I was trying to find a fun way to say that….

Plastiq (a service for using a credit card to make payments when the merchant only accepts checks) has sent out targeted offers (which seems to be either a wide target or everyone, I’m not sure) with the following offer:

From now until October 31, 2018, earn a fee-free dollar for every dollar you spend through Plastiq on a Mastercard.

Note that you MUST pay the full 2.5% fee on purchases to qualify. This will effectively halve your fee to 1.25% once you use the Fee Free Dollars.

As of just a few months ago, you were able to earn way more than your fee by using a Chase Ink Preferred. I’d mapped out a strategy for earning 2% on all business payments. Alas, that deal died when Chase removed Plastiq from earning the 3x bonus it had been getting.

And that’s made using Plastiq profitably tough. I don’t know of a single card that earns a multiplier now (please tell me if you do!).

However, at 1.25%, you can absolutely turn a profit. I wrote in this article about how 2% rewards should be your baseline. And so cards like the Citi Double Cash that earn 2% straight cash are going to work well for this. Just make sure it’s a Mastercard.  It’s a pure 0.75% profit.

But don’t forget about Sign-Up Bonuses!!!! Using Plastiq to meet minimum spend requirements for a bonus at just a 1.25% fee is not a very high cost for most bonuses. Again, just make sure it’s a Mastercard.

A great Mastercard option for those less obsessed with miles and points, for example, is the Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card. 4x on dining, 2% on supermarkets, fee waived first year, and a sweet $500 new card bonus.

If you don’t already have a Plastiq accuont, signing up with my link will get you 500 Fee Free Dollars when you make your first full fee 2.5% payments of $500 or more, however, if you don’t have an account yet I don’t believe you will be eligible for the promo in this article since it’s for targeted accounts only and the targeting email has gone out. You can alsways sign up in case they repeat this.

Questions about this promo? Let me know here, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group.

New to all of this? My new “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available now.

 

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