Paying for property with cash and credit card

leafy211

I have a couple of bonds due to mature within days of my (hopeful) completion date.  My solicitor has confirmed they will accept payment in cash (80%) and credit cards (20%), without incurring any fees from them. But I wanted to check if the credit card payment will be counted as a cash transfer or a purchase, by the credit card company?
(Ill be paying the credit cards off in full before the month is up).  

pinkteapot

It will almost certainly be a purchase - but check with the solicitor. 

There are some credit cards that let you transfer money from the card to your bank account, but I'm not aware of any that let you do cash transfers to other peoples' accounts. If you phone the solicitor and give them your card details in order to pay £x towards a house, that will surely be a 'purchase' transaction on the credit card... But the solicitor can confirm that as they'll know how they put card transactions through.

AdrianC

Ask the card company.

eddddy

Your card company won't be able to tell you in advance - as they won't know how your solicitor processes credit card transactions.

In theory, somebody at your solicitor's office should be able to tell you, if you can find somebody with the right knowledge.


Your solicitor will tag the credit card payment with a "Merchant Category Code".

• If they use a "Merchant Category Code" of, say, "Legal Services", - that should be treated as a normal purchase (no cash advance fees)

• If they use a "Merchant Category Code" of something like "Cash Advance" or "Quasi Cash Advance" - that will incur cash advance fees.

I guess a pedantic solicitor might categorise payment of their legal fee as "Legal Services", but payments for the property as a "Quasi Cash Advance".

(But I think that means you have to make 2 separate credit card transactions.)

user1977

I'd be surprised if you can do it without either the card company treating it as a cash advance, or the solicitors recharging the processing fees to you (given they're not making any profit out of the price passing through their hands - if you were just paying the legal fees with the card, they'd absorb the costs from their profit margin).

leafy211

When i asked the solicitor he said they wouldnt charge, but ive just dropped him a line to double check ... he may well backtrack! :-).  Itll be such a pain to have to cash in my bonds literally a week before maturity - will lose circa £3k in interest! :-(. (Sadly cant delay the completion date as property bought at auction on 28 day completion terms)

eddddy

leafy211 said:

When i asked the solicitor he said they wouldnt charge, but ive just dropped him a line to double check ... he may well backtrack! :-).  Itll be such a pain to have to cash in my bonds literally a week before maturity - will lose circa £3k in interest! :-(. (Sadly cant delay the completion date as property bought at auction on 28 day completion terms)

Are you paying the solicitor with a personal credit card or a business credit card?

If you're paying with a personal credit card, it would be unlawful for the solicitor to charge you a 'fee' or 'surcharge' for paying by credit card.


That's been the law since 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/card-surcharge-ban-means-no-more-nasty-surprises-for-shoppers

user1977

eddddy said:

leafy211 said:

When i asked the solicitor he said they wouldnt charge, but ive just dropped him a line to double check ... he may well backtrack! :-).  Itll be such a pain to have to cash in my bonds literally a week before maturity - will lose circa £3k in interest! :-(. (Sadly cant delay the completion date as property bought at auction on 28 day completion terms)

Are you paying the solicitor with a personal credit card or a business credit card?

If you're paying with a personal credit card, it would be unlawful for the solicitor to charge you a 'fee' or 'surcharge' for paying by credit card.

That's been the law since 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/card-surcharge-ban-means-no-more-nasty-surprises-for-shoppers

...apart from the exceptions, which include the sale and rental of property.

https://www.businesscompanion.info/en/quick-guides/pricing-and-payment/payment-surcharges#Excludedcontracts

eddddy

user1977 said:

eddddy said:

leafy211 said:

When i asked the solicitor he said they wouldnt charge, but ive just dropped him a line to double check ... he may well backtrack! :-).  Itll be such a pain to have to cash in my bonds literally a week before maturity - will lose circa £3k in interest! :-(. (Sadly cant delay the completion date as property bought at auction on 28 day completion terms)

Are you paying the solicitor with a personal credit card or a business credit card?

If you're paying with a personal credit card, it would be unlawful for the solicitor to charge you a 'fee' or 'surcharge' for paying by credit card.

That's been the law since 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/card-surcharge-ban-means-no-more-nasty-surprises-for-shoppers

...apart from the exceptions, which include the sale and rental of property.

OK - I just re-read the post. I wrongly assumed the OP was talking about the solicitors bills, but it seems the OP is actually talking about the purchase price of the property. If so, you're correct.

canaldumidi

The solicitor won't charge, but the card company might. Ask them!

Some card companies allow 0% transfers of cash to your bank (or used to anyway)- ask!

Your query is not really property related. Try posting here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/credit-cards

leafy211

thanks everyone! :-)