Earn the Ability to Pay Bills By Credit Card With No Fee

by Gary Leff

I receive compensation for content and many links on this blog. Citibank is an advertising partner of this site, as is American Express, Chase, Barclays and Capital One. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners. I do not write about all credit cards that are available -- instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Terms apply to the offers and benefits listed on this page.

Plastiq, the service that lets you pay bills online and charge them to a credit card, has a new referral program.

For each person you refer that makes a payment of $20 or more, you earn $400 worth of fee-free credit card payments to use yourself.

The person you refer will earn $200 in fee-free payments after they make their first $20+ payment as well. So they’re better off signing up through a referral link than signing up without one.

Through April 18 Plastiq has the lowest fee for paying taxes by MasterCard.

Paying bills via credit card can be useful for:

  • Meeting minimum spend requirements for a signup bonus.
  • Spending enough on a card to earn a spending threshold.
  • Everyday spend, if you have the right card or if you need to top off for the right award.

Not to mention it can be useful for managing payments online, and to manage cash (paying a bill at the beginning of a card billing cycle, and paying the card’s bill before the due date).

Plastiq will let you pay an US or Canada business or person for any amount. The only restriction is that the payment has to be for a good or service. You can pay an individual person, for instance, if they’re your landlord and you’re paying them rent or if they are your contractor or landscaper.

Just don’t try to pay yourself, a spouse, or another person just to send money (a “peer to peer transfer”), that’s not allowed, and I’ve seen reports of some individuals receiving payment being asked for documentation that there was a bona fide good or service involved for which they’re being paid.

And note that Plastiq is in most cases mailing checks which have to be received and processed by the recipient so it’s not for last minute, urgent payments.

Here’s my referral link so that the first time you make a payment of $20 or more you’ll get the ability to pay $200 in bills with a credit card fee-free. Feel free to leave your referral link in the comments.

They will also give you $25 in fee-free payments if you post your referral code on Facebook or Twitter today, March 23, and tag Plastiq in your post.

To tag Plastiq in Facebook, use @Plastiq and select the Plastiq Facebook page in your status. To tag Plastiq in Twitter, use @payplastiq in your tweet. Please note that it can take up to one business day for the FFDs to be credited to your account.

Note that if you don’t use your fee-free credits, or earn more, for 90 days your credits expire.

Plastiq

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Editorial note: any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Comments made in response to this post are not provided or commissioned nor have they been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any bank. It is not the responsibility of advertisers Citibank, Chase, American Express, Barclays, Capital One or any other advertiser to ensure that questions are answered, either. Terms and limitations apply to all offers.

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Comments

  5. So if I join and make at least one $20 payment, could I use my $200 in fee-free payment to pay my taxes?

  25. I find Plastiq limiting and annoying to use. The new user interface is more clunky to use than the previous. When you set up an account to pay some of the important information is not there when you pay again. I also find it frustrating I can not pay same as can payments. I like purchasing items with a same as cash deal and then using gift cards which I get 5 pts per dollar to pay the bill. Evolve payment service on the other hand was easy to use. They kept all your payment information, they processed most payments electronically. I was able to pay my same as cash accounts. Now evolve had plenty of problems they limited how many payments you could make, They continued to change the rules to prevent fraud. The word part is they have now closed up shop. Plastiq is certainly a way to earn points, just does not work as well as Evolve did.

  27. Need to pay about $3000 a month in rent, the rental company accepts credit cards but with a fee, what’s the best strategy to use my card for this without having to pay the fee?

  37. Want to pay utilities, mortgages, rent, loans etc and earn credit card rewards?
    Sign up under my link below and you will get $200 of FFD.
    https://try.plastiq.com/398992

    For every person who registers with Plastiq via your referral link and makes a payment of at least $20, you’ll get an additional 400 Fee Free Dollars and that person will get 200 Fee Free Dollars as well.

    https://try.plastiq.com/398992

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