I was reading a couple of articles about paying your mortgage or rent payment with a credit card. There are some companies that are allowing you to use a credit card such as the American Express Blue Cash card to make mortgage payments. There is an enrollment fee of about $400 bucks, so it will take you about a year to gain back the money through cash reward programs. The credit cards with cash rewards is one of the reasons that you’ll hear people say that you can beat the system by paying the mortgage with your credit card and then paying the card with the money you already have set aside for the payment within 30 days. It sounds like a good idea, but I tend to think like a pessimist rather than an optimist when it comes to personal finance and spending habits. I am a pessimist, because I am tempted,like every other red-blooded American, to buy stuff. I love electronics, going out to eat, and novelty household items. And like every other American, unexpected things happen to me that cost a lot of money that I wasn’t expecting to spend.

When I told myself a couple of years ago that I would stop using and abusing credit cards, it was the first time that I started exercising self-control with my money. I could probably pay my rent or mortgage by credit card and be disciplined enough to pay it off before the end of 30 days, but I wouldn’t want to put myself in that situation. Instead of having that money sit in my account staring at me and telling me to spend it, I would rather just pay the mortgage with cash and sacrifice that awesome wonderful 1 to 5% cash back. If you really think that doing all of these little credit card tricks will help you become wealthy, then go ahead and try it. But, I’m pretty sure that Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffet, and Steve Jobs did not become wealthy from finding ways to maximize their credit card rewards.

The equation is simple for becoming wealthy. Be frugal with your money, become completely debt-free, payment free, invest as much as possible, prepare for emergencies, and give to others to show your appreciation to what God has given you. I would never be comfortable to write an article about how I think you should pay your mortgage payment on a credit card, because I know that everyone has their vices. If your vice is spending and having the will power to be responsible with your money, then I would steer clear of this gimmick that will ultimately put more money into the pockets of credit card companies instead of yours.