American Express will let customers who pay a one-time fee of $395 use their credit cards to make their monthly mortgage payments automatically, earning points that can be redeemed for services or cash.
The $395 fee covers mortgage lenders’ processing and account expenses, with American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., the first participating lender, the company said in a press release.
The program applies only to “participating” prime loans, both purchase and refinance, and cardholders must be pre-authorized by the lender to make monthly payments using their American Express card.
First USA and Countrywide Financial Corp. offer a credit card that allow customers to apply rewards points toward their Countrywide mortgages, but the card cannot be used to make mortgage payments.
