Yesterday we shared news that Cozy would allow everybody to make rental payments with their credit card, they will be charging a 2.75% fee to do so. We now also know that their merchant category code is 6513 – Real Estate Agents and Managers – Rentals. As far as I know no cards earn a category bonus on this, but I could be wrong. I don’t see how Cozy will be competitive with competing service Plastiq, but maybe they’ll run promotions from time to time to lower their fees.
[Read:Â Plastiq: Pay Mortgage or Rent with Mastercard For 1.75% Fee, American Express For 2.25% Fee]
Cozy might still have some use if Plastiq continues to have issues with Visa credit cards.
I believe this is the same code that Plastiq uses for rent payments, and I have received 3x from the AT&T Access More card for such payments.
As to the suggestion that they should instead code as Lodging, my understanding is that merchant interchange fees are much higher for that code, so I can see why they wouldn’t.
If they want our business, I would suggest they code their new service as Visa MCC 7011 Lodging – Hotels, Motels, Resorts, Central Reservation Services (Not Elsewhere Classified).
From the Visa manual ( https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/download/merchants/visa-merchant-data-standards-manual-2015.pdf ):
“Merchants classified under this MCC (7011) are only those lodging establishments which do not have their own specific MCC. (Many national and regional hotels and motels have their own MCC). Please refer to the hotel listings in the Travel & Entertainment Merchant/MCC Listing Section of this Manual. MCC 7011 may include, bed and breakfast establishments, resorts, cabins, cottages, hostels, and local inns.
This MCC ***also includes merchants that provide Central Reservation Services***. A Central Reservation Service (CRS) is a ***merchant that has operating agreements with various lodging establishments***, including hotels, inns, and ***condominiums*** located within a given area to provide reservation and booking services on their behalf. ”
The bolded part above could reasonably pass as what they do- they arrange payment for rentals.
They need app for android/iPhone and ability to pay via mobile wallet ala radpad. It would recode the category properly.
I think real estate agents – it’s how it was coded on pad pad if used credit card directly without mobile wallet.
MCC 6513 counts as a qualifying travel expense on the Bank of America travel rewards card. You could use points to pay your rent.