For those of you who have Disney Visa's how much $$ in reward dollars have you accumulated by using your card? I was just thinking that if I use my card for EVERYTHING (groceries, house payments, car payments, utilities etc) that I could possibly have almost and extra $500 saved before we go on our trip! Can you use your Disney Visa for things like house payments, car payments and utilities? I write my checks monthly for these things anyways, I may as well just use my card, save lots of stamps and just pay the credit card off every two weeks or so, so that no finance charges get applied.
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Disney Visa question
- Thread starter tinkfan05
- Start date
lilclerk
Well-Known Member
Between November (got the Visa) and February (ordered the rewards card for next week's trip) I got $55. Not a whole lot, but it was only a few months before the trip. And I didn't put everything on it. The biggest things were the trip itself and this semester's classes/books.
I also pay off the card every week because I'm extremely paranoid about finance charges. I love online payment systems.
I also pay off the card every week because I'm extremely paranoid about finance charges. I love online payment systems.
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TurboCaroline
Is it 5:00 yet?
I don't think you can pay your house note with the credit card but I think utility companies may let you. I usually spend around $1500/month and last year I had $200 to spend for my WDW trip!
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MIDisneyFamily
Member
We started to pay all are bills we can usining our Disney Visa. It adds up in a year. We pay our heating bill (nat gas) , electric bill, cable, cell phones, and anything else we can use it instead of cash. We keep the recepts, and the end of every week we pay the amount we use on the Visa to Chase. They let you pay on the card on line, so its easy to use the Visa like cash, then pay that amount every week right out of our checking account directly to Visa. just the heating bill alone in the winter is $200 , so thats 2 disney dollars earned a month just from that. Cable is just about $100, so that $3 a month just from two bills. electric, cells phones, it all adds up to $100 a year just from the normal bills. Add in groceries and gas, and we earn $200 a year easy just for a little tracking of receipts every month. Just dont use it as credit card, but as a replacement for cash. Pay it off every week on-line.
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Figment626
New Member
Is this just by habit that you all pay them off weekly? Or do they charge interest even on the first months bill? I don't have a Disney card but I do have credit cards....yet I pay them off monthly, not weekly.
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Shere_Khan
Well-Known Member
I don't use my card for everything. I am using it for our trip and flight though. I am one who does not pay off every month because when I got the card I was a first year college student and made the mistake of racking it up on things like food that I could not afford with my 10-15 hour a week job.
I am now working very hard to get it paid off, but I do occasionally use it. So far I have only accumulated about 65 points. But I will definately take those on our trip.
Also regarding finance charges. I have some credits cards, (State Farm and Speedway) that I use only to charge car insurance on, and gas on. I don't pay them weekly. I pay the bill when I receive it in the mail each month and I have never once received any finance charges from them.
Not sure how the Disney visa works since I have a balance I always get charged fees. But I would assume it works the same.
I am now working very hard to get it paid off, but I do occasionally use it. So far I have only accumulated about 65 points. But I will definately take those on our trip.
Also regarding finance charges. I have some credits cards, (State Farm and Speedway) that I use only to charge car insurance on, and gas on. I don't pay them weekly. I pay the bill when I receive it in the mail each month and I have never once received any finance charges from them.
Not sure how the Disney visa works since I have a balance I always get charged fees. But I would assume it works the same.
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J_Krafty24
Active Member
As long as you pay it off every month you do not get any finance charges. If you suspect that you will not be able to pay it off at least every month I would not bother with the Disney Visa. The interest you would be charged would more than cancel out any benefit of the Reward Dollars. There are many other cards out there with lower interest rates.
That being said, I love my Disney Card. It's been 6 months since the last time I cashed out my points and I'm already up to over $50. I don't used it for bills but usually do for everything else. I'll have to slow down on it now though. Having a balance on credit cards - even if it is paid every month - is not good when buying a house.
That being said, I love my Disney Card. It's been 6 months since the last time I cashed out my points and I'm already up to over $50. I don't used it for bills but usually do for everything else. I'll have to slow down on it now though. Having a balance on credit cards - even if it is paid every month - is not good when buying a house.
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MIDisneyFamily
Member
Yes, we make a habit of keeping close track of everytime we use it, Instead of spending cash for our weekly groceries, we use the Visa. On Chase's Visa site, (the Disney Visa provider) you can pay directly out of you checking account. We pay off what we spend every week. There is no intrest because we pay as we go, and it is well within the grace period for no finance charges. It just becomes a habit of budgeting, like with cash, but instead of using cash or debit for gas and groceries, we use the Visa. We aslo put our trip on it, and use thae card for al our food and stuff at the parks, then pay it off when we get home, Thats alot of points already for the next trip. the Visa adds up the points, and adds them to the total at evey billing date each month. It works for us, but everyone is different. Were looking into see if our mortgage and car loan will let us pay with it too.
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lpet11984
Well-Known Member
I use my Disney Visa for all my utilities, cell phone, groceries, etc. I do make a point of paying it off each month so I do not get any of those nasty fees. It's my way of saving up for vacation. Over about 9 months, I've earned about $100 for any upcoming Disney trips that may be in my future... 
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DisneyPirate85
New Member
we use it for EVERYTHING and the next day just go online and transfer the money and pay it off, well day or 2 anyways. :wave:
We never let the interests even hit...Pay it before the 30 day mark hits
We never let the interests even hit...Pay it before the 30 day mark hits
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We pay our off every month and you don't get any interest if you meet the date on the bill. The company that I work for allows me to charge my travel and training that they reimburse me for on my card and get the points. We use our as much as possible, even for McDonalds and Taco Bell. We bought a car a few years ago and the dealer ship let us put $1,000 of our down payment on the card.
We love it. But pay it off as others have said the interest rate isn't that great.
We love it. But pay it off as others have said the interest rate isn't that great.
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MIDisneyFamily
Member
Your not nuts, I even pay it off thae same day I pay the utility bills most of the time.
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Shere_Khan
Well-Known Member
Actually I feel that the interest rate I have is fairly reasonable.
Maybe when you first get the card it is high. But I call every few months and ask them to lower it. They usually will.
Maybe when you first get the card it is high. But I call every few months and ask them to lower it. They usually will.
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Boray
Member
We use ours as much as possible as well. Last year we had over $200 for food, etc. on our trip. We charge all of our bills that we can to our Disney card too (our satellite tv bill, phones, etc.) In fact, I just put our home/auto insurance yearly bill (almost $1400) on the card. That's represents half of lunch for our family ($14)! I'm hoping to have about $150 for our October trip. We already have over $60. It's a nice perk, but you have to pay off the bill monthly to redeem the points. If you have a balance on your card, I don't believe you can redeem the points. We pay off the credit card every month so it's not an issue for us.
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Shere_Khan
Well-Known Member
I redeemed 20 points about two years ago and I had a fairly large balance on my card.
Unless the rules have changed you should be able to redeem them with a balance. At least I hope so because I want to be able to redeem them for our trip.
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gettingsmaller
New Member
I looked into paying house payments sometime back, but credit cards generally will view that as a "cash advance", which does NOT generate rewards--and will probably also have different financing terms.
Something else to watch for... If you decide to finance your Disney vacation and intend to take advantage of the "6 months no interest" deal with Disney Visa, I'd watch for a "catch". I'm pretty sure that there will be a clause in the fine print that says something like "principal payments will be applied first to the lowest interest rate balance." This is on most credit cards offering temporarily low rates for balance transfers, etc.. So, my understanding is that you can't pay off OTHER things that are accruing interest while you have a balance sitting there at "0% interest".
For this reason, I only used the Disney card to charge my actual vacation. I used another credit card that also pays 1% for other purchases.
Also, I like the fact that my other card actually gives me CASH back, vs. "Disney dollars". I like Disney, but I like flexibility more. Now, if they'd make it 5% in Disney dollars, I'd use the Disney card more, but if they're the same, I don't see why I should limit myself to only being able to use it for Disney purchases.
Something else to watch for... If you decide to finance your Disney vacation and intend to take advantage of the "6 months no interest" deal with Disney Visa, I'd watch for a "catch". I'm pretty sure that there will be a clause in the fine print that says something like "principal payments will be applied first to the lowest interest rate balance." This is on most credit cards offering temporarily low rates for balance transfers, etc.. So, my understanding is that you can't pay off OTHER things that are accruing interest while you have a balance sitting there at "0% interest".
For this reason, I only used the Disney card to charge my actual vacation. I used another credit card that also pays 1% for other purchases.
Also, I like the fact that my other card actually gives me CASH back, vs. "Disney dollars". I like Disney, but I like flexibility more. Now, if they'd make it 5% in Disney dollars, I'd use the Disney card more, but if they're the same, I don't see why I should limit myself to only being able to use it for Disney purchases.
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MIDisneyFamily
Member
Yep, balance or not, the points are still accumulated, and you can cash them in. I dont know what happens if you have missed a payment or your late though.
Also, We have the card we used to tranfer the points into dollars, and you just call them , and they tranfer any dollar amount you want from points into dollars onto the same card. You can also do that at the Customer service area in Downtown Disney too. Your oints are only added at the end of each billing cycle though.
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MaryMcMagic
Active Member
I put everything...and I mean EVERYTHING I can on my Disney Visa. The only thing I can't is my mortgage payment. I never carry a balance and last year I accumulated nearly $700. I've posted before with this tip--If you have a home based business like Mary Kay, Tastefully Simple, Market Day Gourmet, etc., use your card for ordering and pay it off with the payments from your customers. It really adds up quickly. Home improvement projects are great bonuses, as well. 2 years ago we water proofed our basement--that was a 5-figure bill that was able to be charged to the credit card and paid off with a check from our savings. It works for me!
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