topic Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me in Personal Finance

PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

Wavester64 — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 21:05:22 GMT

So I was checking out PLASTIQ.

I thought with a 3% CB card, maybe I would charges some bills here and there and make 0.5% (I know, no biggie ).

So I got a referral that alotted me $50 referral dollars. To test it out, got my account all set up, sent $50 and it worked perfectly. Charged my card $50 and my fees were covered by the referral. (2.5% = $1.25)

That was a few weeks ago. So today I go back to try it again for the same bill - and it says I have $0 in my referral balance. Did online chat with CSR and he is telling me I used it all up on my first check. I was like "what??" $50 on a $50 check. I double checked my CC and I saw it was charged $50, so its not like I got a freebie. So I asked him "If I sent a check for $2000 say, and the fee would be 2.5% meaning it would $50, how much would that cost me in referral" He was like "Oh, that would be $2000 in referral money.

WHAT?? Can someone who uses PLASTIQ tell me what this is all about. Thank G** I didn't plan on using this all the time and was just toying with it to see how it works.

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

CreditCuriosity — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 21:21:05 GMT

No sure of referrals I typically use plastiq or use to to meet min spend requirements for sign-up bonuses 3-5k and pay mortgage or rent or whatever on them, but since they have become more restrictive or shall we say card issuers or networks have.. Now I just use them during the 1-1.5% promo periods and use my Citi DC MC as mastercard is good with them and either profit from .5-1% on 1500-2k charges for whatever time frame they usually are. Usually these offers are for like 3 months up to 10k or whatever so you set them up in advance such as rent or house payments set and forget and profit. MC is safest network these days by far and needs to be over a 2% card or have some kinda sub to use imo..

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

Credit_Flavours — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 21:30:00 GMT

Plastiq dollars is not the same as regular dollars. lol. Its fee-free dollars(FFD) or something like that. So your 50 ffds gets you that much in fee waivers.

I have used them for my rents monthly for the past year and a half and for $1,400 the regular fee is $35 but sometimes when I've accumulated ffds or utilize some offers I can get it totally waived or reduced. Like you said up here I have mostly used it with Chase freedom unlimited for a 3% cashback. So I'm just contented with getting the 0.5% back, holding on to my cash as long as possible and paying my landlord over in Florida, on time without even thinking about it.

It has also been my most reliable way of knocking off my SUB spend on new cards I get. So I guess for me the 2.5% is an acceptable cost of convenience.

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

Wavester64 — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 22:08:12 GMT

@Credit_Flavours wrote:
Plastiq dollars is not the same as regular dollars. lol. Its fee-free dollars(FFD) or something like that. So your 50 ffds gets you that much in fee waivers.

So going by what you said is true & per the CSR, how can a $50 check be $50 in FFD? Something doesn't add up.

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

Remedios — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 23:24:10 GMT

@Wavester64 I'm gonna go ahead and merge your thread with other Plastiq threads 😐

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

Remedios — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 23:24:40 GMT

Kiddin' 😐

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

Wavester64 — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 00:00:13 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
Kiddin' 😐

Hahah good stuff

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

ChazzieT — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 17:47:10 GMT

Referal dollars are dollars put through the system, not dollars charged by plastiq as a fee.

If you have 50 referal dollars, it means you can send someone $50 dollars on plastiq without being charged a fee.

If you have 50 referal dollars and send someone $2000 dollars, plastiq will charge you a fee on $1950. The other $50 of the $2000 won't be charged a fee.

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

Wavester64 — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 17:50:59 GMT

@ChazzieT wrote:
Referal dollars are dollars put through the system, not dollars charged by plastiq as a fee.

If you have 50 referal dollars, it means you can send someone $50 dollars on plastiq without being charged a fee.

If you have 50 referal dollars and send someone $2000 dollars, plastiq will charge you a fee on $1950. The other $50 of the $2000 won't be charged a fee.

Thank you - now THAT makes sense. Though I do like it better if it were $50 towards fees, which is what I thought it was

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

ChazzieT — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 18:02:33 GMT

Glad to help!

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 23:54:47 GMT

All I have to say: This is Exhibit A as to why the 3% card is either going to die or get a limit placed on it.

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

ChazzieT — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 02:37:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
All I have to say: This is Exhibit A as to why the 3% card is either going to die or get a limit placed on it.

If you're talking about the AOD 3% card, I would be very surprised if Plastiq contributes to it's demise.

The AOD card is a Visa and Visa usually codes Plastiq transactions as a cash advance or balance transfer which won't get you cash back.

@Wavester64 , did AOD code as a regular purchase on that first $50?

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 03:23:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
All I have to say: This is Exhibit A as to why the 3% card is either going to die or get a limit placed on it.

I agree. I honestly think that Plastiq should be a cash advance across the board. It's ridiculous that people get rewarded for abusing their cards.

VISA cards tend to code a lot of Plastiq transactions as cash advances though. If it was a Mastercard, yeah there would be an issue.

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

Wavester64 — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 13:48:31 GMT

@ChazzieT wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
All I have to say: This is Exhibit A as to why the 3% card is either going to die or get a limit placed on it.
If you're talking about the AOD 3% card, I would be very surprised if Plastiq contributes to it's demise.

The AOD card is a Visa and Visa usually codes Plastiq transactions as a cash advance or balance transfer which won't get you cash back.

@Wavester64 , did AOD code as a regular purchase on that first $50?

Never even got a chance to use the AOD card. I was just testing Plastiq out on another card to see if it worked and how well it worked.

I will check the card I used and get back to you on how it coded.

EDIT: It didn't have a code #. But I did a partial payment on a Utility bill and this is what the CC said:

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

ChazzieT — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 14:01:22 GMT

@Wavester64 wrote:

Never even got a chance to use the AOD card. I was just testing Plastiq out on another card to see if it worked and how well it worked.

I will check the card I used and get back to you on how it coded.

EDIT: It didn't have a code #. But I did a partial payment on a Utility bill and this is what the CC said:

Looks like it was a MasterCard. They usually work fine on Plastiq.

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

imaximous — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 23:56:53 GMT

@Wavester64 wrote:
@ChazzieT wrote:
Referal dollars are dollars put through the system, not dollars charged by plastiq as a fee.

If you have 50 referal dollars, it means you can send someone $50 dollars on plastiq without being charged a fee.

If you have 50 referal dollars and send someone $2000 dollars, plastiq will charge you a fee on $1950. The other $50 of the $2000 won't be charged a fee.
Thank you - now THAT makes sense. Though I do like it better if it were $50 towards fees, which is what I thought it was

I got confused too when I first joined Plastiq a long time ago. At the time, I think I got 500 FFDs for joining and I thought I'd be getting fee-free payments for a while. As I was making my first payment for around $3000, I noticed that I was still being charged a fee so I reached out to customer service via chat and they explained the process. Big disappointment 😂

Anyway, I still use Plastiq monthly because my CC rewards with BofA greatly exceed the Plastiq fee (5.25% vs 2.5%)

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

imaximous — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 13:51:52 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
All I have to say: This is Exhibit A as to why the 3% card is either going to die or get a limit placed on it.
I agree. I honestly think that Plastiq should be a cash advance across the board. It's ridiculous that people get rewarded for abusing their cards.

VISA cards tend to code a lot of Plastiq transactions as cash advances though. If it was a Mastercard, yeah there would be an issue.

I completely disagree with that. If Plastiq should code as cash advance, so should Paypal or Venmo. Yet, Paypal processes billions in payments. If you can make payments using those services, why shouldn't you be able to pay your rent or mortgage with Plastiq?

A mortgage or rent payment would never come anywhere close to the amount of money you can process through PayPal, so calling that abuse is actually ridiculous.

Plastiq also has many rules in place. You can only make certain type of business payments. But, I can send money to my neighbor with Paypal if I wanted to. Yet, that'd be ok.

What I find even more ridiculous is you can join a credit union like AOD by making a tiny donation to a bycicle association completely outside of your territory JUST for their generous 3% rewards program. That is abuse.

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 17:55:00 GMT

@imaximous wrote:
What I find even more ridiculous is you can join a credit union like AOD by making a tiny donation to a bicycle association completely outside of your territory JUST for their generous 3% rewards program. That is abuse.

Kind of have to agree on that, it's really no different. Although technically it's just bending the rules to get in, and AOD is just as gulty for allowing it by offering a way around it. Similar to how Celebrities were paying for their Kids to get into a prestigious College.

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 18:09:49 GMT

@imaximous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
All I have to say: This is Exhibit A as to why the 3% card is either going to die or get a limit placed on it.
I agree. I honestly think that Plastiq should be a cash advance across the board. It's ridiculous that people get rewarded for abusing their cards.

VISA cards tend to code a lot of Plastiq transactions as cash advances though. If it was a Mastercard, yeah there would be an issue.
I completely disagree with that. If Plastiq should code as cash advance, so should Paypal or Venmo. Yet, Paypal processes billions in payments. If you can make payments using those services, why shouldn't you be able to pay your rent or mortgage with Plastiq?
A mortgage or rent payment would never come anywhere close to the amount of money you can process through PayPal, so calling that abuse is actually ridiculous.
Plastiq also has many rules in place. You can only make certain type of business payments. But, I can send money to my neighbor with Paypal if I wanted to. Yet, that'd be ok.

What I find even more ridiculous is you can join a credit union like AOD by making a tiny donation to a bycicle association completely outside of your territory JUST for their generous 3% rewards program. That is abuse.

Oh I see I struck a nerve. I feel the same way about people using personal cards for business expenses and sucking thousands in rewards.

Plastiq will be shut down, it's just a matter of time before the issuers get tired of people earning money for paying their mortgage.

Oh and PayPal usage for purchases is totally acceptable. It's PayPal Friends and Family that is also shady when used with a card. Fortunately issuers are already catching on there and have been charging CA fees for using it that way on top of the 2.9% fee PayPal charges. That's the future that awaits Plastiq.

As for AOD, how exactly is that abuse? It's a perfectly valid path to membership and I'm using my AOD card as intended - I don't do shady things with it to earn more rewards. 🤷‍♂️

Re: PLASTIQ - Someone explain this to me

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 18:02:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@imaximous wrote:
What I find even more ridiculous is you can join a credit union like AOD by making a tiny donation to a bicycle association completely outside of your territory JUST for their generous 3% rewards program. That is abuse.
Kind of have to agree on that, it's really no different. Although technically it's just bending the rules to get in, and AOD is just as gulty for allowing it by offering a way around it. Similar to how Celebrities were paying for their Kids to get into a prestigious College.

Those aren't even remotely close to the same thing. The only reason CUs have to enforce fences to begin with is because greedy as heck banks are trying to have their tax exemption revoked now that they can actually compete with them. You still very much have to get approved for products with your own merits, completely opposite to what happened with that college admissions scandal.