Stephen reported a few days ago about the June 1st change affected Plastiq payments with a Visa whereby payments may be limited to a small percentage of your credit limit and/or incur a cash advance fee when paying with a personal Visa card. See his post for more details (Plastiq Changes For Visa Transactions: Lower Limits Or Cash Advances). In that post, Stephen notes that Plastiq will reach out to customers with affected payments. It just so happens that I had a couple of Plastiq payments scheduled for next week that charge to a personal Visa card that would be affected and I had not yet gotten around to changing my payment method. As a result, I received the following email from Plastiq a few days ago about one of those payments:
As you can see above, Plastiq reached out to let me know that the payment may be treated as a cash advance. Additionally, they credited my account with 450 fee-free dollars. That is the amount of the payment in question — meaning that they essentially gave me that next payment fee-free and reminded me to change to a card that wouldn’t incur a cash advance fee. That’s a pretty good proactive resolution. I since received the same type of email about a second payment scheduled on the same card with fee-free dollars credited in the amount of that payment as well.
One can hope that the personal Visa card limitations are indeed temporary. Be on the lookout for a similar email from Plastiq to make sure that you are not charged a cash advance fee on any payments you have scheduled.
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[…] Plastiq has been proactive and really helpful with information on how to avoid Cash Advance fees. FrequentMiler reports that Plastiq is contacting customers to warn them about these fees and suggesting to […]
There are some serious caveats with the Plastiq service to be aware of. Though I greatly appreciate the service and I do hope it continues to improve, there are some pitfalls to beware. Mainly, Plastiq may at any time charge your card without your approval due to some software bug or maybe because an employee was bored and just wants to see what happens. Next you may appeal for the fee to be lifted since after all it was a payment you were going to pay with your MasterCard but there is now a promotion. So you are out of pocket for less than a dollar. Never fear, customer service to rescue. DGAF, and no pennies will be refunded. Escalate and find proof that the charge is made without approval. Never fear, Plastiq will threaten to close your account. Amazing how far some broke-sss company can go to save some pennies.
[…] Plastiq, and the lattr has been really helpful with information on how to avoid Cash Advance fees. FrequentMiler reports that Plastiq is contacting customers to warn them about these fees and suggesting to cancel […]
[…] some personal Visa cards are coding as a cash advance when using Plastiq. Some readers (and Nick at Frequent Miler) are reporting receiving e-mails warning them that upcoming payments are scheduled to be paid with […]
[…] some personal Visa cards are coding as a cash advance when using Plastiq. Some readers (and Nick at Frequent Miler) are reporting receiving e-mails warning them that upcoming payments are scheduled to be paid with […]
Nick, given this new development, the Amex limitations for using Plastiq, and the demise of Tio, what do you think is the long term viability of a service like Plastiq?