Personal Finance

Help finding rewards

  • Last Updated:
  • Jun 26th, 2013 1:08 pm
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Newbie
Aug 18, 2012
7 posts
1 upvote
Windsor

Help finding rewards

Hi all,

I'd tried posting this a year or so ago, and wanted to try again to see if anything had materialized since.

My children both have disabilities, and need to attend a special school which I have to pay out of pocket. The school accepts either cheques or credit card, but attaches a 1.5% fee for credit card processing due to fees they apparently incur.

I don't like the fee, but it is what it is. The school is very expensive (for me, anyway), costing a total of about $14,000 total per year, and there aren't any other options to get them the special care they need.

What I'd like to do is find a way to earn some sort of rewards on that fee which I need to pay. Something from which I can write cheques and get rewards would be great, but I'm open to any ideas to help the situation.

I'm in Ontario, if it makes any difference.

Thank you very much for any thoughts you might have..
9 replies
Deal Expert
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Dec 14, 2005
18176 posts
345 upvotes
Richmond
:!:

Moved from "Hot Deals" to "Personal Finance"
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Deal Addict
User avatar
Sep 26, 2005
2951 posts
141 upvotes
BC
I don't know of any chequing accounts that have rewards on cheques. At 1.5% processing fee, most visa rewards you may break even. If you did it on an aeroplan card and then used the points for travel, you may come out slightly ahead. Have you asked if they can waive the fee?
Have you asked if they take debit? Scotiabank has some reward debit cards (Scene and moneyback).
Deal Addict
Dec 26, 2009
3155 posts
1869 upvotes
Tell us the name of your school, and someone can see if it can be paid with CT Options bill payment (this is a credit card, but it is treated like a bill payment, so you wouldn't be charged the processing fee by the school and would get 1% rewards).

Alternatively, Capital One Aspire Travel has 2% "cashback" if redeemed for travel, but an effective annual fee of $20 ($120 fee, but you get $100 back in points).

Do they take Amex?
Deal Expert
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Dec 11, 2005
20134 posts
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RubberCheese wrote: Tell us the name of your school, and someone can see if it can be paid with CT Options bill payment (this is a credit card, but it is treated like a bill payment, so you wouldn't be charged the processing fee by the school and would get 1% rewards).

Alternatively, Capital One Aspire Travel has 2% "cashback" if redeemed for travel, but an effective annual fee of $20 ($120 fee, but you get $100 back in points).

Do they take Amex?
Agree on the capital one. If the school really is $14K / year then you are going to get back $70 on this charge after removing the 1.5%, which will more than kill the annual fee outright. Then all other charges during the year are gravy.

Another alternative is the MBNA Travel Rewards Elite which is a harder card to get your hands on but if you do, it's a straight up 2% back card with no annual fee. There is a whole thread dedicated to this card.
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Deal Fanatic
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Mar 3, 2002
9417 posts
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These are the best no-annual fee cash back credit cards in Canada:

1. mbna-rewards-world-elite-mc-cards-have-arrived-1334506/ (not easy to obtain)

2. mbna-rewards-travel-platinum-plus-mc-gr ... a-1219168/ (not easy to obtain, but the Loyalty dept./supervisors are able to issue it, and people are still receiving this card)

3. capital-one-aspire-cash-mastercard-worl ... r-1073421/ (if you can't get #1 or #2; this card has better travel insurance benefits)

4. merged-new-chase-visa-amazon-1160919/ (for anything you buy that's not in Canadian currency).

5. pay-your-bills-online-using-canadian-ti ... t-1149989/ (for paying gas and electricity bills or bills that you can't normally pay with a credit card)
Deal Fanatic
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Sep 25, 2005
9315 posts
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Scarborough, ON
Most credit cards require a certain monthly income to qualify though. Other than credit cards, do they not accept another form of payment you can consider?
Newbie
Aug 18, 2012
7 posts
1 upvote
Windsor
Thanks, all - sorry for the late reply.. hospital visit for one of the kids.

The school isn't in the CT payables, unfortunately (relative who is an RFD'er jumped on that for me :) ), though that was a really solid suggestion. Let me see if they can be set up as a bill... that would definitely open up a lot of possibilities!

Aside from that, I like the idea of just eating a fee and making it back. The school really is $14k/year (actually just over $14,500), so that might be a possibility.

They don't take Amex, unfortunately. They're a relatively small non-profit school, and the options are very limited.

I'm going to check into those links that Crzyrio and Webslinger sent as well - many, many thanks!!

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