In the travel-hacking hobby, the only constant is change – and that change is usually not a good thing. Well, earlier this week we got word that Chase, Citi, and now Visa have [effectively] killed the ability to earn a lucrative profit on points by paying your monthly rental and mortgage payments on Plastiq.com. So what’s the strategy now?
Plastiq Bonuses Blocked For Mortgage And Rental Payments…Here’s What To Do
If you haven’t heard the news, Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Citi AT&T Access More Card previously had the ability to earn 3x+ points – enough to compensate for Plastiq’s 2.5% transaction fee.
A monthly rental payment of $1,500 a month would previously yield the following per month:
$1,500 * 3x = 4,500 points;
4,500 points * 1.5 [CSR Bonus] = 6,000 points [or $60 if used on travel]
$60 – $37.5 [2.5% Plastiq fee] = $22.50 [or $270 a year]
And the Citi AT&T Access More card coupled with the Citi Prestige was even more lucrative:
$1,500 * 4x [3x + 10,000 point annual bonus] = 6,000 points;
6,000 points * 1.33 [Prestige Bonus] = 7,980 points [or $79.80 if used on travel]
$79.80 -$37.5 [2.5% Plastiq fee] = $42.30 [or $507.60 a year]
Well, they’ve all since killed the option for 3x points…and Chase/Visa have even killed the option to pay your mortgage and rental payments on Plastiq.com.
Option #1: PayPal Business Debit Card
Debit cards are, on the whole, very un-sexy. However, there is one that could work nicely in this brave new Plastiq-free world: The PayPal Business Debit Card. This card is unique in that it earns 1% cash back on all purchases.
Luckily, there is another rental and mortgage bill pay website called Radpad.com. Radpad charges a flat-fee of $4.95 for rents lower than $5,000 a month. So the new math looks like this:
$1,500 * 1% [cash back] = $15;
$15 – $4.95 [RadPad fee] = $10.05 a month or $120 a year.
As you can see, $120 a year is nothing to sneeze at, especially for a free debit card!
And the best thing is this is totally scalable for larger rents (like here in California). For example, a $3,000 monthly rent would yield $300.60 a year!
Option #2: Sign-up and Bonus Offer Spend
Back to Plastiq.com…just because Chase/Visa/AT&T Access cards don’t work anymore, doesn’t mean that you can’t use Plastiq.com for manufactured spend for sign-up bonuses on other credit cards from American Express, Citi, MasterCard, etc.
For instance, there are usually great sign up bonuses for some Amex cards, like the SPG Business. The current offer is this: 25,000 points after $5,000 spend in 3 months.
25,000 SPG points + 5,000 points [for required spend] = 30,000 SPG Points
30,000 SPG points / $5,000 spend = 6 points per dollar spend or 6% return
6%-2.5% [Plastiq fee] = 3.5% return on spend
Additionally, this bonuses your spending on “non-bonus spend” (things you’d normally only earn 1 point on) and helps you hit your required spend of $5,000 much faster.
What do you think? Do you have a better strategy? Let us know!
