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Let’s start with the bad news. This month we’ve seen a bit of a crack down on rental and mortgage payments on credit cards.
- Plastiq no longer allows mortgage payments with Visa cards.
- Rental/mortgage payments made with the Sapphire Reserve and Ink Business Preferred cards on Plastiq are not typically earning 3x Ultimate Rewards anymore as they once were (payments were coding as lodging, therefore falling in the bonused category of travel)
- The Citi AT&T Access More card will no longer earn 3x ThankYou Points on rental/mortgage payments nor purchasing or reloading gift cards online as of July 22, 2017.
Now, some good news: There are other functioning ways to pay your rent or mortgage with credit cards.
- Pay your mortgage on Plastiq with a card issued by MasterCard, American Express, or Discover. Rental payments on Plastiq can still be made on all types of cards including Visas. Credit card fee is 2.5%.
- Pay your rent on RadPad. Credit card fee is 2.99% and accepts all major card types. There’s no big advantage I can see anymore to using RadPad versus Plastiq for paying rent.
- Pay your rent on Rentler. Credit card fee is 2.5% and accepts all major card types. The difference between Plastiq and Rentler that I believe makes Plastiq a better option for paying rent is that Rentler requires your landlord to sign up while Plastiq does not.
Unless you have a specific issue with Plastiq (let us know in the comments your experiences), I’d say it’s the cheapest and easiest online credit card processor for paying rent and mortgage through. You can also pay other bills on Plastiq. Read more about what you can and can’t pay for in Is Plastiq Worth It? Paying Your Bills Online with Credit Cards to Earn Miles.
When You’d Want to Pay Your Rent or Mortgage With a Credit Card
Paying rent or mortgage or another bill you can’t normally pay with a credit card can be worth it if the return is high enough. For example, earning 3x Ultimate Rewards on rental or mortgage payments on Plastiq would be worth it to me since I value Ultimate Rewards at 2 cents each, and the cost of processing a credit card payment on Plastiq is 2.5%–but that is no longer an option.
But the option of using rental/mortgage payments to meet minimum spending requirements is not dead. Often the effective rebate on meeting a minimum spending requirement is 20% or more. That means if you pay your large bills via Plastiq that are otherwise not payable on credit cards in order to open more cards and meet more minimum spending requirements, the 2.5% fee can be a drop in the bucket compared to the rewards you’ll earn.
If you’re not trying to reach a minimum spending requirement for a sign-up bonus, I wouldn’t use Plastiq for bill payments on cards that earn 1 mile per dollar as I don’t value any miles at greater than 2.5 cents (for example, my highest valued point is SPG at 2.5 and highest valued mile is Virgin America mile at 2.3 cents each).
Want to Learn More About Manufactured Spending?
Frequent Miler has a thorough Guide to Manufactured Spending with consistently updated info on what techniques still work and others that have died off. I recommend using it to stay current with news if manufactured spend is on your radar.
Bottom Line
Paying via Plastiq, you used to be able to earn 3x Ultimate Rewards for rental/mortgage payments made on the Sapphire Reserve and Ink Business Preferred, as well as 3x ThankYou points for rental/mortgage payments made on the Citi AT&T Access More card. For the majority of people, neither are earning that 3x category bonus anymore.
You can no longer pay your mortgage on a Visa credit card through Plastiq, however you can with MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card. You can still use any card to pay rent via Plastiq (for a 2.5% processing fee).
Hat tip Million Mile Secrets
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.
The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.
“… the 1.87% fee can be a drop in the bucket compared to the rewards you’ll earn.”
Nope. What 1.87% fee?
Matt
Yes I’ll pay 1 to 3% on $1k to $5K (TAXes) to pick up 60K points ..Then use ur regular card and forget about the games.
Love my INK !!!!!
I just tried to use Marriott card to pay my auto loan and was told that since they do not have established business with Honda Financial Services my bank/card would treat it as a cash advance transaction.
Note that Plastiq might be appealing if you have a high rent. Purchases over $5000 earn 1.5x Amex MR on the Platinum card. So you should break even or come out ahead with Plastiq at 2.5%, depending on your precise valuation of Amex MR. (1.67 cents/MR point being break-even)
Try anything BUT ask before u try .Fed and State ,Prop Taxes..Home.car any Ins. I bet no fee .I use to pay rent 20 years ago for 2 units .I tried Bank to Bank but they said no.I should check every utlites too.I switched elect companies got 15k aa points twice over 5 years.
just use venmo with AGC. no fee other than the $3 amex fee.
Plastiq no longer accepts AMEX for mortgage payments… I wonder if they’ll still accept AMEX for rent payments?
I just started using them and even though it’s a great site and it’s user-friendly, they’re too particular for me. Out of the four bills I paid, some very well-known companies like Ally financial for my car payment and Kubota for a tractor, both of those they wanted me to supply invoices and more information. Why? I’m putting down the account number and what months I want them to pay for they shouldn’t need anymore information.
But what really burns me up is they charge the card FIRST, so that thousands of dollars of my money is tied up and then they delay the payment once they charge the card wanting an invoice? Why the heck would you need an invoice to pay my car payment with? Totally unacceptable. If you’re having an issue with somebody I want to pay? I highly suggest you bring it to my attention BEFORE you swipe my card for over $7500 for both of those payments!!!!
Pastiq wont let me use Amex to pay my rent anymore. Does anyone experience that?