With manufactured spending becoming tougher these days, Plastiq offers a great way to generate miles and points on some of our biggest expenses: Rent, mortgage payments, and pretty much everything else. If you’re a business owner with large expenses that you can’t put on a credit card, you’ll like Plastiq’s latest promotion: Sign up for Plastiq as a business owner and earn 5,000 fee-free dollars after making your first payment of $15,000.
Once you’ve signed up, you can start referring other business owners and earn 20,000 Fee-Free Dollars when they make $15,000 worth of payments. There is one caveat: Business owners must add a business credit card to their Plastiq account. This can be any business card – Chase Ink Preferred, Amex Business Platinum, etc.
What are Fee-Free Dollars?
The one caveat to using Plastiq for payments is that they charge a 2.5% credit card processing fee. That adds up to $375 on a $15,000 payment. That’s where Fee-Free Dollars come in. They’re essentially referral credits you can apply towards payment fees.
For example, if you earn 20,000 FFD’s for referring a business owner, it means you can make $20,000 worth of payments completely fee-free. For a lot of you, that translates to a year of free rent or mortgage payments.
IMPORTANT: When you’re finalizing your payment, make sure you click on the “Apply FFD’s” link or the Fee-Free Dollars will not be applied.
Meeting Credit Card Spending Requirements With Plastiq
Earlier this year I picked up an American Express Business Platinum Card for my dad. The spending requirement? $25,000. Normally, I would take care of this easily with a couple of trips to my local mall. However, American Express has been known to claw back sign-up bonuses achieved via manufactured spending.
If I was going to earn that sign-up bonus, I would have to do it completely legitimately. The first $10,000 weren’t that challenging since I contributed to several Kickfurther co-ops and had some expenses related to our trip to Turkey (i.e. shopping, travel, daily living expenses, etc.).
Luckily, I was working on a mobile app project at work and our vendor needed to be paid. When I saw that $14,000 invoice, the lightbulb went off immediately. I asked my boss if I could pay it through Plastiq and she was fine with it as long as our Finance department approved it.
I ran it past them and they signed off after making it clear I would be responsible for any fees. After checking my dad’s spending power to ensure the $14,000 charge would go through, I completed the payment with Plastiq. The reimbursement check came in about a week later and an otherwise daunting spending requirement was easily completed.
Which Credit Card Should You Charge Plastiq Payments to?
When you’re making payments with Plastiq, it’s important to keep some restrictions in mind. For starters, mortgage and rent payments can only be made with a Discover or MasterCard. Most of the time, I use my Citi Prestige or AAdvantage cards for these payments.
I’ve gotten tons of value transferring my ThankYou points to Lifemiles, though there are several other great options. As for American miles, I can always put those points to good use.
If you’re a business owner looking to earn miles on expenses you can’t directly charge to a credit card, Plastiq is worth looking into. Sign-up with my referral link and you’ll get 5,000 FFD’s, while I’ll earn 20,000 if you make a payment of $15,000 or more.
Have you used Plastiq for business before? What kind of expenses are you paying that you wouldn’t normally earn miles on?
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