Melio is a service intended to simplify paying business bills. Melio has no subscription fees and it lets you pay bills with a credit or debit card for a 2.9% fee, or for free with bank-to-bank ACH transfers. Melio users can pay vendors through whichever means they prefer (i.e. ACH for free, or credit card 2.9% fee).
It can make sense to pay the 2.9% fee if you want to increase spend in order to earn a large welcome offer or a big-spend bonus (for example, some credit cards offer free hotel nights or elite status with big spend). Unfortunately, you cannot pay personal bills with Melio.
If you’re interested in trying Melio, you’ll find a welcome offer below for $200.
Why use Melio?
Here are some reasons you may find Melio compelling for paying business bills that can’t usually be paid by credit card:
- No subscription fee
- Earn credit card rewards. This can be especially compelling when you need to increase spend to earn a large welcome offer or to earn a big-spend bonus (for example, some credit cards offer free hotel nights or elite status with big spend)
- Keep your cash for up to 45 extra days. With a service like Melio, you can pay your vendors immediately, but wait until your credit card statement is due to pay off your credit card bill.
Melio Welcome Bonus: $200
Sign up for Melio with Frequent Miler’s unique link, and then you’ll earn $200 back after your first successful payment of $200 or more.
We have an affiliate relationship with Melio in which we’ll earn a commission after your first payment of $200 or more (as long as you click through our link to sign up). We negotiated a special offer with Melio to increase your welcome bonus (otherwise, your bonus would have been only $100).
How to earn $200:
- Sign up for Melio here: Frequent Miler’s Melio link.
- Upload a bill or an invoice.
- Make a payment of $200 or more via Melio Pay.
That’s it, Melio should then deposit the $200 cashback to the bank account you provided.
Welcome Offer Terms: To be eligible to receive the $200 Cashback, a user must successfully register to Melio using the link above, and successfully complete their first payment on the platform (via MelioPay) of at least $200, and such payment is not charged back or refunded. Eligible users will receive the $200 Cashback by bank deposit to their bank account provided by such users to Melio. Melio reserves the right to end the promotion ahead of time or to make changes or additions to this promotion for any reason at any time. This promotion is available only to new users who have signed up to Melio using the link above. Melio reserves the right to withhold payment of rewards in case of fraud or abuse and subject to its Terms and Conditions.
Melio Pricing
Melio charges 2.9% to pay with a credit or debit card. Melio’s pricing is nearly identical to Plastiq’s except that Melio charges $1.50 per check after the first 2 free checks each month.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can use Melio?
Almost any U.S. based business, including sole proprietor businesses, can use Melio to pay business bills.
Businesses cannot use Melio if they are involved with any of the following:
- Gambling and related activity
- Multi-level marketing firms or any agents that represent them
- Sales of tobacco, marijuana, hemp, pharmaceuticals, supplements, nutraceuticals, or paraphernalia.
- Pornography, obscene materials, or any sexual/adult services
- Weapons, ammunition, gunpowder, fireworks, and any other explosives
- Toxic, flammable, or any radioactive material
- Gold, silver, diamonds
- Other goods and services subject to government regulation.
What types of payments are allowed with Melio?
Melio offers the following examples of payments that are allowed:
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Rent (when your landlord is a business not an individual)
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Taxes
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Utilities
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SaaS & app-based expenses
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Franchising and operating expenses
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Legal expenses
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Accounting & bookkeeping expenses
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Freelancers/contractors
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Inventory, raw materials, and supplies
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Professional services
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Maintenance services
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Donations
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Employee reimbursements
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Credit card debt (not with a credit card)
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Loan payments (not with a credit card)
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Mortgage payments (not with a credit card)
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Pre-payments (only with ACH bank transfer)
Which credit cards can I pay with?
- American Express: Limited to certain industries
- Visa business cards
- Mastercard
- Discover
What types of payments are allowed with Amex cards?
The use of American Express cards is only supported in the following industries:
- Education
- Government
- Rent
- Utilities
- Membership Clubs
- Professional Services
- Business Services
- Inventory/Wholesale
- Construction/Logistics
Can I make payments with Visa/Mastercard/Amex gift cards?
No. Melio does not allow payments from prepaid cards.
Can I use Melio to pay a 1099 Contractor?
Yes. And your contractor can select how they want to receive payment: check or ACH.
Note that Melio typically asks for one of the following for verification purposes: Trade License / Business Registration, Doing Business As (DBA) Registration, Previous Schedule C filing, Most recent sales tax filing, Business utility bill under sole proprietor or DBA name, Sole proprietor bank statement.
What types of payments are not allowed with Melio?
Melio prohibits all of the following uses:
- Personal payments (i.e. payments for a non-business entity)
- Card network specific restrictions
- Payments from prepaid cards
- Balance transfers (paying a credit card balance with a different credit card)
- Cash advances: payments from a credit card to a business owner; to the business from its owner; to another entity in which the cardholder controls or has interests). This is also extended to household members and relations.
- Payroll transactions (though freelancers and contractors are supported).
- Pharmaceuticals, including for animals
- Flammables
- Explosives
More examples of payments that are not allowed can be found here.
Can I earn multiple welcome bonuses if I have multiple businesses?
Yes. Plus, a cool thing about Melio is that you can add additional companies from a single log-in. Simply click your company name at the top, left of your browser and you should see an option to “Add New company”.
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Hi Greg, if you’d prefer not to post my comment publicly, please feel free to respond by email.
Weird. I completed the terms of the promotion and chatted with Melio to confirm. Their response was puzzling, to say the least:
“At this time, we do not have a way to track the status of the payout. However, please reach out to https://frequentmiler.com/melio-pay-business-bills-by-credit-card/ and they will be able to share an update. I hope this informaiton is helpful and I apologize for this inconvenience and delay here.”
So, Greg, I guess they want me to check with you? Do you have any update on their situation?
[…] Read the full article… […]
I had a terrible experience with Melio. For a while I was paying my car lease payments with it and went through fine. A few months later they blocked it since they say you cannot pay off a loan with a credit card. Fine. What they didn’t say was you had to proactively cancel the payments. Since they never said that and I had scheduled automatic monthly payments, the system kept charging and blocked it every month. After a month or so Melio sent a very nasty email accusing me of repeatedly committing a fraudulent activity and shut my account down. I emailed them twice that since the payments were blocked, I just assumed there were no transactions made and never thought i had to cancel all the payments proactively, which they failed to mention if they deem the payments didn’t comply. They still wouldn’t reinstste my account. On Plastiq if the payments are not supported they’ll simply block it and won’t penalize you. Melio’s rude service and lack of good customer support made me go back to using Plastiq. I have a legitimate business and to be accused of fraud by Melio and their lack of communication put a bad taste in my mouth. I’m back with Plastiq which charges the same 2.9% fee and also accepts Amex with much better customer support.
I had used Melio for years. Only the absolute best to say about them. Super, super customer service. Willing to listen to recommended feature changes.
I just did this last week and used the link. Today, I got an email from the “manager” at Melio confirming I’ve met the requirements and that I used the Frequent Miler link and all he needs to finalize the payout is my bank’s routing number and account and a confirmation that my email is correct. That doesn’t seem right, as they already have that information on my account. I don’t feel comfortable sending him my bank info, but I will confirm my email.
It’s what they always ask for, because you can have the bonus deposited anywhere (personal checking, etc). It’s the same info on every random check you’ve ever written anyone.
Ah ok, that’s good to know. The way it was worded seemed like it was possibly a scam. thank you for confirming.
Opened a 2nd Melio account with my other business using EIN, paid a bill, got my $250 iPhone bonus – all automatic, all in a few weeks start to finish. Went faster than my previous $200 Melio bonus. So I recommend doing this if you have an actual business and actual business expenses to pay – they do pay.
Another person who has yet to be paid despite meeting the requirements for the $200 sign up bonus in April. I’ve chatted with their online support twice who said that it would be fixed and was just told that I need to email partners@melio.com
Same here!
I accidentally signed up before clicking the link. Am I able to open a new account for the same business using a different email address? (EIN the same of course)
Last time melio had bonus – in February I think – they never paid me – screw them
What big spend bonuses or benefits/statuses would you say would be worth the fee? I get extraordinary value out of Globalist (seems to be a no brainer between points return and benefits recevied) and could certainly target others that provide exceptional value..just not sure what others to target.
As a business owner this seems like a nice way to siphon some tax free money out of the business and reduce the business taxable income with the additional expense. My Cap 1 card gives me 2% cash back and I pay Melio 2.9% for vendors that do not accept credit cards. So in essence the corporation pays 2.9% for me to get back 2% tax free cash. Seems like a win for a .9% fee overall. This all makes sense in my head but I would love some feedback.
I am right there with you. I wish someone, much smarter than me, could break it down and determine if the benefit outweighs the fee. I’ve been on the fence about eating the fee for the points benefit on business spend but just not sure.
I have been doing it for several months and have gotten quite back quite a bit of tax free cash.
1- improves business cash flow
2- the 2.9% fee reduces the business (S Corp) taxable income.
3- the 2% cash back is tax free.
How much taxes would you pay on that cash if you took it in distributions? And how much more would you pay in taxes without the 2.9% deduction at the end of the year?
If you can put it on a new O%apr Ink card or Amex BBC then it becomes much better.
You misspelled your screen name, it’s Raymond Luxury Yacht
the credit card is paid monthly so there are no interest charges paid
I’ve always wondered about the tax implications of cash back cards for business, which is why I stick to point redemptions. So to me it’s a matter of if 1.5 Chase points or 2 Cap one points can out produce the 2.9% fee (coupled with reduction in taxable profit). I suppose I could just live in a 1 bedroom Vacasa property and come out in a good spot.
My account swears up and down that there are no tax implications. And he is straight by the book
I registered as S Corp back in April via the link below and made several payments to vendors with over $5K in total. Still no deposit or communication of any kind.
Any help would be appreciated!
I forwarded your comment to my Melio contact to see if he can help.
They are not very sole prop friendly. I set up account, tried to make a rent payment, a perfectly reasonable sole prop expense, they rejected payment twice and then shut down my account.
I’ll take my chances with Plastiq.
I also ran into issues trying to pay a normal business bill. Their compliance team flagged it as personal. I ended up going the route of paying my Ink statement – see comments below. Note, they still gave me a tough time even though I uploaded a statement showing I was paying a business credit card. They requested some sort of documentation for proof of a business.
Will this work to pay a Chase Ink credit card bill (partial payment of $200)?
Ooh great idea. As long as you pay with ACH I think that should work
This is interesting, Greg. So let’s say I had a BBC with $6k I’ve been floating at 0%apr that is due next month. Could I open up a new ink or BBP at 0%apr and then use it to pay off the 6K to amex through Melio thus extending my 0% apr deal for another 12 months? BTW I signed up for Melio last month and just got the $200 bonus. Thanks
No. To pay your credit card bill, you have to pay via ACH not via credit card.
How were you able to add chase ink as a vendor?
I still don’t see it (with the correct address), let me know if you figure it out-I’ll keep trying.
I was unable to add my Ink account directly as a vendor. It said invalid account number. However, uploading the statement pdf seemed to work… paid with ACH to send paper check, the payment processed, and was sent. I’ll report back with updates.
did you choose bank transfer (ACH)? I don’t know Chase’s deposit info. Or did you send a paper check for $1.50?
I sent a check because I still had my two free checks for the month.