New promo. Plastiq has a new promotion where you can pay a bill using a Mastercard in Masterpass with no fee. Expires 9/30/18. Thanks to readers Jon and Bill. Here are the restrictions and details:
From now until September 30, 2018, we will waive the Plastiq fee when you use Mastercard in Masterpass for the payment. This promotion applies to any bills or invoices up to a maximum of $250 each.
To qualify for this promotion, you must:
Use a Mastercard in Masterpass for the payments (read here on how to add a Mastercard in Masterpass to your Plastiq account).
Submit or schedule payments between June 1, 2018 12:00 a.m. ET and September 30, 2018 11:59 p.m. ET.
The payments’ delivery date must be before or on September 30, 2018.
There is no minimum or maximum amount required for the transaction.
If the amount is over $250, you will incur a Plastiq fee on the remaining amount over $250.
If you have signed up with a referral code, you will need to hit the required minimum of $500 in successful payments and receive the fee-free dollar credit in order to be eligible for this promotion.
To clarify, there is a $250 limit per payment, but no limit on the number of payments. You could split up a larger bill into $250 increments if the payee accepts that. You could convert a mortgage, home equity loan, student loan, tuition, or property tax payment into a credit card payment that earns rewards or fulfill a sign-up bonus. For example, with the Citi Double Cash Card, the 2% cash back means every $5,000 in purchases could earn $100 cash back.
Original post:
Plastiq.com lets you pay bills and invoices with a credit or debit card, even if they don’t usually accept them. The standard service fee is 2.5% for credit cards and 1% for Visa and MasterCard debit cards. However, they run limited-time promotion with lower fees. They will charge your card and send out a paper check to the payee (direct bank transfers to a few), so you’d want to plan ahead for any snail mail delays. They recommend 10 business days to be safe. More ideas from their site:
- Rent or Mortgage
- Homeowners Association (HOA) dues
- Tuition
- Childcare costs
- Buying a car, RV, or ATV
- Income or business taxes
(Note: This was only an example given during a 1.5% fee promotion. The current fee may be higher or lower.) Why would I want to pay a 1.5% service fee?
Sign-up bonus spending requirements. Sign-up bonuses often having spending requirements. For example, you might get a $500 value bonus but need to spend $5,000. Well, that’s effectively 10% back so if you need a little help to get over that hurdle, it’s okay to pay a 1.5% fee. Here are some recent cards with big $500 value bonuses but also spending requirements:
- Chase Freedom Card
- BankAmericard Travel Rewards® Credit Card
- British Airways Credit Card
- Southwest Airlines Credit Card
- Chase Ink Plus Business Card
- Citi ThankYou Premier Card
- Citi Prestige Card
2% cash back credit cards, or similar. If you have a rewards credit card that offers 2% cash back (or equivalent value in points), then you can still make a slight profit by putting them on your credit card. A simple example is the Citi Double Cash Card. For example, if you have a tuition bill or tax bill of $5,000 and you earned 2% cash back while paying a 1.5% fee, your net 0.5% is $25.
Combine a rewards card + 0% APR on purchases. Many credit cards offer 0% APR on purchases for an introductory period of 12 months or longer. If the card also has a half-decent rewards program on purchases, the combination of purchase rewards and spreading out the payments over a year at no interest could be attractive.
Referral program. Plastiq has a somewhat confusing referral program. If a new user signs up via a referral link and pays $500 worth of bills, they will then get $500 “fee-free dollars”. So first you’d have to pay the fee on a bill, and then on your next bill, $500 of it will be “fee-free” (at 2.5% that’s a $12.50 savings). The referrer will get $1,000 in fee-free dollars. If you take advantage of the promo above, that should trigger the bonus. Here’s my referral link. Thanks if you use it.
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Couldn’t you use Plastiq to pay one 2% rewards card with another 2% rewards card, and then swap it and go the other way to get your 0.5% on an automated basis? 😉
Couldn’t you do that on a daily basis? Couldn’t you also keep the first transfer in your bank account until both cards needed to be paid off entirely? Probably when the 2% offer expires or changes?
Let’s say you were trying to maximize the 1.5% rate by lining up as many recurring payments as possible. Does anyone see on their website an actual limit on how far you can schedule payments? I see the quote loosely say, “secure the 1.5% rate for payments that are even a year out!” But when I actually tried to schedule some payments, it initially let me schedule all the way to year 2020 (before it generated an error because my credit card expires before then), but I was still able to reschedule it to recur monthly through 2018 with my existing MasterCard. Is there any evidence that I will or will not be able to retain the 1.5% rate for those payments beyond 2016? (Basically, does it say anywhere that I really should just schedule up to a year forward because I’ll lose the 1.5% rate after that point anyway?) Thanks for any insights!
You can ask them directly via Twitter or Facebook, but from what I read there is no limit as long as you schedule them during this promotional period and the system lets you. The “even a year out” quote is just an example, not a hard limit.
I have had a horrible experience with Plastiq. Over half of the payments I have wanted to make have been canceled, which caused me problems, and on two of them they took the fee out and refused to refund it. The explanation they have given has been arbitrary and their customer service horrible. They say that they refunded me the two that they didn’t refund. I offered to send them my complete transaction history on the card, and then they said nothing. They seem to not be very organized. I wish I could recommend them, but about all I can recommend at this point is “stay away.” I hope they get better.
Also, Michael, no, they don’t let you pay credit cards with other credit cards. They don’t make that clear on their website. You find that out when they cancel your payment. They also cancel payments to other reputable merchants for no clear reason, and sometimes they ask you why you want to use their service to make a particular payment, as it is apparently their business to know why you do what you do.
Any idea if the credit card used for recurring payments could be changed down the road and still keep that 1.5% rate?
Fairly certain that any attempt to change payment details (including credit card used) after Oct 13 will eliminate the special rate. “Additionally, editing a payment after the promotional period will cause you to lose the promotional rate for that payment.”
hmmm, i could just send myself checks probably…
Fairly certain writing checks to yourself would violate at least the following of their Restricted Activities in their Terms of Service: “You will not: Send money to yourself; Send money to recipients who have not provided a good or service; Provide yourself a cash advance from your credit card (or help others to do so)”…
Based on the comments and restrictions, not much value to be had here.
Rats! I just paid property taxes in VA. Wish I had know about this on October 1st.
Has anyone successfully used Plastiq? Any pitfalls to setting up auto payments on my approximately $2,000 mortgage payment for the next year on a 2% cashback card?
I recently just started using a similar service to pay my rent. My rent is $1900/month. Typically I would write out a paper check and use a stamp. RadPad charges 0% for using a debit card or 2.5% for a credit card. I signed up for the PayPal debit card that pays 1% cash back, and linked it to my existing bank account from which I would have written the check. Now I make the $1900 rent payment through RadPad using the PayPal debit card, and get 1% or $19 cash back per month instead of it costing me a stamp and a check.
Stephen:
Thanks for sharing the information. I didn’t know about the 1% cash back with Paypal debit card.
Just curious – why do I need the radpad in this case? can’t I directly use this debit card to setup automated payments for rent, mortgages, gas, electricity etc ..
Currently I am using my ‘bank of america’ debit card, I was wondering if I can simply transfer all my payments using Paypal debit card and earn the cash back.
Am I missing anything?
Why you linking your PayPal debit card to your bank account? You should open a PayPal/Ebay credit card and link your debit card to that. It pays an additional 1% cashback. So, you get a total of 2%. And Plastiq charges zero fees for using PayPal MasterCard debit card. I just did it to pay my mortgage. Thanks, Jonathan!
I am still not clear about the chain ..
Rent — plastiq — Citi 2% — result in .5%
Rent — PayPal debit — Bofa — result in 1 %
If your landlord doesn’t accept debit card payments, you would need to pay by check. That is what Plastiq is used for – sending a check.
Shina:
Rent — Plastiq — PayPal debit card — PayPal/Ebay credit card — result in 2 % cash back
So there is no fee during this transaction?
PayPal debit card — PayPal/Ebay credit card
it’s basically paying off your debit card with your “credit card” … I am unable to understand this piece in the equation (everything else seems proper)
Nick,
How do you make a credit card to be a primary funding source for PayPal debit card?
Nick:
I recently came to know that PayPal will discontinue paying cash back rebates on PIN-less debit purchases starting February 01.
Any other alternatives we can use?
Thanks,
-S
Hi Nick,
when I looked at radpad, it says rent only. How do you pay mortgage with radpad? Is it really possible? Please share some more details
thanks
What does radpad have to do with it? I use Plastiq service described in this article to pay my mortgage. I will also use it to pay my city property taxes.
I will give Plastiq a try on a couple of property tax bills for my business and see what happens. BTW for a business the 1.5% is deductible while the 2% rebate on a Citi Bank Card is tax free, therefore someone in the 33% tax bracket the net fee is 1%, yielding a tax free profit of 1%. I am going to pay $2,000 in Property tax bills and take the $20 profit and have a nice lunch!
Shina:
Actually, it is very simple. Go to your PayPal account. Setup backup funding source for your debit card. I assume you don’t keep a balance in your PayPal account. You can use your checking account as a backup funding source for your debit card. Or if you had a PayPal/Ebay credit card, you can select it as a backup funding source for your debit card instead of your checking account. Does it make sense?
I have looked at paypal extra master card, its not providing cash back but 1x rewards for each dollar spend. Please confirm, if I am missing something.
thanks
One point per dollar or one cent per dollar is the same thing. You will simply redeem your points for cash or gift cards.
So you can use your rewards for gift cards or cash back, and with that we can have 1% from ebay debit + 1x point for ebay credit card.
That sounds great.
Thank you Nick
Today I received my cashback from PayPal debit card. I confirm I got 1.5% cashback from PayPal (I opened the card more than 10 years ago when they were still at 1.5%). In addition, I got my 1% (points) from Synchrony Bank Ebay MasterCard credit card. So, 2.5% for paying my mortgage with Plastiq. Thank you for great service! Thank you Jonathan for telling us about this great opportunity!
I don’t quite understand how this works either. You pay with the PayPal debit card, which pulls from the eBay MasterCard as the funding source automatically instead of a bank account?
Jonathan, that’s exactly right. That’s how I collect 1.5% from the debit card and 1% from the credit card. I have been doing this for years. And now I pay my mortgage that way. Luckily, Plastiq charges nothing in fees.
Do you have a link or something? I don’t see where you can set an eBay credit card as the primary funding source for the debit card. I have the PayPal business debit card. Thanks!
Finally figured it all out, thanks for helping.
I found this: https://www.paypal.com/selfhelp/article/FAQ1660/5
Very interesting. Thanks!
How are you getting 1%? It takes 6000 points to redeem for a $50 credit, so points are worth 0.83 cent each, right?
but @Adam – because PLASTIQ has zero fees for debit cards, his 2.5% cash back for his mortgage payments is clean money – money he would have not earned if it weren’t for a service like PLASTIQ.
I understand you are probably trying to explain that it is not an actual 2.5% return on his payment because each point is worth less than one dollar, but it is still 0.83 cents per dollar that he wouldn’t have earned back otherwise!
Great deal, great deal. I might apply for those then!
-Maria Alexandra
How does the charge from Plastiq appear on my credit card? What is the Merchant Category Code?
What difference does it make?
Today’s the last day of the promotion. Has anyone figured out how to pay estimated taxes with Plastiq? Don’t you usually have to send in a form along with the check so the IRS can track what the payment is for, or would something in the Memo Line be sufficient? Anyone actually paying estimated taxes with Plastiq, or is this a bad idea?
I think the only thing you need to put is your SSN. That’s what your federal taxes are tied to. The last two years I paid my federal taxes via ChoicePay. They have a flat fee of $3.50 when I used my PayPal MasterCard debit card. That’s not bad at all. Maybe I will try Plastiq in April 2016 and pay zero fees. Kenneth, please share your experience. Thanks.
My mortgage payment finally posted. It was initiated on the 8th, they sent a check to US Bank, and it was posted on the 21st. So, when making payments, make sure you schedule them two weeks before they are due.
Two weeks is some serious lag time. That said 1% on the mortgage… pretty good. Do the ebay to credit card and pull 2-5%… nice.
Well, if you mail the payment yourself, you would still have to allow the same amount of time. This way you pay your mortgage with a credit card and the cash is sitting in your bank account earning interest until it is time to pay your credit card bill, which is usually over a month away. For example, my December mortgage payment will be put on the credit card and the bill will be due on January 18. What’s not to like?
brankar, Could you please explain how to get 2-5% ?
Please, read the comments above how to get the 2.5% cashback.
The Terms of Service (last revised Jul 16, 2015) on the Plastiq website says they make no guarantees on payment delivery dates and are not responsible for fees, penalties, interest, etc.
The terms also state that if they send funds to the incorrect Merchant or make duplicate payments, they will make every effort (yes of course) to recover the funds and if successful they will be returned to you. If unsuccessful, you will need to deal directly with the Merchant. You are also responsible for reimbursing Plastiq for the payment made.
The FAQs in the Plastiq website say “If your payment is submitted before the recipient’s specified deadline, but for some reason arrives after the expected delivery time, Plastiq will cover 100% of any late fees incurred on that payment”. To me this sounds like the total opposite. I am not a lawyer, so someone please let me know if I am misinterpreting this.
On a separate note, I did not see anything that says debit MasterCard does not incur a fee from Plastiq. Was this only on the October promotion?
I have a question on people using Plastiq to pay their mortgage: Is it just scheduling all your future mortgage payments (as individual payments) before the promotion ends?
– Debit cards are always 0% fee. No promo required.
– Payments for November promo must be immediate and one-time.
Paypal is changing its terms – discontinue paying cash back rebates on PIN-less debit purchases. Is it possible to use any other debit card and get cashback?
Anyone has more information on the Paypal debit card reward term changes (1% discountinuted?) Jonathan? Nick?
Still getting 1.5% cashback by using PayPal debit card. Will update everyone if it changes after 02/01/2016.
Just got my 1.5% cashback for the period 1/3/16-2/3/16. So one month from today we will know if things changed as far as the comment above about discontinuing paying cash back on PIN-less PayPal debit card purchases.
I just got the following email from plastiq:
As you may know, at Plastiq we’re always working on ways to offer the very best service at the lowest possible price. Last year this commitment led us to offer a promotional debit card fee rate of 0%. This will be ending effective today, February 9th, at 5pm PT.However, due to the overwhelmingly positive response to reduced debit fees, we’re excited to offer an on-going reduced rate of 1% for personal debit card payments (rather than the standard 2.5%)
So does this mean they will charge 1% on debt card payments? I always thought debt cards was fee free not a promotion. If this is true bye bye Plastiq. with my paypal paying only 1.5% its not worth the effort to me for only a 1/2 percent. anyone with information please inform me and others.
I never received that email, and this morning I just submitted a debit card payment through Plastiq with 0% fee.
Hey Adam. I just test sampled a debt card payment and the fee is coming up. Maybe they are picking and choosing who pays a fee? anybody else can confirm they are not being charged a fee?
I paid another bill last night, and can now confirm the 1% fee. It must have rolled out to my account a little later. I still haven’t received that email though!
I have just checked it, and it shows me 1% fees for my debit card. So finally bye bye plastiq as from this month paypal is stopping 1% cash back.
Yup, I got the 1% e-mail as well. I didn’t even know the 0% rate was promotional.
That’s definitely bad news. PayPal supposedly stopped paying 1.5% debit card cashback for these types of transaction. I should be able to confirm that on March 4, when the cashback posts to my account. And now this 1% transaction fee. I guess I will still use Plastiq since my Ebay MasterCard 1% cashback covers the 1% transaction fee. But there will no longer be a monetary benefit. Except for postponing your actual payment by a month when your credit card bill is due.
Jonathan, I think you have a math error in your article. .5% on the $5000 payment would be $25, not $50.
Fixed, thanks.
I have another story to share. I used Plastiq to pay my February mortgage. I scheduled it 19 days before the final due date. The check to US Bank was mailed 18 days before the due date. And it took 18 days for the mail to be delivered, opened and for the payment to post to my account. Even though Plastiq says it takes 3-5 business days for First Class mail to reach any institution in the US. Maybe it was US Bank who delayed posting my payment, I don’t know. I just wanted to warn people to be aware that it may take up to 3 weeks. I have done 7 payments with Plastiq to multiple banks. The fastest posted in 7 days, the longest in 18 days. I did call US Bank yesterday and they said they would charge me a late fee if there is no payment that day. Luckily, I also contacted Plastiq and they were nice enough to offer reimbursement in case I got charged a late fee. That’s good to know.
Hey Nick I was going to reply back to you post when I found time. you said “I guess I will still use Plastiq since my Ebay MasterCard 1% cashback covers the 1% transaction fee. But there will no longer be a monetary benefit. Except for postponing your actual payment by a month when your credit card bill is due.
I was going to respond back and tell you I don’t think it’s worth it. I mean worrying if your payment reaches on time or not with no monetary benefit plus possible late fees and dings on your credit. to me it’s not worth messing with plastiq.
Yes, you are correct. It is probably not worth it. Except when Ebay MasterCard runs a double points promotion (usually a couple of times per year). Also, I have to confirm, PayPal debit card stopped paying 1.5% on these transactions. Stay tuned. March 4 will be my next update.
“Earn Cash Back when you use your card online, over the phone or sign up for a purchase. Cash Back will be earned on net purchases when the receipt is signed or when the purchase is authorized as a credit transaction by phone or online. Purchases made using a PIN are not eligible to earn Cash Back.”
This was taken right from the Paypal Debit MasterCard site. It seems purchase made USING a PIN is not eligible. Is a pin used with a Plastiq transaction?
Joe, no PIN is used with a Plastiq transaction. But supposedly they run it as a debit transaction through MasterCard network. The final judgement is still pending. I will report on March 4 if I earned 1.5% cashback on Plastiq transaction. Stay tuned.
I can confirm, I still earned 1.5% cashback on Plastiq transactions using my PayPal debit card in February.
are you still receiving for april month?
I still received it for March transactions, but some were not included. We will see how April goes.
Any word on this? Please let us know.
Yes, I am still receiving full 1.5% cash back on plastiq transactions. So, I am making 0.5% if you take out the 1% service fee.
Fantastic. Thanks for the update.
You’ll get $200 fee free dollars (or a $5 savings with a 2.5% fee) after making a payment of at least $20. Make sure you pay at least 2 weeks in advance before your bill is due; they’re that slow.
https://try.plastiq.com/373722
Plastiq service so far is reliable.. the mortgage payment takes about 5-7 days. The utility payments surprisingly takes 4-5 days. I still send the payments 15 days before the payment due date just in case.
The credit card rewards help decrease the fees a lot (using my Citi Double cash back CC 2%!)
If you are a new applicant, I would greatly appreciate it if you’d kindly use my referral link and you will get $200 fee-free dollars.
https://try.plastiq.com/473671
Thank you 🙂
I am still using Plastiq for all my payments. However, I experienced a little issue. The entity I was paying relies on the postmark date. The envelopes sent by Plastiq do not have a postmark date even though they come via USPS. So, just a warning for people who could be in the same situation.
I have a question: would it be sound to use PLASTIQ in a strategy to pay less interest on student loans by taking advantage of a 0% interest on purchases + sign-up bonus? I’ll give an example:
-I apply for a new card (Card X) that provides 2x (double points) for the first $50,000 I spent on my first year of card membership
-That same card offers 0% interest on purchases for 12 months
I have student loans ranging from 4.5% to 6.8% interest rate. I pay a lump sum of what I would pay annually for those loans by using new card X via PLASTIQ. By doing this (paying in advance with card X), I’m actually saving between 2% and 4.3% in interest that year, as it compounds / capitalizes daily ( I believe). This, of course, takes into consideration the 2.5% fee.
Next? I keep making the monthly payments I would otherwise put toward those loans to the new balance of this new CARD X instead – all while earning the bonus points for those payments ( as they are marked as purchases) that otherwise wouldn’t earned me anything.
Am I flawed in my analysis? Please advise. I’m currently considering to combine PLASTIQ and the AMEX Blue for Business to pay for student loans for one year.
The current promo for that card: 10x points for dining at US restaurants for the first $2,000; bonus of 10,000 points after your first purchase (no minimum); 2x points on all purchases up to $50,000 for your first year; plus 30% bonus on all points earned from purchases that year. After the first promotional year, you will then get one point per dollar – but retain the 30% bonus every year you are a card member.. Oh – and no annual fee.
Please let me know this is a good idea, thank you!
-Maria Alexandra
Best Plastiq promo so far!
Make a payment of $100 or more in plastiq with my referral and we both get $2500 in no fee payments!
Here’s my link:
https://www.plastiq.com/cardholder_ui/start?referralCode=533212
Details below:
Refer any business with your unique code, and when they make a payment of at least $100 by March 31, 2017, both of you earn 2,500 fee-free dollars. That means you can pay $2,500 worth of bills without the Plastiq fee and there’s no limit to how many businesses you can refer!
Your unique referral code is: 533212
I have been using Plastiq and my mortgage payment went thru in 5 days (even though they indicated 7 days). It was coded as “Travel” when I used my Chase Ink Preferred for Plastiq for my mortgage. There is currently a huge bonus from Plastiq lately to use for your minimum spend requirements by using it to pay for your mortgage. You can get $500 FFD (as May 25, 2017). I have been using it as last resort to meet the min spend. Appreciate if readers also using my link please.
Referral code 648787
Link: https://try.plastiq.com/648787
Did you use your Chase Ink Business Preferred? Since it was coded as Travel, did you get 3X points?
There’s nothing wrong with using Plastiq for minimum spend, however, trying to figure out how to get cash back on bill payments that normally can’t be paid with credit cards (mortgage, car payments, loans, etc.) seemed almost impossible at first. Especially since Plastiq increased the PPBDMC fee to 2.5%. It took me a while but I now have a method to collect 2% – 2.5% cash back on virtually any Plastiq transaction. Curious to find out more about it? Try to guess first!
If you were looking to prepay your mortgage anyway, could you simply schedule to pay $500 per day for as many days as you want? Or is there a limit on the frequency of payments to the same payee?
As long as your mortgage servicer is okay with multiple payments as well.
Huh, funny. I didn’t realize it until this MasterCard in MasterPass promo came up, but I don’t seem to have any MasterCards anymore, despite using credit cards like swiss army knives. What reward MasterCards are compelling these days (not that I would be able to get one in time to get in on this promo)?
Citi Double Cash is a Mastercard, and other Citi ThankYou cards are Mastercards.
Oh! My mistake. I neglected to count the Citi Double Cash card in my collection. I still find that one confusing because all of the typical information (including the Visa / Mastercard symbol) is on the back of the card!
I tried to schedule a payment of $500 using Materpass. But they show a fee of $12.50. I thought it should be no fee by 5/31.
I got an email from Plastiq saying that they have now lowered the max dollar amount per bill to $250 for the no-fee promo. Anyone else get that message?
I found this updated link on the Plastiq site that gives more information about what happens after June 1, 2018:
https://plastiq.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360004303093-Masterpass-Promotion-
The message begins, “From now until September 30, 2018, we will waive the Plastiq fee when you use Mastercard in Masterpass for the payment. This promotion applies to any bills or invoices up to a maximum of $250 each.”
Thanks, will update the post.
I just scheduled 30k worth of payments for a cool 4.5% cash back ($1350). Plastiq rocks!