Update 11/29/22: Standard Plastiq fee is increasing further from 2.85% to 2.90% on December 1, 2022
Original Post 6/24/20:
Plastiq is making a change to their fee structure for processing payments: the new fee will be 2.85% for all credit card payments instead of the previous 2.5% fee. They explain the increase is due to an upcoming interchange price increase (the cost of processing a credit card) from several major credit card companies.
While .35% might seem like a small change to a casual observer, those in the hobby realize how major the change is when calculating tiny margins or trying to decrease cost of signup bonus spend or cost-per-point.
Plastiq already stopped allowing most prepaid gift cards from working on the platform early this year, and with this fee increase I think many miles-and-points enthusiasts will stop using Plastiq entirely and just use Paypal with their 2.9% (+ 30 cents) for sending money to a friend with a credit card.
I can still see Plastiq useful for someone with who needs to send large amounts and doesn’t want to deal with Paypal/friends. Also, businesses might still find Plastiq useful. In any case, the initial appeal of the lower 2.5% fee is no longer here.
News of the change has not yet been sent out widely to Plastiq users, it was first reported by Milestomemories, and I confirmed it with Plastiq chat. They confirmed that the change will take place across all cards and all payees, and that users will be notified this week.
I’ve confirmed with Plastiq chat that payments scheduled now for post-July 1st will maintain the 2.5% fee structure. Thus, it could be worth locking in the lower fee and scheduling out payments during June for the subsequent months.
You can read our Plastiq review here.
