How much is the house? And what's your credit limit??!

Can you say "Flyer Miles?"

My guess is no due to the fee's incurred by the merchant accepting the card. Can be up to a few percent depending on the credit card company and processing service. If you paid the percent then they might depending on the amount they are allowed to process as well.

When I bought my car (I paid cash, but wanted points) the dealer only let me put 5K on the card, which is fairly standard around here.

If you are getting a mortgage my guess would be your mortgage company wouldn't allow it unless you also have the cash available to cover it.

I had the same experience as lyfia, when we bought a car a few years ago. I think the dealer only allowed about $3K on the card. We paid cash for the car but wanted to get as many miles as possible.

I see what you are saying. Well, my hubby is interested in a $38,000 house. We probably need $40,000 to fix it up. We had a problem getting a loan last time, not because of our credit score, but because we had a problem getting our income proof. My husband and I both have excellent credit; we are also qualified for $40,000 cash advance, we also can pay it by credit care. We have pretty high credit limit too. We just thought that getting a loan is way too much trouble for us who cannot provide income proof. Plus, nowadays, a loan company adds escrow account automatically that taking it out leads to a penalty. Getting a loan is just not fun

Have you considered the interest rate on the credit card cash advance? It's probably quite a bit higher than what you could get a mortgage for. You can get a mortgage without an escrow account.

Why can't you get income proof? Is this illegal income (like from selling drugs), or what? Do you not pay taxes? So.... you have great credit because you pay off your cards, but you can't show where the money comes from?

This is totally bizarre. And, "...a loan company adds escrow account automatically that taking it out leads to a penalty." Are you saying that you don't want an escrow account? Not sure what that convoluted sentence is supposed to mean.

Sounds like you've got all kinds of problems. Not sure what you're smoking, but *I* certainly wouldn't want to do business of any kind with you!

I agree getting a loan is a PITA but if you have organized your financial life all the information is right at your fingertips. Do you plan to flip the house?

WOW gweekie. That's quite a post there.

There are lots of reasons it can be hard for even tax paying, law abiding citizens to qualify. For example, if you are self employed. Yes, you report all income, pay taxes, pay yourself a salary & have excellent credit. However, because you do not have a guaranteed amount coming in each month/year - it's not a given to qualify. Possible, yes. As easy as someone with a "steady" paycheck, no.

So even though you may have "proof" of income, even if you don't sell drugs, even if you pay taxes, even though you're lucky enough to pay off your cards, even if you can show where the money comes from - you still might not get a loan if your income fluctuates.

I wouldn't jump to the conclusions you did about this person having all kinds of problems or being a drug user. And *they* probably wouldn't be too keen on doing business of any kind with *you* either.

All they did was ask a question. No reason to call their character into question.

Sorry - got off on a tangent there....

I know someone that bought a commercial building on their credit card. Wasn't very much (under $10K) + the seller was a business & already set up to process the charge. They settled on a price + the cc % and ran it thru.

Worked for them.

I'd say doing the cash advance checks if they have a good rate for the life of the balance would be a good option. I got a 25K kitchen done this way at my old house with a 2.9% interest rate. Much better than any loan could have given me even considering tax deductions.

You could probably get a no doc loan, but being that the house might not be livable I could see that as being an issue with getting the loan. You can also get escrow waived and for that small of a loan it might not be much.

gweekie - anybody that is self-employed is considered to have a hard time showing verifiable income as they often don't have a regular paycheck. If you just started your business and have a lot of write-offs it is even worse as your Tax return doesn't show much of a profit either.

This is now the big problem. Even honest hard working people can't get loans. Not everyone has tax returns or has them yet particularly people just getting started. Or people not making a lot of money.

Ignore that post that suggests your income is from drug money as that is pure ignorance.

As for the original question, I have never seen or heard of a home builder or real estate company accepting credit cards. The fees would end up being substancial both for the person accepting the credit card and the person using the credit card if they don't pay the balance in full by the due date.

I learned in college, econ101, that you shouldn't finance anything on a credit card that wasn't sure to go up in value. Examples given included college tuition! Incidently I also learned in college never to use cash advances or charge tuition!!!

The fact is, up until now, nobody every needed to charge a house on a credit card. Home loans were easy to come by. In fact it was easier to get a home loan than an auto loan there for a while.

I would urge you to try harder to find a lender that will take a chance on a $40k stated income loan. Try some local community banks rather than large lending companies or large bank companies. This is a rare example of what can be charged on a CC but know this: Credit card companies are loan sharks. In fact their interest and sudden changes to their terms and interest rate can actually make them worse than the Mob. It is a situation like this, another great example of large corps taking advantage of hardworking people that don't have a lot to lose, that you have to be extremely careful. A decision like this could impact your financial future for years to come.

I can understand wanting to not deal with getting a mortgage. Its not just a matter of whether you have all the info at your fingertips, or qualify etc.
You have to take a night class for 6 weeks to understand whether you should go arm or conventional, get a tax accountant to run numbers on 30 vs 15 or 20 years or perhaps do an 80/20 split, use VA, FHA, a mortgage broker or a bank, should you buy down points, use all the money you could use on a down payment (not including your cash reserve etc.) or whether you should get a bigger mortgage and hold some back for renovations which means you need to have a crystal ball about the economy and appreciation, town demographics and the real estate market.
Then you need to study like a mad person all the fees the bank et al. will try to put in there to make sure your not getting taken advantage of...its crazy.
I know everyone out there probably thinks they do a bang up job and have bragging rights at work and in forums about how good a deal they got. And its easy for people on forums like this to shrill "people should go over the fine print" as if the fine print is understandable to anyone but lawyers.
I wonder if most people do as good a job as they think they do.
This is not to say that you don't need to understand all the fees and rates of putting 40,000 on a credit card. They can be fairly complicated in themselves.
By the way, if you buy the 38,000 house on credit cards, what are you going to use for the 40,000 you need to fix it up with?

Maybe if they apply before the credit card charge posts they can get a HELOC? :-)
(joke)

Thank you all for your replies. You have taught me a lot of things which I have not thought about before. I thought originally that paying by credit card or cash advance was just as easy as shopping at grocery store, and I did not have to deal with loan paper work, its going back forth process, or long wait. I really appreciate all your views and explanations. You guys are wonderful.

P.S. Except sometimes I found that there has always been someone who does not comment on the original post itself, but something totally un-related. Even if I were a drug dealer or a criminal, shouldn't I have a right to post a question. I have come to the garden forum and home forum quite often to seek helps and learn a lot of things. I really enjoy making friends and knowing a lot of kind people here. People here have always been so helpful, kind, and open-hearted. I have been quite touched that people care about one another, when I come to the sites. I don't think anyone who is a drug dealer would spend his/her time on this kind of helping-each-other forum. My husband and I are just helping my mother-in-law with her own personal business. Anyway, I am ignoring the harsh comment on something I have never done. After all, it's not useful to me, so I don't need to pay much attention to it. I value the rest of comments a great deal. Thank you.

"Even if I were a drug dealer or a criminal, shouldn't I have a right to post a question."

Not if it aids, abets, or furthers your criminal activity.

Yes, of course not if it aids the criminal activity. Personally, I hate people's using others' kindness to further their evil thoughts or actions to make any kinds of profits.

Correct chueh - You should be able to post here & ask a question without people speculating on your personal life - no matter what it is - unless you bring it to the table. If you had said "I am a drug dealer that never reports income & have a hard time securing loans." THEN, I might understand why some people might comment on your personal choices....

"My guess is no due to the fee's incurred by the merchant accepting the card."

A check drawn on a credit card account won't have any fees for the merchant. However, it generally (always?) won't result in airline miles for the purchaser, and the fees and interest rates can be astronomical. Still, if the OP really wants to do this, there are ways. I think there isn't really enough information to pass judgment on the idea - it might be financial suicide, it might be savvy.

look at it like this, you have say 50k in CC credit lines with ZERO balance. therefore your utilization is at 0%. you take out a cash advance for 40k, now your util shot up to 80% and the MINIMUM payment is 800-1600 a month MINIMUM. this tanks your credit scores instantly. you try to get a HELOC, and you cannot because you just shot your credit.

not worth the risk to me. if you can qualify for a 40k cash advance, i seriously doubt the CC company would approve the large cash advance. plus they charge a pertange of the transaction in fees too.

My husband and I really have not enough or no knowledge about this financial topic. I am so grateful that I learn so much from all of your posts. We have a lot to think through if it is worth using a credit card to buy a house. Thank you thank you

"My husband and I really have not enough or no knowledge about this financial topic"

You are EXACTLY the type of customer the credit card companies love!

The main traps in using credit cards for large purchases are the minimum payment calculations and the ability for the credit card issuer to raise your interest rates for even the smallest violiation of their credit card agreement. These agreements are written to be heavily weighted in the company's favor, not yours.

You can easily start out with an introductory rate of 2.9%, but the rate skyrockets to as much as 25% (the lowest I have been able to find lately is 9.9%) if you are late with even ONE payment on ANY OTHER credit card. The companies all report to each other; you don't have to miss a payment on THIS card for your rate to skyrocket.

Another big trap: if you do this and try to pay just the minimum payment, you will never get the card payed off in your lifetime.

Please don't do this.

Another big trap: if you do this and try to pay just the minimum payment, you will never get the card payed off in your lifetime.

that is true on any card with a 2% minimum payment and at least 24% interest per year. many cards now have a 4% MP, and those you can pay off in only about 25 years if you get AND KEEP a low interest rate. as you said though, they can raise the rate for any reason and you are hosed.

most cash advance lines give you only a percentage of the total credit line, maybe 10% or so. so if you have a card with a 100k CL, the max cash you could pull would be 10k anyway.

people need to learn to treat a credit card the way it was designed to be treated, for emergencies and for purchases that can and WILL pay in full before the interest kicks in.