The college S is attending does not charge a processing fee to pay by credit card. (D’s school did). For those that pay for some/all college costs and do so by cc, what card do you use now? What benefits do you get? What should I look for? What should I stay away from? Hotel points? Cash back?
(We don’t do air travel much/ever. Hotel near college is a Marriott and can be pricey during golf season.) (The plan is to only use the card for college.)
We liked getting 2% cash back. There are several cards which can give this–Fidelity, Citi Visa, or the CapitolOne Spark Visa (we used the last one, tho it has $59 annual fee).
If you want to get a new card with a cash signing bonus for spending, plus cash back, that might also be an attractive option (haven’t been keeping current on this tho).
Do your kids fly to/from school? If so, some of the cards that give points that can be used for flights can be useful–we use Chase Sapphire Visa that had a 70,000 UR point signing bonus (also got a similar signing bonus for Chase Ink). D has used the points to book several plane flights–LAX to HNL, saving us $$$. We cancelled when annual fee was due, after transferring the points to a new account.
Many swear by Southwest and Alaska Air, so those CCs may be worth a look, tho we don’t got these or have those CCs.
Thanks @HImom I know you folks in the way out tropics do a lot of flying. But no flying. 3 1/2 hour car ride.
Here you go–$500 cash signing bonus and 2% cash back on your charges for the CapitolOne Spark Business Visa (if you have excellent credit).
Since you have little or no use for typical restricted card rewards (e.g. airline miles, hotel points, etc.), you may want to use a card with no fee, grace period, and the highest percentage cash back than you can find.
It looks like 2% cash back generally (not for special categories of spending) is the best available, from Citi Double Cash or Fidelity Rewards (the latter puts the cash back into a Fidelity brokerage account). Several other credit cards have 1.5% cash back.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/top-credit-cards/nerdwallets-best-cash-back-credit-cards/
http://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/earning-cashback/best-cash-back-credit-cards-for-every-category222723218/
http://www.moneycrashers.com/best-cash-back-credit-cards/
I like cash back (deposited directly into my Fidelity brokerage account) 2% with Fidelity VISA. The only other consideration I think is your credit limit and the size of the tuition bill. Back in the day (when I was paying tuition bills) I had one credit card with a relatively high limit, and I used it to pay S#2’s relatively high semester tuition. I joked that paying his tuition bill with the CC was like getting a free plane ticket per semester (not quite, but close).
I’m jealous of anyone who can use credit card to pay tuition! All those points I’m missing out on! :((
@ClaremontMom I was too. I am grateful/lucky/stunned that I can. I want to maximize this as best I can.
Also, would there be a problem with card hopping? $500 back cash this year on one card… $500 back next… etc.?
We do have really great credit but I suppose this strategy could put some stress on that. yes/no?
^You would be getting dinged on your credit if you keep getting new cards. I’m assuming that isn’t something you would do normally, so why would you do that now? If I were doing it, I wouldn’t even get a new card. I have enough cards with bonuses that I’d just use one of those. Though granted most of those give only 1% on “other” and the higher percentages on specific things. So I might be tempted to a card that gives 2% on “other” as some have already listed.
However, $59 annual fee after the first year.
Yes, but $500 will pay for quite a few $59 years, IMHO. 2% is a nice return, for the most part. You COULD “card hop,” if you choose, but most places will only give you the signing bonus once, or at least only once in 24 months. You could get it and then your spouse could get it, if you’d like, in alternate years.
You don’t get a huge hit from getting new CCards periodically, even if you “churn them.” I know folks who get many (12 or more), but still have credit scores in the high 700s, which is plenty high for their purposes. You have to decide what level of complexity you want to deal with and what you’re willing to give up in order to get it.
I wouldn’t worry about the very slight ding to your credit by getting a new card every year or so. I’d go for whatever option is the best around the time you need to pay. Unfortunately, I was only able to use a credit card to pay for one semester of college for just one of my kids, but I most certainly did it while I could.
We used CCs for paying residence fees and tuition when there was no extra fee associated with it for our kids’ college. We also used CCs to fund H’s retirement account since there was no fee, and we were happy to get the 2% cash back. I see nothing wrong with using what we can to “reduce the pain” otherwise associated with having to make rather expensive payments.
I was able to do no-fee tuition on a credit card my daughter’s freshman year. Used my discover card and got cash back. Keep in mind a few things - your credit limit, tuition due dates, and limits on the total amount of cash back that the card allows. I got my credit limit raised - would charge the tuition and then immediately pay it off from my bank account (so I had some credit left to do my usual spending). I also sometimes split the payments across two credit card month - to avoid any limits (cash back or credit).