Off The Wall Ideas For Maximizing Plastiq
I recently shared how I hit my World of Hyatt $15K spending free night from the comfort of my home. I also talked about another idea I was kicking around on our recent podcast episode. To be honest I have been thinking about ideas for maximizing Plastiq and hitting large spend bonuses since writing the Hyatt article. What are other ways we could use Plastiq or other payment systems that can help us hit those hard to reach offers? I wanted to share a few of them with you and see if you guys have anything else that is off the wall to share in the comments.
Using Plastiq For Hitting Large Spending Bonus Thresholds
I am going to focus on Plastiq because I have first hand knowledge of their program and have used it before. There are other options but I think Plastiq is the best right now. Plus they often have targeted 1% offers which would make these options more lucrative. So let’s dig into the ideas I had. Remember that I am not an accountant and this is not financial advice. Be sure to consult your tax professional.
Refinance A Loan
I discussed this one in my World of Hyatt article. What happened was I refinanced our car loans into one loan and they sent me the money versus paying off the loans. That gave me a chance to pay off the old car loans with Plastiq and earn points while doing it.
What about other similar options? If you are refinancing your house and pulling money out could it make sense to overpay the mortgage with your credit card since you would get the money back when you refinance? There are risks of course that the refinance doesn’t go through etc. so you would have to weigh that.
Buying Or Selling A House
The same principal could be used when buying or selling a house. Let’s take a look at both.
Selling
You could down pay your mortgage before selling/closing your house knowing that you would get the money back at closing. There are risks that you change your mind or that you end up not being able to sell the house. That is something to consider for sure but an idea nonetheless.
Buying
Let’s say you want to put more than 20% down on your house purchase, say you made a mint selling your old house. Would it be worth putting down only 20% to avoid the PMI and then paying the rest down via Plastiq? That would let you earn points on whatever else you wanted to put on the principal. This option comes with the least amount of risk since you were going to use the money anyway. You could even sit on the money for a bit and hope to get targeted for a 1% or 1.5% offer.
Purposefully Paying Taxes
This is the option I discussed a little bit on the podcast. What if you had your work take less taxes out of your paycheck so that you know you would end up with a tax bill at the end of the year? I am not sure of the rules on this so that is why I would consult your tax professional and see what they say. But you could have a nice little chunk of spend at the end of the year if you played it right.
If you own a small business or are self employed then this is even easier to get done. You will have to pay estimated quarterly taxes etc. and you can take advantage of the points earning opportunity.
Final Thoughts
There are a lot of ideas for maximizing Plastiq and similar platforms that go beyond just paying your mortgage or car payment. I am sure there are plenty I haven’t even considered. Let me know what I am missing out on in the comments. These type of plays could be what you need to get that airline or hotel status that is just out of reach. Just be sure to crunch the numbers before making any of these plays or anything similar. If the return is less than what you are paying in then it isn’t worth it.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the old king of travel rewards cards. Right now
bonus_miles_full
Learn more about this card and its features!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
I’ve been thinking of doing what you said re: federal taxes – cranking up the allowances on my W-2 and making quarterly estimated payments to make up for it (and meet whatever MSR I’m working toward). Not sure if that’s allowed or not, though…
Err… W-4, not W-2.
Can’t pay mortgage with Plastiq
With certain cards you can Richard
https://milestomemories.boardingarea.com/plastiq-payments-chart/
Don’t think you meant to reply to me (my comment was about taxes).
You can pay a mortgage with (most?) MCs. Might be worth it to meet MSR, or if you’re close to a big-spend bonus. IMO, no card earns enough for it to be a long-term thing, though (including cards with a “big-spend” bonus) – so I’d only do it for a few months, either to meet the SUB or as a “stretch” goal for that year’s “big spend bonus.”
Yeah I would run it by your accountant and if they say it should be good then I think it will work well for you.
Here you go at year end, plus early in the year.
– Local property taxes, this year and then pay next years too.
– Make an annual donation to church, Red Cross, ……
– If big hits sooner than later, I get so many 0% transfer offers, but they charge 3% of amount you transfer. Use those wisely.
The 0% balance transfers with no fees are very rare but can be very useful if you get them.
Just opened a Chase Slate last month for 0% and no transfer fee….
Any problem with using Plastiq to hit the spending minimum with Amex?
I haven’t heard of it being an issue since they are normal legit payments.
plastiq – even if you know you are getting a refund, what if you pre-paid say a few $k on Apr 15th. since e-file will get it all back with 2-3 weeks. you basically net the points ?
In theory that should work. Not sure if it would be an issue with the IRS but an idea to bring up to your accountant.
My accountant said there should be no problem prepaying taxes. I trust him though you shouldn’t since you’ve never met him.
Thanks for the info JJ and great advice on trust 🙂