USCIS Fees: Credit Card VS Personal Check VS Cashier's Check VS Money Order

[leviiathan 206]

We have a credit card, we simply always use a personal check as it is the most convenient for my husband, and we don't want to be set back by the credit card being rejected (Nor do either of us like making calls lol)

[Amunah 62]

5 hours ago, mam521 said:

Credit card.  I have my card set up to notify me of EVERY transaction, so I see them come in live.  Anything over a certain amount, the CC company texts and requests approval.  Never had any issues and we're a number of petitions successfully through the system now.   

 

Banking with cheques is very antiquated in my mind.  US banking in general seems behind the times.  I was uncomfortable when I first moved to the US 10 years ago and they'd still walk off with your CC to pay a restaurant bill.  We'd had tableside machines in Canada for years already and your card never leaves your hand there.  We'd also had chips in cards for years prior.  The fact that it took so long for the US to accept chip n pin was mind blowing to me.  I was shaking my head when people in our neighbourhood were complaining about 6 or so years ago that the debit machines at the local Kroger had been changed and the "credit" option when using a debit card had been removed, so they were required to use a pin. 

 

Interestingly enough, we used to have to request our corporate cards to have a pin (and later, a chip) so that we could use them internationally because so many other places required it, but not the US.  We had to have a "business justification" for the need.  

 

Fraud is high in the US, so a CC offers the most inexpensive additional insurance a person can have because it's the CC company that has to be insured.  If your debit card gets hacked, there's no getting that money back.  Some banks are definitely better than others for monitoring and communicating when there is suspected fraud.  

You would be surprised how many people in some of the poshest areas in New York use cheques in retail. It’s almost a status symbol😁

[Legend of Summer 23]

I just mail in cash  

[TBoneTX 45,591]

1 hour ago, Legend of Summer said:

I just mail in cash  

Sent in pennies?   

[Legend of Summer 23]

4 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Sent in pennies?   

the shipping fee is too expensive

[ghostinthemachine 76]

I wish I'd be ballsy enough to use a credit card to make meeting my current SUB easier, but the frequent issues with declined payments stressed me out enough to not chance it for either AOS or ROC. We used cashier's checks from our main bank for both packages and have been able to confirm with them when they were cashed each time. We don't use personal checks for anything (never have and I find the concept baffling quite frankly) so didn't want to order a whole book just for this.

[OldUser 6,978]

2 minutes ago, ghostinthemachine said:

We don't use personal checks for anything (never have and I find the concept baffling quite frankly) so didn't want to order a whole book just for this.

Sadly, purchasing a car involves most inevitably, writing check. Same goes for any home repairs, services etc. Though many contractors now can take credit card (but charge a fee for that). Otherwise I'm a team CC myself 😃

[OldUser 6,978]

Looks like mixing payment methods is not a good thing:

 

I never thought of doing it, but apparently somebody tried.

 

Edited February 2 by OldUser

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,093]

On 1/29/2024 at 2:15 PM, OldUser said:

I would like to discuss pros and cons of all payment methods one can use to pay USCIS fees.

 

Here's my view and understanding so far.

 

Credit Card

Pros:

- Can earn miles / points / cashback

- Can spread the payments (think of 0% APR intro + 10% effective cashback in the first year etc)

- You know when USCIS charges it

Cons:

- Requires a credit history and card

- Payment can be easily denied due to suspicious charge (yes, USCIS fees can be viewed as suspicious by bank IT systems) or hitting the limit. USCIS won't retry charging it.

 

Also pro:

You fill out a USCIS-supplied form to use a credit card. It cannot be made out to the wrong person, have some missing or incorrect information in the memo box, or anything like that.

 

/I used a credit card for everything without issues.

[powerpuff 6,744]

I have always used a personal check for every step of the way in my immigration journey so far. For the record, we have credit cards and always use them for everything for points and cash back but a personal check gives me a peace of mind. 
 

I was worried for a sec only once: my husband had his check book before we got married so it was only his name on it and we didn’t feel like paying for another check book to have both of our names reflected. After reading threads here, this was fine - it could be literally anyone, all they want is withdraw the funds asap 🤑

Edited February 3 by powerpuff

[Dr. Kalt 1]

We're about to file, but we moved within the past two years, and the checks in the checkbook still have the old address. Should we do money order instead?

[OldUser 6,978]

On 11/26/2024 at 8:08 AM, Dr. Kalt said:

We're about to file, but we moved within the past two years, and the checks in the checkbook still have the old address. Should we do money order instead?

You can. Or you can use old checks. Or get new checks first. I don't think this matters much.