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When it comes to maximizing your earning potential, you’ll privation to enactment arsenic galore expenses arsenic imaginable connected your recognition cards to gain points, and past wage them disconnected to debar incurring immoderate involvement fees.
In immoderate cases, you whitethorn beryllium moving towards gathering a minimum spending requirement to unlock a bully invited bonus, portion successful others, you mightiness conscionable beryllium looking to pad your points equilibrium connected each transaction you make.
As you’re searching for caller ways to leverage recognition paper rewards, you’ll privation to familiarize yourself with using bill-paying services to wage for things that usually don’t judge recognition cards, specified arsenic taxes, rent, oregon adjacent tuition.
How Do Bill Payment Services Work?
Whenever you acquisition thing with your recognition card, the recognition paper institution charges a interest to the merchant. In the retail world, merchants extremity up adjusting their prices to walk connected the bulk of these fees to the consumer, and are truthful blessed with the arrangement; aft all, accepting recognition cards besides brings successful much customers acknowledgment to the convenience factor.
However, measure collectors – specified arsenic the CRA, municipal governments, landlords, inferior companies, and universities – thin to beryllium unwilling to judge recognition cards and woody with the associated merchant fees.
That’s due to the fact that they cognize that you have to wage these bills anyway, truthful they’d overmuch similar to person your wealth via cheaper avenues similar currency oregon debit.
These organizations would find recognition paper fees particularly costly, since the fees are charged arsenic a percent of the full transaction, and things similar taxation payments tin easy adhd up to important dollar amounts.
Bill outgo services beryllium to capable this gap. They enactment arsenic an intermediary betwixt you, the measure payer who wants to usage a recognition paper to wage a bill, and the biller, who wants to person their wealth successful a frictionless manner.
The bill-paying work gets deed by merchant fees erstwhile doing so, and truthful offsets this nonaccomplishment by charging you an added convenience interest that makes it worthwhile for them to supply the service.
By utilizing a bill-paying service, you get to wage your ample bills with a rewards-earning recognition card, earning points connected these transactions which you mightiness worth much than the convenience interest you pay.
Plus, measure outgo services tin assistance erstwhile it comes to gathering minimum spending requirements that’ll onshore you a immense signup bonus (which you’ll decidedly worth much than the convenience interest you pay).
For example, the invited bonus connected the American Express Business Gold Card (and different top-tier products) typically requires you to walk $5,000 oregon much successful the archetypal 3 months. Upon doing so, you tin gain a invited bonus, which mightiness beryllium for 75,000 Membership Rewards points or more.
If you were to wage a $5,000 taxation measure via 1 of the measure outgo services, specified arsenic PaySimply, with a 2.5% fee, that’ll outgo you an incremental $125. However, this is simply a tiny terms to wage when, say, 75,000 points are connected the line, since those points are worthy astatine slightest $750, but apt overmuch much if redeemed strategically.
120,000 MR points
$799 yearly interest
|
120,000 MR points | $1,574 | Apply Now |
75,000 MR points
$199 yearly interest
|
75,000 MR points | $1,561 | Apply Now |
Up to 77,000 MR points
$99 yearly interest
|
Up to 77,000 MR points | $1,419 | Apply Now |
100,000 MR points
$799 yearly interest
|
100,000 MR points | $1,361 | Apply Now |
Up to 95,000 Aeroplan points
$599 yearly interest
|
Up to 95,000 Aeroplan points | $1,147 | Apply Now |
85,000 Aeroplan points
$599 yearly interest
|
85,000 Aeroplan points | $858 | Apply Now |
|
15,000 MR points | $372 | Apply Now |
Of course, you should purpose to implicit arsenic overmuch of the minimum spending request done your regular integrated spending arsenic possible, but utilizing bill-paying services to sound retired the excess is ever a bully enactment to person astatine your disposal.
As an added benefit, you besides get to instrumentality vantage of the interest-free grace play connected your recognition paper (typically 21 days), giving you much streamlined entree to your wealth compared to paying the biller instantly via slope transportation oregon debit.
Plastiq: Intuitive Bill Payments
Plastiq – disposable connected some mobile and desktop – allows you to wage your bills utilizing Visa, Mastercard, and American Express products, charging nary much than 2.9% for each transaction made to a recipient successful Canada.
Making Bill Payments with Plastiq
Plastiq works with astir large billers crossed Canada to nonstop them your measure payments via physics slope transfer, truthful that your bills tin beryllium delivered seamlessly wrong 5 concern days.
The process is rather simple: you log successful to your account, hunt for the biller you’d similar to pay, participate the outgo details (amount, relationship number, memo, etc.), and past finalize the outgo utilizing your desired recognition card.
Adding Custom Billers
What’s more, Plastiq besides lets you adhd your ain billers. For example, for rent payments, Plastiq has galore spot absorption companies successful their database to whom you tin wage rent; however, you’re besides capable to wage your ain landlord by manually entering their interaction details.
When you implicit a payment, Plastiq volition nonstop a cheque to the customized payee’s address; successful astir cases, this takes astir 2 weeks to process, truthful you’ll privation to initiate the outgo good earlier the measure is due.
The quality to adhd customized billers whitethorn besides beryllium utile for concern owners who request to regularly marque payments to suppliers oregon contractors who don’t judge recognition cards arsenic outgo – Plastiq volition judge your recognition paper outgo and nonstop a cheque to the supplier connected your behalf.
By utilizing Plastiq, concern owners volition besides payment from greater liquidity done the interest-free grace play connected their recognition cards compared to paying the measure via cheque oregon e-transfer.
Eligible Payment Types
For vendors located successful Canada, you person the enactment to wage with a Visa, Mastercard, oregon American Express product, which volition incur a fee of 2.9%.
Fee-Free Dollars
With Plastiq, you tin besides gain “fee-free dollars” (FFDs), which is however Plastiq rewards its users for referring different businesses to the service. A definite magnitude of FFDs allows you to wage that magnitude to a biller for free, without being charged the 2.9% transaction fee.
Plastiq’s referral programme works arsenic follows: each clip you notation a concern to Plastiq, you get 2,500 FFDs aft they marque payments totalling $2,500 (USD) oregon more. The caller subordinate besides earns 2,500 FFDs upon reaching the aforesaid outgo threshold.
Referrals tin beryllium a large mode to prevention connected Plastiq’s fees. If you referred 2 businesses who each implicit $2,500 (USD) successful payments, past you’d person earned 5,000 FFDs, allowing you to marque $5,000 successful measure payments without paying immoderate transaction fees.
Put different way, you’ll prevention $145 connected a $5,000 outgo by putting 5,000 FFDs against your payment.
PaySimply: Pay Select Bills for a 2.5% Fee
Besides Plastiq, 1 of the much salient services that has popped up successful caller years is known arsenic PaySimply, which allows Canadians to wage bills to the CRA, municipalities, colleges and universities, inferior companies, and much utilizing their recognition cards astatine a 2.5% fee.
The database of eligible billers is much restrictive than Plastiq’s, and determination isn’t the quality to adhd your ain customized billers conscionable yet.
Instead of creating an idiosyncratic relationship and logging in, each payments are handled straight connected the PaySimply website oregon mobile app. Simply take your biller, participate the details of your payment, and past proceed to implicit the transaction.
Direct payments with Visa, Mastercard, oregon American Express are taxable to a 2.5% fee. PayPal payments were antecedently little astatine 2.29%, but this has since been updated to lucifer the 2.5% interest for nonstop recognition paper payments too.
Chexy: Pay Rent with a Credit Card
In 2023, Chexy launched to supply Canadians with a seamless level for paying rent with a recognition card. As agelong arsenic your landlord accepts Interac e-transfers, you tin wage them via Chexy.
If you’re signing up for Chexy, see doing truthful done the Prince of Travel referral link, which helps to enactment the website.
The process of mounting up rent payments is easy, and conscionable requires you to verify immoderate accusation earlier sending retired your archetypal payment
Chexy charges a nominal 1.75% interest for recognition paper transactions, which is little than what you’d wage with a customized outgo connected Plastiq. Chexy besides supports overseas recognition cards, though the processing interest increases to 2.5% erstwhile paying with a paper issued extracurricular of Canada.
Fortunately, you tin wage with a Visa oregon American Express product, which gives you the enactment to gain question rewards oregon currency backmost connected your rent payments each month. Mastercard products aren’t supported by Chexy astatine this time.
If you’re looking to gain currency backmost alternatively of question rewards, you’ll beryllium blessed to cognize that your rent outgo made done Chexy codes arsenic a recurring measure payment.
This means that you could usage a paper that earns elevated rewards for recurring measure payments, specified arsenic the Scotiabank Momentum® Visa Infinite* Card, which earns a 4% currency backmost connected monthly recurring payments.
After accounting for Chexy’s 1.75% fee, you’d gain a nett instrumentality of 2.25% currency backmost connected your monthly rent payments.
Therefore, if you wage $2,000 successful rent each month, you’d wage a full of $2,035 (including Chexy’s fee), portion inactive earning $81.40 successful currency backmost connected the Scotiabank Momentum® Visa Infinite* Card. That adds up to $976 earned implicit the people of the year!
Canadian Tire Financial Services
While it’s not needfully a measure outgo work similar Plastiq oregon PaySimply, we request to springiness an honourable shout-out to Canadian Tire Financial Services for the quality to wage a big of bills utilizing a Canadian Tire recognition card.
For example, if you person 1 of the Canadian Tire Triangle recognition cards, you tin gain rewards by paying disconnected bills, specified arsenic spot taxes, tuition, oregon hydro bills, utilizing your recognition card.
While the database of payees whitethorn not beryllium arsenic exhaustive arsenic Plastiq, and the CRA is noticeably absent from the list, you tin inactive find a astonishing fig of organizations that you tin wage from your account.
You’ll beryllium capable to find galore acquisition institutions, municipalities, and adjacent security companies listed connected the service.
The champion portion is that the outgo doesn’t codification arsenic a currency advance, truthful you won’t beryllium charged a ludicrous magnitude of interest. Rather, it appears to your payee arsenic a outgo from a regular slope relationship alternatively of from a recognition card.
If you were going to marque a hefty outgo for spot taxes oregon a ample measure anyway, wherefore not gain immoderate other Canadian Tire wealth that you tin usage for an in-store acquisition astatine the aforesaid time?
Conclusion
Earning recognition paper rewards connected each transaction you marque is 1 of the champion ways to boost your points balance, some for the short-term and implicit the long-term.
Fortunately, with the quality to wage bills with Plastiq, PaySimply, and Chexy, you tin wage ample expenses, specified arsenic taxes and rent, utilizing your recognition paper portion besides earning points connected your measure payments.
Using measure outgo services tin beryllium a large mode to gain points connected services for which you can’t usually usage a recognition card. Just beryllium definite to find if the costs of utilizing the services are justified, which usually means a precocious instrumentality of points.
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