[MegaMatt3]

Hear me out.

My credit union, PenFed, is offering 48 month financing at 0.99%, so I thought I'd go through them for my loan. What if I pay for the entire purchase at the dealership with my rewards credit card ($45,000 purchase = $900 worth of points on Capital One Venture), then pay off the credit card with the check I get from my credit union? Has this ever been done before? Would it work?

Here's the only problem I foresee: The loan through the credit union is for a car, so PenFed may have to write the check payable to the dealership, not to me. Which would mean I could only use the money at the dealership. And I doubt they'd make the check payable to my credit card company. I'm just not sure how the money handover works since I've never been through this process before.

Anyway, if I could make it work, that's $900 in my pocket...

[alz0rz]

I do not think that will fly with the dealership. They will have to pay a processing fee, like other credit card merchants, and that would cut right into their profit.

[MegaMatt3]

Originally Posted by alz0rz

I do not think that will fly with the dealership. They will have to pay a processing fee, like other credit card merchants, and that would cut right into their profit.

Ah, very good point. Forgot about the processing fee....

But I'm guessing if push came to shove (say, if I were a bum and didn't have the money or credit to actually buy the car responsibly), then they'd let me buy it with a credit card. But yeah, I'd have to rework the deal I've already negotiated to account for the fee they'll be charged.

[alz0rz]

Originally Posted by MegaMatt3

Ah, very good point. Forgot about the processing fee....

But I'm guessing if push came to shove (say, if I were a bum and didn't have the money or credit to actually buy the car responsibly), then they'd let me buy it with a credit card. But yeah, I'd have to rework the deal I've already negotiated to account for the fee they'll be charged.

Well you can also not mention it to them unless specifically asked? I don't think they can flat out deny a credit card purchase.. maybe you could do a partial payment with the card atl east?

[MikeT]

Many if not most dealers will allow you to PARTIALLY pay for a car with a credit card. Specifically, I've heard of dealers with allowing credit card payments of up to $3K, $5K and $10K. Not to say that such a dealer doesn't exist, but I've never heard of one that allows CC payments above $10K. The reason, of course, is that they want to limit their hit on transaction fees.

[Cyberdemon]

Realistically I expect there are a few hurdles here:

-In the past when I have financed vehicles, the dealer has always negotiated with my bank directly and I was never cut a check.

-I do not expect they would make out the check payable to your name, but you could ask them how it works.

-Do you have a credit card with a $45k credit limit?

-I expect the dealer would not turn down the credit card payment, but they may factor that into the math on the deal they give you. I know in the past my parents had put their entire car on a Ford credit card for the points, but it was the mid 90's and it was a Taurus that was only $15k.

Either way, those specifics are all going to come from your bank and dealer, I would ask them first since everything on here will probably be second hand info that won't necessarily apply.

One thing that I'm sure *would* work (if you have the cash) is many premium cards are offering 40-50k points on signup when you spend $3k within a few months. If you put your down payment/taxes on the credit card you'd get ~$500 in cashback.

http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/top-c...t-card-offers/

[mattc1176]

Originally Posted by Cyberdemon

One thing that I'm sure *would* work (if you have the cash) is many premium cards are offering 40-50k points on signup when you spend $3k within a few months. If you put your down payment/taxes on the credit card you'd get ~$500 in cashback.

http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/top-c...t-card-offers/

That's exactly what I did. Chase Ink card has a deal (expires today) for 60k points with a $5k spend within 3 months. I plan on using that for my $4k down payment, so it essentially gives me $650 (or a free round trip international plane ticket) for doing nothing.

[hyperzulu]

The Chase Slate card used to have a $0 transfer with 0% interest for 12 months or something to that effect. This would have been a good way to pay for a car with no interest for a year, but you're not earning anything on it - although pulling out $50k to use on the stock market wouldn't be wise either I suppose

The way it is done is to use their checks to pay the car off. Any fees would be processed to your balance, but since there is no fee, then you're off the hook and have an interest free loan for the length of the promotion.

[bimmercar]

Originally Posted by MegaMatt3

Hear me out.

My credit union, PenFed, is offering 48 month financing at 0.99%, so I thought I'd go through them for my loan. What if I pay for the entire purchase at the dealership with my rewards credit card ($45,000 purchase = $900 worth of points on Capital One Venture), then pay off the credit card with the check I get from my credit union? Has this ever been done before? Would it work?

Here's the only problem I foresee: The loan through the credit union is for a car, so PenFed may have to write the check payable to the dealership, not to me. Which would mean I could only use the money at the dealership. And I doubt they'd make the check payable to my credit card company. I'm just not sure how the money handover works since I've never been through this process before.

Anyway, if I could make it work, that's $900 in my pocket...

credit card usually charges 2-4% for processing fee. so essentially dealer is paying for your credit card rewards

[DanG]

My dealer let me charge $5,000 on my Bank of America cash back card. That is the max that they will let you charge for a car purchase.

[HarmOG]

I've done it twice and each dealership has it's own limits. One was $10k, but the other was only $3k.