If you are not yet aware of Plastiq, you should be. Plastiq is an online bill payment site allowing you to use a credit card and earn points or miles on your payment. This is great for those bills where you cannot use a credit card directly with the merchant or for small businesses to keep cash on hand. Bottom line: Plastiq allows you to increase your credit card rewards and help small businesses increase their cash flow — a win-win all around.
- Sign up for a consumer account (new user promo: pay up to $500 in bills with no fee)
- Sign up for a business account (new user promo: pay up to $4,000 in bills with no fee)
I personally have been using Plastiq over the past few years to pay many bills such as my mortgage, my son’s preschool tuition, my daughters after school program, my taxes, my utility bills and even my accountant. These bills are quite large so earning points and miles has been huge. Of course not every credit card can be used for every bill payment, but fortunately Plastiq put together a great guide which is extremely easy to follow.
As I am sure you expected, using Plastiq is not free, but they run many promotions throughout the year to help reduce the fees and by using the best credit card, you can easily come out ahead. Typically, the fees cost 2.5%, but we’ve seen many promotions were you are charged as low as 1.5% or can earn a ton of Fee-Free Dollars (FFDs). Note: Fee-free Dollars are rewards you can apply to payments for a lowered Plastiq fee. For example, if you have 1,000 FFDs, that is $1,000 worth of bills you can pay without the Plastiq fee.
New Promotion For Small Businesses
To help offset the costs, Plastiq is running a new promotion for small business users who sign up through July 31, 2019. All new vetted small businesses will receive 4,000 Fee-Free Dollars (FFDs). This means, once you are set up in their system as a recognized small business, you’ll then be able to pay up to $4,000 in bills for absolutely no fee (worth a minimum of $80). Depending on your needs, this can help you either earn “free” credit card points, miles or cash back, or help with your business use your existing credit instead to go after new opportunities, rather than taking up cash on hand. Note: To be registered as a small business, it will require you to talk to a Plastiq Sales Representative first.
One reason small businesses love Plastiq is it allows you float some of your existing business expenses. You can think of it as a line of credit you already have, but may not realize it, while only paying a 2.5% fee. That will then free up money to spend elsewhere. And best of all, some fees you pay to Plastiq are tax deductible. (Tax savings differs per business). Note: If you do not qualify as a small business, you can still sign up as a regular user and receive 500 FFD’s (worth at least $10).
Best Credit Card to Increase Your Points and Miles
As I mentioned above, using Plastiq is not free, but depending on your net fee after any promotions are taken into consideration (or the tax write off), many credit cards will actually allow you to make money! Here are some of my personal favorite for coming out ahead when using Plastiq, even without a promotion:
- Discover It Miles: Earn 1.5% cash back, however, all miles earned in the first year are doubled which means all Plastiq purchases in the first year will net you a 3% return.
- Chase Freedom Unlimited: Earn 1.5 points on all non-category bonuses. While that is a great return on its own, if you pair it with the the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or Chase Ink Preferred, you can transfer your points to one of those “Premier†cards where those points are valued at about 2 cents per point. This means you Plastiq purchase will net you about a 3% return.Â
- Barclays Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard: Earn 2x points on every dollar spent. You redeem your points essentially as a travel eraser on all travel purchases made on the card where 1 point = 1 cent per travel — essentially this card gives you a 2% return, however, when you redeem your points you earn 5% back on the points redeemed which means your Plastiq purchase will net you about a 2.1% return.
Bottom Line:
Plastiq is a great way to pay bills that you would not otherwise be able to pay for a credit card. And for small businesses, it will help you increase your cash flow and keep cash on hand, so you can seize new business opportunities. It takes just a minute or two at most to pay the merchant and then Plastiq does all the work. Typically, Plastiq can send a check on your behalf within a weeks timeframe, but you can also schedule bills to be paid further out or even on a recurring cycle. I personally have never had an issue with Plastiq sending a check to the correct merchant and on time.
For those who have bills to pay and want to increase their credit card spend, this is a great bill payment site to use.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, but all opinions are my own.Â
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