Pay contractors and freelancers by credit card
The designer. The developer. The bookkeeper. The subcontractor who’s been on site since March. None of them on your books, all of them invoicing you every month.
They get paid the way their invoice asks. Your card earns on the way through.
“PayRewards has been a game changer in how we manage payments and earn points for our business.”
Can you pay a contractor with a credit card?
Yes, whether or not your contractor takes cards.
You charge your Visa, Mastercard or American Express. PayRewards pays your contractor by ACH, domestic wire or paper check, whichever their invoice asks for. The money lands in their own bank account.
They do not need an account with us, and their rate does not change.
The tax side does not change either. How you pay a contractor does not affect how you report what you paid them.
See the guide to paying 1099 contractors →The people businesses pay this way
If they send you an invoice every month, they belong here.
- Designers and creatives
- Developers and technical contractors
- Subcontractors and trades
- Bookkeepers and accountants
- Consultants and advisors
- Agencies and studios
For everything that isn’t a person, start here →
What your contractor sees, and what they never have to do
What they get
Funds into their own bank account, by the method their invoice asked for. Most payments land in 1 to 2 business days, or 4 to 7 if you send a check. Turn on remittance advice and they get an email once it’s processed, carrying your invoice reference, so they can match the payment to the work without emailing you about it.
What they never do
No PayRewards account to open. No fee taken out of their money. No change to the rate you agreed. Nothing different on their own tax return, and nothing to explain to their accountant.
You’re changing how the money leaves your account. You’re not changing anything about theirs.
Three steps, one charge on your card
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Add the contractor
For ACH or a wire, you’ll need their routing number, account number and account type. For a check, just their mailing address. Enter it once and it’s saved for next month.
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Charge your card
Choose your points tier at checkout.
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We pay them
By ACH, domestic wire or paper check. Most payments land in 1 to 2 business days. A check takes 4 to 7.
See payment processing times →
Connect QuickBooks Online and your unpaid bills import straight in, so the contractor invoices you’re already tracking are the ones you pay. See the QuickBooks integration →
Earn twice on spend that earns nothing today
Contractor spend is one of PayRewards best use cases. It’s regular, it’s large, and right now it earns you nothing at all.
Your card keeps earning
Visa, Mastercard and American Express. Whatever your card earns today, it earns on this. Your program stays exactly as it is.
PayRewards Points on top
A second currency on the same payment. Pick the tier that suits your spend. Airlines, gift cards, your team, or your next invoice.
See what your contractor spend is worth
Put a month’s invoices in and see what comes back.
What it costs
The fee buys a payment your contractor will accept, points on spend that earned you nothing, and your card’s own billing cycle between paying them and paying your statement.
See full pricing →Service fee
Card payments
Visa, Mastercard and American Express
2.9%
per transaction
Points tier
Core
Earn rewards at a lower fee rate
1.75%
fee per transaction
1 point per $1
Points tier
Plus
Maximize your rewards earnings
3.25%
fee per transaction
2 points per $1
Whether it’s worth it depends on your card and how much you send out each month. Run the numbers →
Up to 55 days reflects your own card issuer’s billing cycle, not credit from PayRewards.
Your business payments, extra secure
You’ll need an active business EIN and an executive or beneficial owner to complete onboarding. It takes about five minutes.
Payment verification
We check the bank account and the card before any money moves.
Tokenized data
We never store your card number. Only a secure token for each payment.
Settlement accounts
Authorized payments sit in dedicated settlement accounts until they are sent.
Fraud detection
Every payment is monitored, and anything unusual gets flagged straight away.
FAQs
Does my contractor need to sign up for anything?
They don’t need a PayRewards account. They get an ACH deposit, a wire or a check into the account they already use, and there’s no fee taken out of what you owe them.
Can I pay several contractors at once?
Yes. Import your unpaid bills and select as many as you want in one batch. Each contractor still needs their own delivery details saved, and every bill in a batch shares the same payment method and the same earning tier.
Can I set up a contractor who invoices every month?
Yes. In Make a Payment, choose Vendor Payment, select Recurring and pick monthly. Set a start date and an end date up to 12 months out. Recurring payments are funded by credit or debit card only.
Does this change how I file at year end?
No. How you pay a contractor doesn’t change what you report. See the guide to paying 1099 contractors →
What if the contractor changes their bank details?
Select the payee, choose Edit, update the account information and save. Before you do, call the contractor and confirm the new details with them out loud. Emailed requests to change bank details are the most common invoice fraud there is, and a verbal check takes a minute. If a payment has already been returned, the payee will show as Invalid until the details are corrected.
a 4-minute demo