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Plastiq

BeAnBeAnBeAnBeAn
edited September 2013 in General
Have you guys heard of Plastiq? 

It's a third-party payment company based in the US innovated by some uni graduates to help battle merchants (mainly schools) who don't allow payment with credit card which is a huge loss of loyalty points and credit-building opportunities 

Sounds great right? You probably have a major erection right now. But here's the buzzkill, unfortunately guess what. Just like among other things, SFU is behind all other schools and merchants who haven't accepted this program even though it costs them absolutely nothing. I tried to search for SFU... nothing. I searched for UBC, oh look they're right there! Doing some further browsing, the SFU website itself on the payment info page even states : "We do not accept credit card payments for tuition either directly or through third party service providers (such as Plastiq). "

Hahahahaha what fucking assholes. SFU once again topped by the more advanced university UBC. Even though it would cost SFU $0 to sign up as a merchant with Plastiq, they choose not to. So we have to continue paying tuition without credit cards. Thank youuuuu SFU I <3 you're such a great university.

Comments

  • ryan
    Instead of charging sfu the credit card fees, plastiq charges you...doesn't sound worth it to me.
  • KingdomOfJoy
    Limit on my credit card is small so I wouldn't be able to pay with it anyway so I don't care!
  • BeAnBeAnBeAnBeAn
    @ryan They charge a nominal commission which is 0.55%. Average tuition is like what $2500. You would only pay $13.75. If that doesn't sound worth it to you, then consider the fact that you would be making $50 back in loyalty rewards. $50-$27.50= $22.50 net rewards. Plus the additional goodies on your credit report to increase your credit score for the future when you want to get more important loans and lower your prospective interest rates. Simple math and weighing the pros and cons. 

    It is definitely worth it.

    That's why there was such a backlash when uni's removed credit card payment including someone from Washington State University I believe who paid his entire tuition in a wheelbarrow full of coins.

    @KingdomOfJoy But you can at least max out your credit card and immediately pay back the creditor and in due time you can increase your credit limit. 
  • BeAnBeAnBeAnBeAn
    I don't get people who pay everything by cash and debit card. I know some people who are like 21 and JUST got their first credit card. I've used my credit card for nearly every single thing I buy since Gr. 8 and I've racked up 10,000+ points in that time and my recently new credit card credit limit is $5,000. I basically treat it as my debit card and rarely even touch my debit card and only purchase things I have the funds for in my accounts and income for to offset my credit balance at the end of the billing period so I never paid interest in the life of the card. 

    If we were able to pay tuition by credit card, I could accumulate 10,000+ points in like 4 semesters compared to 5-7 years. We NEED to pay by credit, there's just so much missed opportunity.

    BTW, guess what SFU's excuse is for cancelling the ability to pay by credit card. Just like my other post I think about the decaying building-- lack of federal funding. looool. I know it costs like $500,000 annually in merchant credit fees but that is just a lame excuse I mean come on.
  • ryan
    Searching around, for visa I see 2.39%, which works out to more than $50. I can't find specific mentions to costs on their site. Maybe I have to actually register before it will show that.

    Personally I don't blame SFU at all for not accepting credit cards. Doing so leads to them loosing tons of money. An added side effect is it also prevents people from potentially wracking up credit card debt.

    10000 points? Big spender! How did you have a credit card in grade 8? I was under the impression you need to be 19 to get one. And in all those years your limit is 5000 now?
  • BeAnBeAnBeAnBeAn
    edited September 2013
    10,000 points, in 5-7 years. That's like $1,500/year, YEAR, in expenses. While StudentAidBC thinks people should get $1,700 in living expenses per semester and that is 4 MONTHS, hahaha so compared to that I think I'm okay. I'll just use that to pay for the next semester. So no, I'm not a big spender, I'm probably the most frugal and prudent amasser there is. I'm sure you know that by now from reading my posts and opinions like the discussion about note-taking for example which I still use a 6 year old laptop but just slowly upgrade and replace components. 

    You don't need to be 19 to get a credit card. It's called authorized cardholder, as a secondary account under the primary cardholder. For a while my creditor allowed my credit to be built even as an authorized cardholder but that has changed now. Points were consolidated but my dad didn't even use that one so it was basically my account. Everything in the bill was mine as well as all the points and the payments. I had a credit card before I had my own bank account lol. And yeah after all those years it is $5,000 now. 
  • 112233
    good for you?
  • MXC
    how do credit card 'points' work?
  • 112233
    The more money you spend, the more points you can earn from the bank. Usually you can use the points to purchase gift cards or flights. It's definitely a good idea to get a points credit card. Its used to be awesome when you could earn tons of points by putting your tuition on your credit card.
  • MXC
    I've always used my scene card for purchases, should i switch to using my credit card then?
  • BeAnBeAnBeAnBeAn
    ^You must be already using a Scene credit card then? Unless you're trolling lol.

    Credit card points work when you register for a card through Professor Oak and he gives you 1-4 cards to choose from and over time you train these cards by battling other cards which you accumulate EXP points and it levels it up from basic, silver, gold to platinum card. Once you reach the most points and catch 'em all you will finally complete your quest in wanting to be the very best, like no one ever waaaasss.
  • MXC
    No I only got a scene debit card not the "credit" card. Where can I find Professor Oak and how do I battle other people's cards? Sounds kinda silly.
  • KingdomOfJoy
    Do you also need to battle with beyblades to get extra points?
  • BeAnBeAnBeAnBeAn
    edited September 2013
    @MXC Oh right, didn't know they had those. If you get loyalty points for using a debit card then that is awesome but with a credit card at least you can build your credit as well as get points at the same time and use it more securely for many online purchases that usually only accept credit cards. You can find Professor Oak in his lab which is located in Pallet Town where you can either walk, use your bike or go there via air travel if you have a Pidgey. To battle other people's cards you walk up to them. They will automatically think you want to battle and assume a hostile position.

    @KingdomofJoy No that is frowned upon and considered as credit fraud. What most people do is watch a few episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh and put their Visa card in defense mode and go on PayPal to activate their Scotiabank trap card to reduce the opponent's credit score.
  • MXC
    ok here's another question, what's the point of "building credit"? And do you just do that from paying with ur credit card? And how far is Pallet Town from SFU? And how do the mechanics of battling other people's cards work?
  • BeAnBeAnBeAnBeAn
    @MXC Point of building credit is to build your reputation as a borrower through things on your credit report which is used to calculate your credit score. Higher credit score will give lenders more confidence and trust that you have the ability to pay them back. This is beneficial for the future when you want to say get financing on a car, mortgage a house, get a loan to pay back the mafia etc. and have a higher probability of getting lower interest rate tiers on your loans. There are many ways to build your credit that includes always paying your bills and no late payments but this does not mean signing up for many credit cards is good for your credit, it's actually detrimental. That's just he basics of it I guess. There's a Personal Finances 101 workshop thingy I think that SFU offers that will tell your more about this if you have questions.

    Pallet Town is not that far from SFU although there is no exact distance ever measured because to travel there most people just use a Pidgey to "fly" there and the screen slowly pixelates into black pixels and you arrive there. The mechanics of battling other people's cards works when you touch yourself in the evening.

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