Daycare-by-card actually works (sometimes)
Most daycare providers will tell you on day one that they only accept ACH or check. That's the default, not the limit. A growing share of providers — especially larger chains (Bright Horizons, KinderCare, Primrose) and church-affiliated preschools — quietly accept credit-card payment, sometimes through a third-party processor like Procare or Brightwheel.
Two things to check before you assume tuition is a 2× MR opportunity:
- Is there a convenience fee? Most providers that take cards pass through the processor fee — typically 2.5–3%. A 2× MR earn rate on the Amex Blue Business Plus is worth ~2 cents/$ at a 1¢/point cash baseline, or ~3 cents/$ if you redeem MR through airline partners at ~1.5 cpp; a 3% fee wipes out the entire earn at the cash baseline and most of it at the transfer baseline. (Note: MR doesn't transfer to Hyatt — that's Chase UR only.) Run the math on your exit value before you commit.
- Will the issuer code it correctly? Childcare/tuition payments sometimes code as "education" or "government services" (no bonus on most cards), sometimes as "miscellaneous." Don't open a card optimized for "education" expecting bonus earn — there isn't one, on any major card we've reviewed. The right approach is a high earn rate on any spend: 2× MR (Amex Blue Business Plus), 2× miles (Venture X), or 1.5× UR (Freedom Unlimited paired with CSP for transfers to Hyatt).
The Companion Pass play
If your daycare accepts Visa and you're a Southwest household, putting $24K/yr of daycare on a Southwest card gets you ~25% of the way to Companion Pass without any other spend. This is one of the few legitimate manufactured-spend-style plays that costs you nothing (you'd be paying daycare anyway).
When you're paying ACH
For the (still common) case where your provider only takes bank draft, you can't earn points directly. The workaround is to funnel the daycare-equivalent dollar amount into a high-earn-rate card on other categories — i.e., put your groceries, gas, and dining on cards earning 4–6×, and pay daycare via ACH with the cash you would've put on those categories. This isn't free money, but it's the rough conversion most parents end up making.