Paying off finance with Debit Card - Cashback or other perks?

andyuk2005

Hi all

I have a car finance deal which I would like to pay off early.

I can only make payment on it via bank transfer or debit card (Visa or Mastercard)

Does anyone know how I can make this work in my favour, with something like debit card cashback, points (Avios/Virgin etc) or any other way?

I've had a good search and can't seem to find anything so far!

Much appreciated

[Deleted User]

Not really.

Only credit cards offer cashback on purchases.

Debit Cards usually only offer cashback at selected retailers.

Also paying off a finance may be processed as a cash payment rather than a purchase payment, therefore making any cashback unpayable anyway

20SmthngSver

A lot of finance companies take a cheque, as a lot of the time it's for higher amounts as FP can be blocked if it looks suspicious and they don't always give their bank details, same with a Debit Card as Visa or MasterCard routinely blocked purchases, it's happened so many times to me. I had about £250 interest free finance for a watch and I sent them a cheque. Received, banked and cleared within a few days of sending it.

gt94sss2

andyuk2005 wrote: »

I can only make payment on it via bank transfer or debit card (Visa or Mastercard)

Does anyone know how I can make this work in my favour, with something like debit card cashback, points (Avios/Virgin etc) or any other way?

You could apply for a free Curve Debit Card and link that to a rewards credit card.

The loan company will see it as a debit card but Curve will then charge your credit card for the balance, allowing you to collect the rewards/cashback.

SnowTiger

gt94sss2 wrote: »

You could apply for a free Curve Debit Card and link that to a rewards credit card.

The loan company will see it as a debit card but Curve will then charge your credit card for the balance, allowing you to collect the rewards/cashback.

And keep your fingers crossed it's not treated as a cash transaction by the underlying credit card.

andyuk2005

gt94sss2 wrote: »

You could apply for a free Curve Debit Card and link that to a rewards credit card.

The loan company will see it as a debit card but Curve will then charge your credit card for the balance, allowing you to collect the rewards/cashback.

Ah nice one! I think you may have nailed it there.

Luckily I have a Curve Black, and yes I have to ensure its not treated as cash, rather a purchase.

Also need to check the spending limits too!

Thanks very much for that!

Terry_Towelling

andyuk2005 wrote: »

Luckily I have a Curve Black, and yes I have to ensure its not treated as cash, rather a purchase.

Do have any particular strategy for ensuring it isn't treated as cash?

andyuk2005

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

Do have any particular strategy for ensuring it isn't treated as cash?

Just asking Curve, the finance company and the credit card company how they treat it. I think it comes down to merchant code.

cjv

You may be able to get clubcard points using a Tesco debit card. It is not much, but you can multiply it by 3 if there are any of their partners that you plan to purchase from.

SnowTiger

andyuk2005 wrote: »

Just asking Curve, the finance company and the credit card company how they treat it. I think it comes down to merchant code.

Apparently, weather or not it's treated as a cash-like transaction has absolutely nothing to do with the MCC. :rotfl:

Card providers use the MCC to 'assess risk', not to determine whether a transactions should be treated as cash-like or not.

We learn this from Heng Leng:

Heng_Leng wrote: »

The MCC is primarily for the card issuer.
It's fairly irreverent to the card holder in most instances.

And:

Heng_Leng wrote: »

....charge you because that the agreement between you and them specifics that they can. It will be determined by wording not by the MCC.

Therefore, it will clearly say in the underlying card's T&C whether a transaction will be treated as cash-like or not. And has nothing, whatsoever, to do with the MCC.

andyuk2005

I'll have to check then!

I've had a look around and cannot find many good deals regarding cashback or perks for credit cards, surprisingly.

American Express (which isn't compatible with Curve) only seems to have decent ones.

The next up are Tandem at 0.5% (which would earn me about £70 if it worked) or Tesco Credit card (which would earn about £50 in rewards).

Only one which may be worth it is a Virgin Atlantic Reward+, for the 15k points and companion ticket, but costing £160 fee.

Has anyone else got any suggestions for underlying cards?

Thanks for your help!