Non-Plastiq Options For Using A Credit Card To Pay Mortgage Or Rent
As Plastiq announced an increase in fees, the search begins for other options to use a credit card to pay rent or mortgage. While Plastiq offers tons of other services for paying with a credit card, rent and mortgage are the niche areas in our hobby. Paying your cell phone bill with a credit card is easy enough. If I want to put as many of my bills as possible onto credit cards, so I can earn more points & miles, how can I use a card card to pay mortgage or rent payments? Plastiq was the main player. Here are others to consider, now that Plastiq fees are going up.
Use A Credit Card To Pay Mortgage Payments
Unfortunately, Plastiq has only one rival that allows you to use a credit card to pay mortgage every month. That rival is Melio. Melio is designed for businesses, but they work with sole proprietors. While Plastiq advertises itself as essentially a “pay any bill” service, Melio notes its limitations.
In accordance with processor, bank and card regulations Melio is not able to process the following types of payments:
-Payments that are personal in nature
-Visa and American Express credit cards paying any type of debt (mortgage, loans etc)
Depending on the nature of your payments and nature of your business, Melio may not work for you in the long run. The fact they indicate mortgages as an option is good. You can only pay with Mastercard and Diners for mortgages, though. Payments by bank transfer arrive in 1-3 business days. Payments by check arrive in 3-5 business days.
Melio credit card fee: 2.9%
Use A Credit Card To Pay Rent
Paying rent with a credit card is much simpler than a mortgage. That’s because more options abound, and the nature of rent (which is often shared among roommates) creates more demand for easy sharing. Here are options for using a credit card to pay rent each month.
Bravo
Bravo works via mobile app. You can add multiple sources of funding, including credit cards. You initiate a transfer through the app to another user and select the amount / payment method.
Credit card fee: 2% up to $499.99 / 3.5% + $0.30 after $500
Landlord must register: yes, both need the app
PlacePay
PlacePay is a rent payment system that allows for multiple payment methods, including credit cards. They also allow for dividing the bill among roommates, setting alerts to know who has/hasn’t paid yet, and more. You can also set up recurring payments to avoid missed/late rent.
Credit card fee: 2.99%
Landlord must register: yes, must set up auto-deposit to bank account
RadPad
RadPad is exclusively a rent processor. The key perk of RadPad is that your landlord does not need to participate. For those whose landlords won’t fool with websites or apps, RadPad sends a check in the mail.
Credit card fee: 2.99%
Landlord must register: no
Rentmoola
Rentmoola also allows you to use a credit card to pay rent. Numerous payment methods and frequencies are accepted, but your landlord must set up an account to receive the payments. Like others, it only works for rent and not payment of other bills.
Credit card fee: 2.99% for Visa & Mastercard, 3.99% for American Express
Landlord must register: yes, must set up account
Renttrack
Renttrack is not only a site for paying your rent but also a service for building credit. If your landlord collects rent through Renttrack, you pay only the credit card processing fee. However, if you sign up on your own to get your payment history reported to the credit bureaus, this builds your credit and costs $9.95 per month. That’s on top of the credit card fee.
Credit card fee: 2.95% + $9.95 per month if landlord not participating
Landlord must register: optional
Venmo
Venmo is another app-based service that requires both people to have the app. You can transfer money for numerous reasons to anyone with the app, including paying your rent. Venmo will verify the legitimacy of payments and can’t be used for mortgage payments, but it works well if your landlord participates in rent payments this way.
Credit card fee: 3%
Landlord must register: yes, both need the app
Comparing To Plastiq Credit Card Payments For Mortgage / Rent
So, how do these other options compare to Plastiq? Is it time for a mass Exodus? Not really. While there are other options, most of them are not better. Here’s a breakdown on rates:
Plastiq rate as of July 1, 2020: 2.85% (used to be 2.5%)
While an increase of 0.35% might not sound like a lot, remember that we are talking about using a credit card to pay mortgage or rent payments. Assuming your payment is $1,000 per month, that’s an increase of $3.50 per month. $2,000 payment? Your increase is $7 per month. It’s not huge, but it adds up when you’re now paying $84 extra per year. That might override the perks you previously thought were “worth it” for putting your rent or mortgage on a credit card. Make sure to do the math.
There’s no option for using a credit card to pay your mortgage that costs less than the new Plastiq rate, unfortunately. Plus, the only other “option” might not be viable for most people. When looking at rent payments, Bravo is the only cheaper option. Remember that their optimal rate is on payments $499.99 and under. I don’t know anyone whose rent is this cheap, so you’d need to make multiple payments. Some landlords might balk at that.
Final Thoughts On Plastiq Competitors
Sad to say, the new Plastiq rate is still the best option around if you want to use a credit card to pay your mortgage every month. For those paying rent, there are other options. If your landlord is flexible, willing to use an app, and is understanding of your explanations, you could get a 2.5% rate with Bravo if making multiple small payments.
Are you jumping ship after the Plastiq rate increases? Is there some other program that offers a better option for using a credit card to pay mortgage payments every month? Let us know your new plans, now that we know the competition isn’t any better.
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Is anyone else having issues with Plastiq paying onetime?
Actually GC also brings up a sore topic for me as I just now encountered. I always remove the protection seal on the back myself to feel its originally attached and that the pin was not altered. Additionally during COVID I don’t want extra hands on my items. Moments ago I just got in to disagreement with a cashier that says, “since you open this I can’t sell it to you, we must be the one to open it” I explain the seal is for my protection not yours as I want to feel & confirm its not tampered with. We exchanged a few more words and she refused to sell it to me. No problem as have many more stores just miles apart. I went to next store as mostly normal the cashier was happy I removed the seal as they normally fumble to open them while wearing rubber gloves as glue is sticky, I’m a pro at removing the seal very clean. All of the confrontations really makes me wonder who is that seal truly for the customer or the merchant? When they demand as they must remove it I feel kind of violated like they are breaking the seal on my groceries and handing it back to me, why! Just to many GC scams that hurt the customer not the merchant.
I’m sure it’s much more for their protection (profits) than yours. If you mess with it, the customer who buys it is going to come back and complain to them. You’re long gone with the money, they have to reimburse this other person… It’s for them, not for us.
Yes I agree if I/we tamper with a card and put it back on the rack, that card can’t be sold. Same as the card the cashier refused to sell me, its garbage now. But if we open the seal and we purchase it how can the merchant lose? Most of the fraud is someone tampers with the cards on the rack, they copy the card # and wait for a sucker to load the card, once we load it the scammer drains the card. The store wins they get our money but we end up with a drained card which is very hard to recoup the money you now lost. Even if you go back to the store they will say sorry GC are not refundable, call the # on back of the card. We are the ones 100% at risk and must ensure the card is factory sealed and GC within was not tampered before we purchase. Same if you purchased a food product returned home and discovered the seal was broken. The store has our money but we are at a loss & risk to eat the unsealed item or toss it in the trash. Unlike GC you could probally return a food item to the store.
You always have the Greendot, Bluebird & Serve options until they shut you down if course. It’s a lot more legwork (more gas & time) but minus legwork at the most will cost is 1.4% ($500 GC x 1.4%= $7 activation fee). Then with so many GC deals $1000 from Simon Mall, Office Depot, Safeway etc. having cheaper to negative fees etc it only saves your more.
Yes, when possible, those are great to use.
How do you load the Serve from a GC?
Just go to any Wal-Mart and load any Serve or Bluebird with a GC for free. Just make sure you never tell the cashier its a GC, it’s always a debit card if they ask. My local walmart there are many of us loading bluebird and MO’s the cashiers are great no issue with GC I even taught a couple how to do it.
[…] Alternatives To Plastiq: If you’re looking for ways to boost your points earning, you could look into paying your rent or mortgage with your credit card. Plastiq just announced a hike in their fees, but there is an alternative to Plastiq… […]
Living overseas many non USA countries let people pay mortgage & rent directly with a credit card, without extra fees. Paying rent in S. Korea & Turkey was super easy. Even my rental company GA, USA allows CC rent payments through their portal but with a 2.5% fee. Mortgage payments another story, in the USA requires some 3rd party gaming.
I look at earning points as a portfolio, similar to stocks and bonds. Some points I can earn very cheap like the Staples free fee Visa, others I manufacture at anywhere from 0.27 cent per point, cpp, to about 0.7 cpp. All of these require me to jump in a car and then make trips to WM and the bank. All costing me time and money. Paying the mortgage and car payments with Plastiq is my most expensive and will now cost me 1.39 cpp. I earn these with the Double Cash card and those thank you points are dedicated to buying expensive Business Class tickets. Those points earned at Plastiq are what I call bedroom points because I do hardly any effort to earn those. In my case, the mortgage and car payments earn me around 75,000 TY points. I am sticking with Plastiq.
Byron – glad to hear you say that you factor in the time, gas, etc. as part of the ‘worth it?’ calculations. I think that often gets overlooked.
Ummm.. with all of these places charging a higher fee than Plastiq (other than Bravo with <$499 payments), why would this make sense?
It makes sense in that they churn out content and you’re here reading it.
The point is that there isn’t a better option for mortgages with online CC payments, despite us looking for one. 🙁
Many people asked if there were better alternatives so Ryan did the legwork for everyone and showed that it is still the best option unfortunately.