite the availability of these options, the best way to pay your credit card bills still is to set up automatic deposits from a checking or savings account. As long as you have enough money in your bank account, you won’t miss any payments.
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