Most  of you know by now that I try to use my credit card to pay for all purchases. This extends to using the credit card to pay my rent! In fact although it is free for me to use the card now, even with a fee there was a benefit of using a credit card to pay my rent.

I currently use a credit card that gives me 2% cash back on paying my rent. I get 1% as soon as I make the purchase and then get the other 1% when I make the payment. I have a system where I am paying my cards now every two weeks because the payments are processed electronically so I do not fear having a late payment with two going in every cycle.

I therefore earn 2% cash back every time I pay my rent and this adds up over time. I have to pay rent but I am getting the benefit of earning some cash back by writing the rent check to the credit card instead of my landlord.

Paying rent is currently free for me but there was a short period of time when there was a fee for paying by credit card. The first month I wrote a check but then realized there was a benefit of using a credit card to pay my rent even if there was a fee attached.

 

The thing is the fee was less than the 1% cash back that I was using (different card at that time). Even with paying a fee I was still coming out ahead. The fee was added to the rent amount by the landlord so it showed up as one charge on the credit card…and I earned 1% of that amount! The cash back on the base rent (without the fee) was more than the amount of the fee, so it made sense to still pay rent using the card.

I am now using a card that pays 2% cash back and there is no fee for using a credit card so I now have the full benefit of using a credit card to pay my rent.