Why I’m happy to pay a 2.9% fee on all business expenses

In October 2025, I faced a $22,133 flooring renovation invoice. 

Right before hitting “submit,” I saw the prompt: “Pay with card: +2.9% fee.”

That fee amounted to roughly $642.

Back in 2020, I would have switched to ACH immediately. I thought avoiding fees was the only way to be “responsible.” But today, I look at that $642 very differently. 

The real question isn’t “How do I avoid this fee?” it’s “What does this $642 unlock?”

The shift: why “saving” the fee was costing me money

When you pay a vendor via ACH, wire, or check to avoid a fee, you are essentially choosing to earn nothing on that transaction. You forfeit rewards, business “float,” and the ability to realize multiple benefits on a single expense.

By sticking to ACH, wire, and check payments, I was actually losing:

1. Tens of thousands of dollars in potential points
2. Multipliers on vendor payments
3. The ability to transfer points for high-value travel
4. The interest my cash could have been earning during the float period
5. Leverage. I was just paying and moving on, rather than making my money work for me

And worst of all: I was losing the opportunity to grow my business sooner.

Property taxes, contractor payments, and vendor bills were all flowing through the business with no return. The challenge was that my largest vendors didn’t accept credit cards—until I discovered that a platform like Melio could bridge that gap. Melio allows you to pay your business bills by credit card while the vendor receives payment in their preferred method—via ACH, wire, or check. Once I ran the math, the 2.9% card fee turned into a significant gain.

For example, one large contractor payment became the launching pad that helped us generate 200,000 points, which we turned into:

Two business-class “lie-flat” seats on Japan Airlines (Chicago to Tokyo) for me and my wife.

Retail value: Over $7,500.

We paid $514 out of pocket for a $7,500 flight.

Those points didn’t come from travel spend; they came from paying a contractor.

The strategy: is the fee worth it?

To evaluate if a fee makes sense, I use a simple formula to find the real value:

1. Rewards value

Even straightforward cash back can offset a meaningful portion of the fee. A 2% card on a $100,000 payment returns $2,000 instantly. But the real leverage comes from transferable points redeemed through airline and hotel partners, where the same spend can deliver 3–5x the value of cash back alone.

2. Tax savings

That 2.9% fee is typically a deductible business expense. This means the real “net cost” is lower than it appears, as the fee is effectively subsidized by your tax savings.

3. Cash flow float: strategic timing

Think of a card payment as a 30- to 45-day interest-free loan. This float lets you keep cash in your account longer to earn interest or reinvest in growth, like inventory or ads, before the bill is due. You pay vendors instantly while keeping your capital liquid until your receivables clear.

To visualize this, imagine a $100,000 vendor payment. On one side, the $2,900 fee (2.9%). On the other, your returns stack up: $6,000 in rewards (earned by redeeming points through airline partners that offer 3x travel point redemption rather than taking straight cash back), roughly $725 in tax savings (at a 25% bracket), and approximately $329 in float interest (based on keeping $100,000 in a 4% APY high-yield savings account for an extra 30 days).

When you subtract the fee from that stack, you’ve turned a standard expense into over $4,000 of net positive leverage.

Real-world success stories

I’ve brought these learnings to my clients via Itinerary Boss. Here are a couple of examples of how they’ve benefited:

The landscaping company: from zero returns to business class

A client was spending ~$50,000/month via ACH—that’s approximately $600,000 a year with zero return.

After restructuring their payments to the right cards, they:

1. Had an optimized and clear redemption strategy
2. Earned a consistent 2x return on spend

By turning their overhead into an asset, they are now funding an $11,200 business trip to Thailand that had been on the back burner for five years. They aren’t just saving cash; they’re using a repeatable system to afford life experiences that previously felt like a stretch.

The developer: from basic cash back to free vacations

One developer client was running $4.2M in materials and labor through ACH. They had a basic cashback card that couldn’t transfer points to partners, so the math never worked. Within four months of switching to a strategic card and routing payments through Melio, they:

1. Generated over 2.1 million points.
2. Booked a last-minute birthday trip to Aruba for him and his wife
3. Built a full travel plan for three of the partners and their wives to Europe and Costa Rica

Their words:

“We were spending $5M+ a year and barely getting anything back. In just a few months, we’ve already generated over 2 million points and now have a clear plan to turn our business spend into real travel experiences for our family.”

At large spending levels, even a small percentage improvement can create a meaningful outcome.

The 3 “silent” ROI killers

Most businesses lose money because of these three habits:

1. The 1x trap: Earning only 1% on your largest overhead categories
2. Low-value redemptions: Settling for statement credits or gift cards rather than high-value transfer partners
3. ACH, wire, and check payments: Letting millions in spend leave your bank account with no return. This is where Melio is a game-changer

The Melio solution: bridging the gap

A vendor’s refusal to accept credit cards is a common roadblock for most businesses, but with Melio, it becomes your biggest opportunity.

Melio bridges the gap by allowing you to:

1. Pay your way: Use your credit card to pay vendors while racking rewards and extending your float
2. Get paid their way: Your vendor receives the payment exactly how they prefer—via ACH, wire, or paper check
3. Protect relationships: You get the points and the float; they get paid on time without having to change their workflow

This flexibility is the “secret sauce” that makes a high-yield spend strategy work in the real world. You can even use the Melio Fee Calculator to run your own numbers and see the impact.

How to turn your expenses into leverage

Before your next large payment, ask yourself:

1. What is my current earn rate on this spend?
2. Am I earning transferable points or just cash back?
3. What is my realistic redemption value?
4. What is my effective tax rate?
5. What is the value of 30–45 days of float in my business?

If the upside outweighs the fee, you’re not paying a cost. You’re creating leverage.

The 2.9% fee isn’t the problem—treating every 2.9% the same is. When structured correctly, it is one of the simplest ways to turn everyday business overhead into experiences, flexibility, and options you’d otherwise delay for “someday.”

Ready to stop leaving money on the table? Start routing your business payments through Melio and put your overhead to work.