In our last bi-monthly manufacturing spend report, we reported that Plastiq bill payments were coding as lodging when Plastiq was used to pay rent or mortgage. The great thing about that was that credit cards that offer bonus points for travel were earning extra rewards. Therefore, it was possible to earn 3X rewards when paying rent or mortgage with a Chase Sapphire Reserve card, Chase Ink Business Preferred card, or Citi AT&T Access More card. See: Increase credit card spend (and get most of it back). What still works May 2017?
Unfortunately, recent evidence suggests that the 3X deal may be dead. For transactions issued as early as June 3rd (and posted June 4th), readers have reported to us that they got only 1X rewards with the Chase Sapphire Reserve despite having earned 3X on previous payments.
Similar data points can be found over on Doctor of Credit, and on Reddit.
One data point on Doctor of Credit shows 3X working as of June 2nd so this appears to be a very recent change.
More reports requested
If you have paid rent or mortgage through Plastiq since June 3rd, did your payment code as travel? If not, can you confirm that the Recipient is still categorized within Plastiq with Business Type = “Rent, Mortgage, and Real Estate”?
UPDATE: Please list which card you paid and what you paid (rent or mortgage, which bank, etc.) with when reporting results. One reader (so far) has said that the Ink Business Preferred earned 3X as recently as June 3rd (June 4th posted), but another has reported 1X.
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Chase Sapphire Reserve. 03/27/2018 Made a rent payment through plastiq and it came through as 1x, unfortunately.
Mortgage payment using AT&T Access More only earns 1X as of this month. Looks like it’s dead for good.
[…] month has brought both ups and downs in credit card news. In an unfortunate change, Plastiq stopped coding at 3X as a travel bonus category for most mortgage payments. Rubbing salt in the wound, Citi sent a […]
Has anyone figured out the category that rent currently codes? Trying to see if there is an alternative credit card I should use instead of the plain Chase Freedom unlimited for 1.5x. Used Plastiq with preferred for payment made around June 21st and unfortunately only coded as 1x points. Luckily, it was the last month I needed to hit the minimum for bonus points so now just trying to justify paying the 2.5% fee instead of using an envelope, check, and stamp for rent.
Chase sapphire preferred
June 1rst
1x reward points where previously I got double.
[…] Plastiq rent and mortgage payments are mostly not be coding as travel anymore. People have confirmed this to be true for both the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Citi ThankYou Premier. There have been mixed results with the Chase Ink Business Preferred. Details here. […]
[…] payments made with the Sapphire Reserve and Ink Business Preferred cards on Plastiq are not typically earning 3x Ultimate Rewards anymore as they once were (payments were coding as lodging, therefore falling in the bonused category of […]
[…] online purchase is amazing. Some even found other ways to make the card work for them even better, paying their rent or mortgage. It was a great […]
Never ever saw anyone post on Citi Premier, so gave it a try after this post. Posted to Citi on 6/7/17 for a Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, and only got 1X on this…..
Plastiq is dead to me.
Thanks! That saves me some trouble.
Not only is 3X dead but as of June 12th Plastiq will no longer accept VISA for ANY mortgage payments per VISA’s request. They could/would not tell me why.
That is unfortunately correct. Greg confirmed this with a Plastiq contact and posted about it first thing this morning. See this for more information:
https://frequentmiler.com/2017/06/13/confirmed-plastiq-no-longer-accepts-visa-mortgage-payments/
[…] since Chase stopped giving 3X for mortgage and rent payments through Plastiq (See: Is Plastiq 3X Dead?), I’ve been wondering whether those payments made with the AT&T Access More card would […]
6/7/17 transaction Ink biz Preferred coded as miscellaneous, 1x. sun trust mortgage. previously coded as travel 3x
[…] Is Plastiq 3X dead? […]
AT&T received no 3x with Plastiq for mortgage for past 2 mo statements. It used to qualify for an on-line purchase. The service fee is not qualifying either. I tried the same mortgage with CSR ona small payment and again no 3x on that card either. Looks like 3x is dead for me. 🙁
[…] via The Frequent Miler and Doctor of Credit, it seems that most rent/mortgage payments are now registering as 1X with the […]
Subscribing to see what’s happening with Citi At&t Access more 3X.
Based on a preponderance of evidence, I think we can conclude that 3X is dead for Chase Sapphire Reserve and Ink Business Preferred (that one data point to the contrary must have just slipped in under the wire).
I’m looking forward to getting datapoints about other cards that offer travel bonuses and the AT&T Access More card. Until we see how other banks are coding this, we won’t know if the change was specific to Chase or was a broad change on Plastiq’s side.
Just earned 3x paying my Chase-serviced mortgage on Citi Access More. It coded as other governmental services.
Thanks Ralph. What was the payment date and how do you know it earned 3X? With the AT&T card I didn’t think you could tell until the statement closes.
I received my monthly statement, so it’s confirmed. My mortgage payment is pretty substantial so it’s easy to tell the payment earned 3x.
Payment date was 5/23.
Thanks Ralph. Unfortunately the payment happened before things changed around June 3rd or 4th. So, this confirms that AT&T was working for 3X, but doesn’t prove that it’s still working.
Hi Greg,
I saw multiple conflicting data points showing some people still got 3x on csr for paying mortgage. Maybe it’s still YMMV?
https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/6fnoag/plastiq_3x_now_coding_for_1x_on_csrcip/dinqd01/
http://www.doctorofcredit.com/plastiq-no-longer-earning-3x-rentmortgage-csr/#comment-417115
Very interesting. These datapoints are for the Ink Preferred, right? It does seem that the Ink still has 3X potential under certain circumstances. Nailing down what those circumstances are is the tough part
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CIP Charge on Monday (6/5) did not earn 3x. Payment was made to same vendor (rent) which did earn 3x during the previous two months. I’m sure it was Chase that has closed this loophole.
Plastiq is going to lose so many customers if this is for real. Does anyone know if there’s a big difference for a business to code the transaction as lodging or other? I wonder what led them to change the transaction code. Business move or legal technicality? Ideally if I charge 3% fee and give the bank back 2%. I’m still coming out positive. Why change?
Who says it was Plastiq who changed the way it codes? It might as well be Chase/Visa fixing a glitch on their side.
Bingo. I suspect some of these services are somehow picking their codes knowing it will drive business. But, the banks are smart enough to shut it down when they find out.
Looks like they had an anniversary today, was expecting them to have some promotions. Have a couple of cards I need to meet the sign-up bonuses
Trying payment on Citi AT&T. Don’t think that needs to post as travel, just an online merchant purchase. Will report back.
I’ve been paying rent on a couple of storage units for more about a year and a half and getting 3X with the AT&T card. Just added a mortgage last month. Statement hasn’t closed on that yet, so I won’t know until the end of next week if it coded for 3X, but that payment was made in May. Won’t know about June’s payment for another 5+ weeks. Let us know your data point.
What does the AT&T card give? Thank you points? First time heard of it. Good for travel or cash back?
We’re talking about the AT&T Access More card, which is no longer available to new applicants. You may be able to product change to it.
That card earns 3X Thank You points at “select online retail merchants” (and a 10K bonus if you spend at least $10k per year). A lot of online transactions count for 3X, but not all of them. If you also have a card like the Prestige card (or, Thank You Premier), you can transfer your points to partners.
I’ve been getting 3X thank you points paying my mortgage with Plastiq and AT&T Access Card
I’d been using this for my mortgage until a few months ago when I switched to paying with the CSR (which posted at 3x for payments I made through May and only 1x for a June 3 payment).
Citi statement closes June 26; hopefully, the 3x stays in place since it only needs to be an online merchant.
Thanks. I haven’t even looked at Thank You points yet since all my effort is toward Ultimate Rewards. Good to know
Did Citi Premier or Chase Ink Bold or Plus ever work in the past? I’m using CSR but may switch my next payment if CSR is dead. Thanks.
I did this back a month ago based on this article with a test payment of $100 on my mortgage and Chase Sapphire fave only 1x points. I emailed them Plastiq about it and they said there’s nothing they can do. I sent them a link to this article and they said that’s not official for Plastiq.
Awful! Have you tried to email this link to Chase/Citi/Amex?
If email doesn’t work, have you tried calling them? Have you post to their twitter account? Have you asked your lawyer to contact them?
You know what’s the first rule of fight club?
I reached out to Plastiq to work with them to work with their coding processor to have my mortgage coded as lodging. Will see if anything comes of it.
[…] are a few data points indicating that it’s still working on CIP (1, 2, 3). Let us know if you have data points on CIP or other Visa cards in the comments. (Please let us […]
Anyone paid HOA dues and still got 3x now? Thanks.
Chase sapphire reserve 1x points with Nationstar Mortgage on June 3rd. I got 3x points on same payment made in May.
I still got 3x with Nationstar on Jun 1. aw man :*(
The plot thickens with some reporting 3X via the Ink Business Preferred and others reporting 1X. Maybe it depends on who or what you pay? When reporting results, please include whether it was for rent or mortgage and who the Recipient was (e.g. US Bank)
Chase Ink Preferred DID NOT get 3x with US Bank
Transaction date 06/03
Statement date 06/04
Screenshot: http://mrf.su/1C3x3Q2Y0f1v
Alex, did you get 3x previously? Not every rent/mortgage works so I’m not sure it’s a conclusive data point.
Sorry, I should have mentioned. Yes, I did get 3x in the past, on three transactions during April and May.
What payment system are you using for US Bank? Can’t use Plastiq anymore.
5/31/17
CSR
Plastiq – Rent
Confirmed 3X
Is it too early for me to whine bloggers killed another deal yet? 🙂
P.S. At a CPA seminar, bored out of my mind…
Shhhh, they got cards they need to pump.
In fairness to Greg, he waited a long time to post on this. I was most frustrated when Ben posted on it which is when it really took off……..
With that said, I did not know about it when Ben posted on it……but okay if this dies as it saved me some dough (just can’t bring myself to redeem UR for a penny) and I used up the $2500 fee free money Nick taught me how to get on this blog.
Who is Ben?
onemileatatime
Both payments were on Sapphire Reserve.
yes…looks like not getting that bonus. I did a small payment on June 1, it worked. But my regular mortgage payment on 6/4 no bonus 🙁
following
Chase Ink Preferred still got 3x with Wells Fargo
Transaction date 06/03
Statement date 06/04
Ooh, very interesting. Maybe the change is limited to the Sapphire Reserve. Hopefully we’ll get additional datapoints on this!
One of the data points on reddit said CIP did not receive 3x.. My CIP did receive 3x on 6/2 transaction date. Just submitted another payment today, will report back unless others chime in that it’s definitely dead