System and method provide for making a synthetic cash advance to a credit cardholder via a purchase-payment exchange. A beneficiary selects an item to be purchased by a cardholder for the beneficiary, and in exchange for the cardholder's purchase, the beneficiary transfers funds to the cardholder in an amount that is less than the purchase price of the item. Using this invention, the beneficiary receives the selected item, has a payment made at a discount, and the cardholder receives cash at the card's purchase interest rate. Two or more cardholders may be allowed to bid to make the beneficiary's purchase or payment. The winning bid may be selected based on the cardholder bid having the largest discount from the purchase price.