Chexy: Pay rent with a credit card and earn rewards

Chexy is a Canadian company that offers several options for paying your rent in order to earn rewards or increase your credit rating.

The services of Chexy services are aimed primarily at renters who want to :

• Earn rewards points by paying their rent with a credit card
• Maximize their rewards by earning cash back from multiple retailers
• Build their credit score with Credit Builder
• Automate the rent payment process

When it comes to rewards, Chexy has created a calculator that allows you to see the value you can get by combining the number of points accumulated and Chexy‘s fees.

It’s easy to see that, although debit card fees are lower, this payment method doesn’t earn rewards, unlike credit cards.

You can also take advantage of this calculator to explore various credit card options recommended by Chexy for use with their services.

Paying rent by card with Chexy is a three-step process:

1. Create your account
2. Connect your Canadian credit card (or debit card)
3. Chexy charges the rent to the credit card each month, then transfers the rent money to the landlord via Interac transfer.

Since November 16, 2023, rental payments made via Chexy have been categorized as “recurring payments” by credit card issuers. To make the most of it, we recommend the Scotia Momentum^® Visa Infinite* Card, which offers 4% cash back on this category, and therefore your rent payments with Chexy.

For example, if your rent is $1,500 a month, you could earn $720 a year in cash back. Deducting the 1.75% fee, that’s a net return of 2.25% on your rent (or $405 on a $1,500 rent), excluding the welcome offer!

By signing up for Chexy‘s rent payment service, you can earn cashback on your online shopping. The principle is the same as using the Aeroplan eStore, Rakuten, Club Boomerang orother online shopping portals.

The cashback you earn will then be deducted from what Chexy charges to your credit card, so it can help cover service fees.

Chexy also offers its Credit Builder service to help you build your credit score. For each rent payment, Chexy sends a report to Equifax, one of Canada’s leading credit bureaus.

This service, available for a fee of $9.99 per month, can help anyone trying to raise their credit score, whether they’re newcomers, students, or anyone with a specific goal in mind (buying a home, for example). So it’s a good way to keep your credit report up to date and active by showing positive use.

With a better credit score, you can get a better rate when you apply for a mortgage, and save a lot of money over the years. Or be approved for better American Express, Mastercard or Visa credit cards.

Living with roommates? Chexy now offers a service that lets you split the rent and then send a single transfer of the monthly total due to the landlords. As a Chexy user, you can invite your roommates to sign up for the service. Chexy will combine the rent payments and send a single transfer to your landlord. That said, there’s nothing to stop you using Chexy individually in a shared apartment if your landlords agree to separate payments.

To use Chexy to pay your rent, follow the steps below.

Go to the Chexy website, then enter your details to create an account, or log in from your Google account.

Next, indicate your main purpose for using Chexy, such as earning rewards on your rent, for example.

As a security measure, Chexy must verify your identity using the Plaid authentication service. All you need to do is provide the information requested, and make sure it matches your government-issued ID.

Then, once the lease agreement has been added and everything completed, the automation of Chexy is underway, and Chexy will charge your rent to your card four days before the agreed payment date, with a fee of 1.75% of your rent each month (if paid by credit card).

If you can use Chexy to pay your rent, it’s a great way to earn points every month and unlock welcome bonuses that stretch over several months.

These include the American Express Cobalt^MD Card, the Platinum Card^MD from American Express, and many high-end cards that require you to reach a certain high annual spending threshold to unlock bonus points.

Also, these cards generally offer points whose value is greater than the fees charged by Chexy. For example, we estimate the value of an Aeroplan point at 2 cents.

Here are some of them:

In addition, some credit cards offer cash back, so you’ll also come out ahead when you pay your rent through Chexy. One example is the SimplyCash^® Preferred Card from American Express, which offers 2% cash back (plus a hefty welcome bonus). That said, with Chexy payments categorized as recurring payments, The Scotia Momentum^® VISA Infinite* Card is the most advantageous.

If you’re a renter looking to unlock a credit card welcome bonus with high spending requirements, using Chexy ‘s services can help you achieve your goals. The most important thing is to make sure you pay off your credit card balance in full every month to avoid interest charges, otherwise all the benefits of Chexy will be cancelled out.