Does your building materials supplier let you pay your monthly balance, without any restriction on amount, by credit card?
One of mine does. $55K?, no problem, let’s swipe some cards. I went out and got some big credit lines from banks that offer air miles, and am rackin’ ’em up.
Upgrading the footings and columns that support a girder beam is an opportunity to level out the floor above.
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That's great. Just remember to pay the balance in full every month. Miles are only given to prompt payers.
F
We rent equipment and sometimes contractors fail to have an account with us when they need that equipment..
No problem, give us your credit card number and we'll deliver the equipment with nothing but a phone call..
The only cavot there is if you want 100% of the rent to apply towards a possible purchase you'll need to call me to set it up, otherwise accounting has no way of transefering your credit.
Some do, some don't. The ones that offer a couple percent disco if paid by the 10th, don't. They'll take a card for the end of the month deadline. The plumbing supplier I use doesn't take it for full disco.
Here's a good one. Area cabinet etc. supplier, takes the card and purchases go towards redeeming gift certificates from Cabella's............now that's a nice touch!
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
I pay for as much as I can with CC. Especially fuel and tools. The miles are piling up. You have to be vigilant about paying the balance every month.
One of the last remaining yards stopped accepting cards for monthly statements. But I could purchase the same amount of material at the same discount over the period of a month and charge each purchase, Go figure. No one had an answer either.
When they stopped accepting AMEX altogether they lost me for good. Too bad because alot of their buss, went to HD when they opened. I don't buy lumber at HD, just gotta go alittle farther for it now.
Eric
"One of the last remaining yards stopped accepting cards for monthly statements. But I could purchase the same amount of material at the same discount over the period of a month and charge each purchase, Go figure. No one had an answer either."
The answer - As I understand it - Is something like this:
When you go buy something and pay with a CC, the place you buy the stuff from only gets something like 95% of the amount of the purchase. The CC company gets to keep the rest as a fee.
The lumberyards (and other businesses) accept this, because they get their money almost immediately. They don't have the risk of taking in bad checks. They don't have to carry a balance on their accounts recievable for 30 days or so. And they don't have the risk of someone not paying their account off.
So when someone carries a balance on an account until the end of the month, then wants to pay it off with a CC, they still only get about 95% of the money. But they've still had to carry the balance.
Since the margins of the lumberyards are pretty thin, some won't take the CC to pay off a balance.
That's the way it was explained to me by an employer who used to take CCs.The human mind is like an umbrella; it functions better when open.
Thanks Boss,
In the back of my mind I think I knew that, however I was having problems with them often over several other issues and decided that I would be done with them for good after they stopped accepting AE.
Eric
bit more input
in situations like yours bobbie dylan be sure your card does not have a low ceiling on miles accumulated not relating to miles flown
not sure of today's rates but ten yrs ago the fees/charges paid by vendors for aexpress were about double what one would pay visa or master charge
have been told by accountants not to mix personal w/ business on cards ** should have business and personal separate
I have read much criticism over the years of different airline mileage clubs - I have nothing but the utmost praise for the aadvantage group ( american airlines ) have always treated us as if we arrive at the airport in a limo
and as already mentioned one's advantage or bonus is lost if balances are not paid in full each month
I read the fine print before I started putting balances on the cards. One of mine has a 10K limit on any billing period, thus if I were to charge 15K this month, I would only get 10,000 miles. My other cards have no mileage limit per billing period.
One of my full-service lumberyards gives me the ability to put the monthly bill on cards, and give me the early-pay discount, without limitations.
Some of my suppliers do and some don't.
Thing about air miles are the black out dates which are just about every day my kid has off for holidays.
I have enough air miles to fly around the world ten x's I think.
Be rackin' em' up
andy
The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
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Yes, check into which mileage program you want before picking a card. Obviously, one that has the route you want for free travel. Other criteria:
Can you use mileage awards for friends and family or just you? Can they be issued instantly or do they need to be mailed out?
If you don't fly on a trip, can you use those miles in the future? Can someone else?
How many black-our dates?
How long ahead (on average) do you need to book at the "saver-award" level? It can be several months, 8 or 10 months for international. You'd have to ask an experienced travel about that (I know Alaska Airlines really well). How much for a "peak award"? Often twice as many miles. Those can still be a good deal if granny died and you're looking at a $1400 round trip.
In general, spend miles when you can. They only get worth less as all the programs are raising awards prices, increasing black-out dates, etc. I used to keep 500,000-600,000 miles in my account for flexibility (those last-minute trips that would be expensive to buy). Now I try to keep it down to 200,000 but that is hard. Between travel and CC miles, they pile up.
Note that even on last minute travel, sometimes they open up saver-award seats a few days before if the flight is looking empty. So it is worth checking.David Thomas Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska