Do you have bills that you aren’t able to pay with a credit card? I know I have some ei car payment and a water bill where I can only pay with a bank account or a check. You may have other bills like these such as a student loan payment, HOA fees, or mortgage.
In comes Plastiq, a great way to pay your bills with a credit card. Unlike other solutions, Plastiq processes card payments and sends them in a form that recipients already accept, either via electronic bank transfer or check. Now you can even send the payment via ACH or Wire transfer. There is a fee to use Plastiq’s service, 2.5% for credit cards or 1% for debit cards.
They are currently having promotions that will reduce these fees:
New Users: If you are new to Plastiq, you can sign up through a referral link (I’ve included mine) and after you have made cumulative payments totaling $500, your next $500 in payments will be fee free!
Mastercard: If you use a Mastercard to pay through the Masterpass payment option, you’ll pay no fees for payments $250 or less for each transaction. Promotion ends Sept 30, 2018
Some important things to note when using Plastiq:
- If you plan to send payments via ACH or Wire, you need to verify your Plastiq account. You have to verify this through your phone number by either receiving a text or a call with a unique code to enter on Plastiq’s website. You will also need the routing # and account # of the recipient to send ACH or Wires. Domestic wires will arrive same day, International wires will arrive next day, and ACH payments will arrive within 4-5 business days. Wires will incur an additional transfer fee.
- American Express or Visa will not allow you to make mortgage payments through Plastiq. As of now, Mastercard and Discover will allow this type of transaction to be processed.
- For Chase personal VISA credit cards, payments made through Plastiq may be subject to a lower card limit (typically ~20% of your total card limit). Your transaction should otherwise be treated normally with full rewards.
- For personal VISA credit cards that are not issued by Capital One, payments may be treated as a cash advance, and incur all cash advance-related fees & receive no card rewards. Visa business credit cards, Visa corporate, debit and prepaid gift cards will be treated as a regular transaction and should not be counted as a cash advance.
- If you are sending a payment to an individual for a legitimate business transaction such as a landlord or a contractor, Plastiq may require you to supply the rental agreement or an invoice. You cannot send payments to yourself.
- Make sure to initiate payment well in advance of your due date to ensure funds are received by the recipient before your due date.
Platiq could help those needing to meet minimum spends on their credit cards or could help individuals earn credit card rewards if the points justify the costs. Also for those who have the Chase Ink Business Preferred card, Plastiq transactions are currently earning 3x points could offset the fees imposed.