[Plastiq] Pay any bill with credit card for 0%-2.85% fee
I'm sure a lot of people already know about this, but it comes up often enough on different threads I thought it deserved its own home (and I couldn't find a thread covering it).
Plastiq.com lets you pay practically ANY bill with your credit card. The fees are effectively 2.5%.
Normally you wouldn't want to pay a bill with your credit card just to pay a fee for that privilege, but if your card pays you back more than the fee, it's worth it. For example, I value the SPG Amex earn rate at 3-4%, so even 2.5% is a positive benefit for me (*if* I need points and want to "buy" them at 2.5c per point or less I can do that by using Plastiq on some bills I wouldn't normally otherwise be able to pay with a CC, like Hydro & Gas).
Another use case is if you have a credit card signup bonus with a large minimum spend you have to hit -- it can be worth it to pay a small fee to unlock a bonus worth $300 or $500 or whatever the case may be.
So anyways, perhaps we can aggregate a reference list here of the various fees for each payee so people who haven't signed up yet can better see how it may be beneficial for them to use.
Outdated fee table:
EDIT: Thanks to the "new and improved RFD" this table is horribly broken ... hopefully it fixes itself or the add a new way to do tables again soon?
Hand-edited table (thanks @atomiton) that looks okay on desktop but still horrible on mobile:
I think these are out of date now and need to be updated, most things are 2.25-2.5% across the board I believe unless there is a promo applicable like 2% for Amex.
You CAN also get 0% fees if you have earned "fee-free dollars" (FFDs). How those work is, e.g. if you have $200 FFDs you can pay a $200 bill and avoid the fees on that $200 (max $5 savings at 2.5% fee).
If you have a friend with Plastiq, ask them to refer you***. This is what I did:
Recommended steps to get $800 fee-free dollars of payments (save $20 in fees):
1) I got referred and got $200 FFDs. You need to pay a minimum $20 bill to unlock the FFDs so I chose the lowest fee 1.5% MC BC Hydro on my 2% back Cap1 card. You may need to wait a day to see the FFDs get posted.
2) Then I referred my spouse and she got $200 more in addition to $400 for myself for referring her (repeat $20 bill pay to unlock FFDs on 2nd account)
So $800 combined. That saved us up to $20 in fees on future bill payments (Fortis BC and Property Taxes partially paid to use up these FFDs)
***
DISCLAIMER / PRIVACY WARNING
DO NOT ASK FOR REFERRALS ON THE RFD FORUMS - it's against the rules.
(Besides, it's only $5 in fees max you save for a $200 FFD referral)
Also NOTE: If you value your anonymity, your referer gets an email saying you signed up and that includes your full name. So let's just not spam this thread with referral requests but just try to add some data points on how it works, what the fees are, and answer any common questions.
***
.
Original table broken still below for reference ...
[table="width: 600"]
[tr]
[td]Payee[/td]
[td]Sent electronically?[/td]
[td]MasterCard[/td]
[td]Visa[/td]
[td]American Express[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Default not pre-existing payee
(e.g. mailed cheque)[/td]
[td]NO[/td]
[td]2.25%[/td]
[td]2.25% 2.50%[/td]
[td]2.50%
(src: [OP])[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]BC Hydro[/td]
[td]YES[/td]
[td]1.50%[/td]
[td]1.75%[/td]
[td]2.25% 2.50%
(src: [OP])[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]FortisBC[/td]
[td]YES[/td]
[td]2.25%[/td]
[td]2.25% 2.50%[/td]
[td]2.50%
(src: [OP])[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Metro Vancouver area Property Taxes[/td]
[td]YES[/td]
[td]2.25%[/td]
[td]2.50%[/td]
[td]2.50%
(src: [OP])[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Hydro Quebec[/td]
[td]YES[/td]
[td]1.50%
(src: Flitox)[/td]
[td]?[/td]
[td]?[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]CRA (taxes)[/td]
[td]YES[/td]
[td]1.74%[/td]
[td]1.99%[/td]
[td]2.50%
(src: blitzkrieg)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]OSAP[/td]
[td]YES[/td]
[td]1.74%
(src:Troydabes)[/td]
[td]?[/td]
[td]?[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
Plastiq.com lets you pay practically ANY bill with your credit card. The fees are effectively 2.5%.
Normally you wouldn't want to pay a bill with your credit card just to pay a fee for that privilege, but if your card pays you back more than the fee, it's worth it. For example, I value the SPG Amex earn rate at 3-4%, so even 2.5% is a positive benefit for me (*if* I need points and want to "buy" them at 2.5c per point or less I can do that by using Plastiq on some bills I wouldn't normally otherwise be able to pay with a CC, like Hydro & Gas).
Another use case is if you have a credit card signup bonus with a large minimum spend you have to hit -- it can be worth it to pay a small fee to unlock a bonus worth $300 or $500 or whatever the case may be.
So anyways, perhaps we can aggregate a reference list here of the various fees for each payee so people who haven't signed up yet can better see how it may be beneficial for them to use.
Outdated fee table:
EDIT: Thanks to the "new and improved RFD" this table is horribly broken ... hopefully it fixes itself or the add a new way to do tables again soon?
Hand-edited table (thanks @atomiton) that looks okay on desktop but still horrible on mobile:
Code: Select all
+--------------------------------+----------------------+------------+-------+-------+
| Payee | Sent electronically? | MasterCard | Visa | AMEX |
+--------------------------------+----------------------+------------+-------+-------+
| Default (e.g. mailed cheque) | NO | 2.25% | 2.50% | 2.50% |
| BC Hydro | YES | 1.50% | 1.75% | 2.50% |
| FortisBC | YES | 2.25% | 2.50% | 2.50% |
| Metro Vancouver Property Taxes | YES | 2.25% | 2.50% | 2.50% |
| Hydro Quebec | YES | 1.50% | ? | ? |
| CRA (taxes) | YES | 1.74% | 1.99% | 2.50% |
| OSAP | YES | 1.74% | ? | ? |
+--------------------------------+----------------------+------------+-------+-------+
My attempt at a smaller table for mobile ...
+-----------------+------+-------+-------+-------+
| | Sent | Master| | |
| Payee | Elec | Card | Visa | AMEX |
+-----------------+------+-------+-------+-------+
| Default (e.g. | | | | |
| mailed cheque) | NO | 2.25% | 2.50% | 2.50% |
| BC Hydro | YES | 1.50% | 1.75% | 2.50% |
| FortisBC | YES | 2.25% | 2.50% | 2.50% |
| Metro Vancouver | | | | |
| Property Taxes | YES | 2.25% | 2.50% | 2.50% |
| Hydro Quebec | YES | 1.50% | ? | ? |
| CRA (taxes) | YES | 1.74% | 1.99% | 2.50% |
| OSAP | YES | 1.74% | ? | ? |
+-----------------+------+-------+-------+-------+
For reference ...
Landscape mobile view wraps about ........................... here:
+--------------------------------+----------------------+---------+
Portrait mobile wraps about ... here:
+-----------------+------+-------+--+
You CAN also get 0% fees if you have earned "fee-free dollars" (FFDs). How those work is, e.g. if you have $200 FFDs you can pay a $200 bill and avoid the fees on that $200 (max $5 savings at 2.5% fee).
If you have a friend with Plastiq, ask them to refer you***. This is what I did:
Recommended steps to get $800 fee-free dollars of payments (save $20 in fees):
1) I got referred and got $200 FFDs. You need to pay a minimum $20 bill to unlock the FFDs so I chose the lowest fee 1.5% MC BC Hydro on my 2% back Cap1 card. You may need to wait a day to see the FFDs get posted.
2) Then I referred my spouse and she got $200 more in addition to $400 for myself for referring her (repeat $20 bill pay to unlock FFDs on 2nd account)
So $800 combined. That saved us up to $20 in fees on future bill payments (Fortis BC and Property Taxes partially paid to use up these FFDs)
***
DISCLAIMER / PRIVACY WARNING
DO NOT ASK FOR REFERRALS ON THE RFD FORUMS - it's against the rules.
(Besides, it's only $5 in fees max you save for a $200 FFD referral)
Also NOTE: If you value your anonymity, your referer gets an email saying you signed up and that includes your full name. So let's just not spam this thread with referral requests but just try to add some data points on how it works, what the fees are, and answer any common questions.
***
.
Original table broken still below for reference ...
[table="width: 600"]
[tr]
[td]Payee[/td]
[td]Sent electronically?[/td]
[td]MasterCard[/td]
[td]Visa[/td]
[td]American Express[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Default not pre-existing payee
(e.g. mailed cheque)[/td]
[td]NO[/td]
[td]2.25%[/td]
[td]
[td]2.50%
(src: [OP])[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]BC Hydro[/td]
[td]YES[/td]
[td]1.50%[/td]
[td]1.75%[/td]
[td]
(src: [OP])[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]FortisBC[/td]
[td]YES[/td]
[td]2.25%[/td]
[td]
[td]2.50%
(src: [OP])[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Metro Vancouver area Property Taxes[/td]
[td]YES[/td]
[td]2.25%[/td]
[td]2.50%[/td]
[td]2.50%
(src: [OP])[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Hydro Quebec[/td]
[td]YES[/td]
[td]1.50%
(src: Flitox)[/td]
[td]?[/td]
[td]?[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]CRA (taxes)[/td]
[td]YES[/td]
[td]1.74%[/td]
[td]1.99%[/td]
[td]2.50%
(src: blitzkrieg)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]OSAP[/td]
[td]YES[/td]
[td]1.74%
(src:Troydabes)[/td]
[td]?[/td]
[td]?[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
Last edited by ace604 on Jul 10th, 2016 6:57 pm, edited 4 times in total.
POLL: How frequent is your RRSP-matching?
Plastiq: Pay any bill with credit card for 0-2.5% fee (help meet min spending and keep old cards active!)
Rewards program transfer times (e.g. SPG->Aeroplan, Marriott->SPG, Amex MR->SPG...)
Plastiq: Pay any bill with credit card for 0-2.5% fee (help meet min spending and keep old cards active!)
Rewards program transfer times (e.g. SPG->Aeroplan, Marriott->SPG, Amex MR->SPG...)