Making Payments Before Final Payment Date

[ldubs]

On 12/7/2023 at 6:10 PM, Rick&Jeannie said:

Make sure you get them applied as soon as you can.

 

We make final payment via our TA.   I guess I should ask them but wonder if it is common to pay to the TA with gift cards.  

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, ldubs said:

 

We make final payment via our TA.   I guess I should ask them but wonder if it is common to pay to the TA with gift cards.  

 

I recently paid off just a hair over $30,000 with gift cards and my TA did all the work of applying the gift cards. (I didn't actually realize how much I was paying until after I got home and added it all up.) If you want to use a buttload of gift cards have your TA deal with applying them.

[MacMadame]

18 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

Princess does not go to the Galapagos. I wish they did as the Galapagos is on our short list to visit soon.

I kind of figured. 😄 My parents have gone there at least once, maybe twice, but they did a very expensive National Geographic cruise.

 

18 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

Princess gift cards are easily transferable as they're not registered to any particular person. They even can be sold, probably for a discount. Do you have any relatives or friends going on a Princess cruise? As their name says, they are great gifts.

I was thinking about selling or transferring. I didn't want to seem like a scam though. I didn't think of asking people I know. Hopefully, I'll get a new job ASAP and it will all be moot because I'll be going on our cruise.

[dog]

Well, just be aware-  Princess refunded my Amex for a charge I made on my Visa. Call from them trying to tell me why they refunded $86 instead of the $78 I was charged originally made no sense.

 

[AZjohn]

This has been a interesting thread to me and like most things in life, there is no one size fits all.

 

For us, it feels less of a financial burden to purchase gift cards at a 8% discount through AARP (use to be 10%) on a monthly cycle than paying the full amount at the end. My TA has no problems receiving them on a monthly basis so it was literally minutes between buying gift cards and forwarding on to her.

 

I usually start the monthly purchases 5 months before final payment day so I know the 8% was better than any low risk interest I could make in the same time frame. And using my credit card to purchase GC’s added another 2% like many other posts above.

 

As far as insurance, most all 3rd party policies I use only go by final payment date, so I always left a little balance to pay at the final payment date and got insurance a few days before that.

 

But again, it’s not saying my way is the best for everyone, just works for us.

 

Cheers