The app is called Plastiq, and the goal is essentially to offer something more convenient than a bank’s online bill pay feature. While the app is definitely easier than paying through your bank, what really makes Plastiq stand out is that it allows you to pay with your credit card, ensuring that you can much more easily manage your money, while gaining any rewards available on your card.
According to Plastiq, the target audience for the app is those who enjoy the convenience of having everything paid on a single card, making money more manageable and eliminating any surprise bills from being drawn out of your account.
The app currently only works in the U.S. and Canada, and to use it you don’t need to have signed up for a Plastiq account — you can sign up for one straight from your phone. Once your account has been created, simply take a photo of your bill and the app will analyze the bill to determine how much is owed, when it’s due, and other relevant factors, including your account number for the bill in question. After that, you can choose to either pay the bill or “save for later.”
Saving for later makes things pretty easy — you can opt to pay the bill whenever is best for you, as long as it’s before the due date. If you want, you can even opt to have all your bills paid on the same day. Call it bill day!
If you use Plastiq, you can pay for recurring payments as well as a for variety of services. Not only that, but the app accepts MasterCard, Visa, and American Express, so whatever credit card you have, you should be able to use it with Plastiq (unless it’s a Discover card or something else that’s a little less well known).
Of course Plastiq has to make money too. In exchange for the service’s convenience, you’ll have to pay a 2.5 percent convenience fee for credit cards and a 1 percent convenience fee for debit cards.
You can download Plastiq for yourself on iOS here.
