Can I pay off someone else's credit card?

Q Can one individual transfer or pay off another individual's credit card balance using the first person's credit card?

AP

A Good question. To avoid confusion, I'm going to make some assumptions - namely, that in the spirit of generosity, you're wondering whether you can pay off your brother's credit card debt (it will just make the pronouns easier).

The main obstacle to such generosity would be the lack of a mechanism on your part to carry out such a transaction. You don't have access to the electronic systems used by retailers when they accept credit cards, nor to the systems operated by the card issuers when they record and process payments.

If your credit card comes with credit card cheques, however, you could write a cheque to your brother for the amount outstanding on his card, which he could then deposit into his current account and use to pay off the card balance once the cheque clears. Credit card cheques are often used in just such a situation, where conventional credit card payment is not possible, usually because a retailer doesn't accept credit cards.

If your particular credit card doesn't come with cheques, ask your card issuer whether it has any plans to provide them, or if it will provide a single cheque as a one-off - you never know, it might agree.