More than that, forcing people to pay with a credit or debit card could well be discriminatory. I am shocked that many people choose or are forced to do everything with cash. What happens to the person who can’t get a debit or credit card - refuse to rent? Hmmmmm…..
Paying rent by debit or credit card online
- Thread starter Safire
- Start date
More than that, forcing people to pay with a credit or debit card could well be discriminatory. I am shocked that many people choose or are forced to do everything with cash. What happens to the person who can’t get a debit or credit card - refuse to rent? Hmmmmm…..
isisdave
Recycles dryer sheets
I have the same arrangement. The owner (Megacorp Ownsabuncha Apartments) contracts it out to Conservice, who add the rent, pet fee, garage fee, water and sewer and trash and pest control fees, and collect it. They prefer ACH; they will allow debit for a few $ and credit for something like 3%.
It's been without any problems, but of course anyone can get hacked. I'd use an account with little extra money in it.
It's been without any problems, but of course anyone can get hacked. I'd use an account with little extra money in it.
ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
There must be a computer virus going around, seems like more people must have it, wiping out the letters "ACH" from their browsers!
(see post #7)
-ERD50
First make sure it is a secure site (https, etc). But be glad that you can now get flight/hotel, etc points depending on which credit card you use. Also, many CCs have generous sign up bonuses if you spend a certain amount within the first 3 months - and paying rent this way may result in a few free round trip plane tickets.
I started paying things with ACH although back then they called it ETF about 35 years ago. For everything I could.
In 35 years I have had exactly 2 problems. One was my AT&T card. They changed the due date, but neglected to change the day they pulled their payment. So I got a late charge, and one phone call it was fixed, and my late charge was refunded. Obviously I wasn’t the only one calling.
The second problem I had was my bank, where I worked, made a boo boo. A lot of the ACH transactions were prepared and put on a mag tape which was then run on the appropriate day. So on the 15th my mortgage payment went out. It was a Thursday. So the next Thursday, the guy looked at the calendar and grab the 15th again.
So they ran my mortgage again, and everybody else is ACH at the same time, and there were a bunch of checks that were coming up on rejects of course so those checks were forced paid with no fees, and letters were written to customers, and the bank was very apologetic and promise to pay if there was anything that happened.
So, two things over 35 years just isn’t a big deal to me. And everything was settled actually rather easily and it’s my understanding they don’t do mag tape anymore so when you take the idiot out of the equation it’s probably a lot safer.
I understand why people have issues with letting other people access their bank account. But there are checks and balances involved here. And I think the fact that I have had this since basically it was invented at least where I was with two tiny little problems actually says quite a lot.
In 35 years I have had exactly 2 problems. One was my AT&T card. They changed the due date, but neglected to change the day they pulled their payment. So I got a late charge, and one phone call it was fixed, and my late charge was refunded. Obviously I wasn’t the only one calling.
The second problem I had was my bank, where I worked, made a boo boo. A lot of the ACH transactions were prepared and put on a mag tape which was then run on the appropriate day. So on the 15th my mortgage payment went out. It was a Thursday. So the next Thursday, the guy looked at the calendar and grab the 15th again.
So they ran my mortgage again, and everybody else is ACH at the same time, and there were a bunch of checks that were coming up on rejects of course so those checks were forced paid with no fees, and letters were written to customers, and the bank was very apologetic and promise to pay if there was anything that happened.
So, two things over 35 years just isn’t a big deal to me. And everything was settled actually rather easily and it’s my understanding they don’t do mag tape anymore so when you take the idiot out of the equation it’s probably a lot safer.
I understand why people have issues with letting other people access their bank account. But there are checks and balances involved here. And I think the fact that I have had this since basically it was invented at least where I was with two tiny little problems actually says quite a lot.
Retired Expat
Full time employment: Posting here.
Better still get or use a card that gives cash back or miles. Or some other benefit that suits you. You are going to pay out that money regardless so at least get something for it
rk911
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
your post reminded me. we’ve had auto bill pay
on our checking accout for years...pretty close to 3-decades. we’ve had exactly one problem during that time. ComEd, our electricity provider, failed to ping our bank for the monthly payment for 3 or 4 months and i didn’t notice that during account reconciliation. i got it straightened out with ComEd. we travel in our motorhome for months at a time with no worries about our monthly bills.
Sunset
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I won't rent a home to someone who can't get a debit or credit card, as the only reason they can't is because they are a BAD risk, and I don't need a BAD risk in my rental.
That is not discriminatory and is standard practice.
It is not discriminatory as anyone can get a bank account and debit card, and they also can get a prepaid credit card without any credit history.
I know a fellow who came to the USA, not a citizen, and opened a bank account and got a prepaid credit card even though he had NO credit history in the USA.
Maidensong
Recycles dryer sheets
Online Rent Payment via Apartments.com
As landlords, we offer our tenants the opportunity to pay their rent online via Aparments.com. There is no charge to them if they opt to allow the app to withdraw the funds directly from their checking account. It can be set up as recurring payment or done each month separately at the tenants discretion. It can also be cancelled at any time. If they elect to use a credit or debit card instead of a bank account, Apartments.com charges them a percentage for this service, because the cards charge them to accept those payments. We don't receive any of that.
We have not made this mandatory. Some of our tenants take their cash or checks directly to our bank and deposit the funds in our account using the deposit slips we give them in our monthly newsletter. (Our hometown bank then sends us a copy of the deposit for our records!) Others want to hand deliver the rent to us and receive a receipt for it in person. We try to accommodate our tenants' preferences.
But 60% of our renters have opted to use Apartments.com. It's quicker and easier for them and has the added benefit of improving their credit score when they pay on time each month. We benefit because we can see that a payment is in progress even if it takes a few extra days for the funds to show up in our account. (This lag time is presumably how Apartments.com makes enough money to offer the service for "free.") It's really nice not to have to chase someone for the rent.
OP, you might learn to like the convenience of online payments if you give them a chance.
As landlords, we offer our tenants the opportunity to pay their rent online via Aparments.com. There is no charge to them if they opt to allow the app to withdraw the funds directly from their checking account. It can be set up as recurring payment or done each month separately at the tenants discretion. It can also be cancelled at any time. If they elect to use a credit or debit card instead of a bank account, Apartments.com charges them a percentage for this service, because the cards charge them to accept those payments. We don't receive any of that.
We have not made this mandatory. Some of our tenants take their cash or checks directly to our bank and deposit the funds in our account using the deposit slips we give them in our monthly newsletter. (Our hometown bank then sends us a copy of the deposit for our records!) Others want to hand deliver the rent to us and receive a receipt for it in person. We try to accommodate our tenants' preferences.
But 60% of our renters have opted to use Apartments.com. It's quicker and easier for them and has the added benefit of improving their credit score when they pay on time each month. We benefit because we can see that a payment is in progress even if it takes a few extra days for the funds to show up in our account. (This lag time is presumably how Apartments.com makes enough money to offer the service for "free.") It's really nice not to have to chase someone for the rent.
OP, you might learn to like the convenience of online payments if you give them a chance.
harllee
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
As a landlord I quit allowing tenants to pay by check because I had checks bounce too many times.
OldShooter
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
+1 I don't know which was worse, bouncing checks or the caretakers getting paid cash and keeping it in their apartment. Fortunately none was ever stolen.
I am amazed by all the angst over this 2% rent increase. If I was still a landlord I would probably do it too. (The fee 100% goes to the processor.) But legally I would have to do the rent increase according to the lease terms and that's what I would do. You can't just announce a randomly-timed increase to tenants.
Winemaker
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Exactly. My lease requires me to give a written 60 day notice and the tenant has a 30 day period to accept, and another 30 days to move out. And if they move out, the next renter will most likely be paying much more than the old rent and % increase.
Maidensong
Recycles dryer sheets
Landlords Are Not The Devil...
According to the standard lease (which we pull off our state's website) after the lease term is up (we usually require one year) the tenant can stay on a month-to-month basis at the same rate. If we determine that an increase in rent is required at that time, we have to give our tenants 30 days notice of the change, just as they must give us 30 days notice of their intent to move.
There's nothing random about real estate. It all has to be done in a scrupulously legal way as described in the lease agreement.
I get that leasing from a megacorp may feel impersonal and they aren't considering the wishes of their tenants, but the problems they face (constant increases in taxes and insurance, repairs and maintenance costs, tenants who are habitually late or delinquent) are the same problems we Mom & Pop landlords deal with. It just hits us harder because we have fewer tenants to spread the risk across.
Your landlord isn't out to discriminate against you, OP. (You have to be in one of the protected classes in order to be discriminated against--race, color,
religion, national origin, sex, which includes orientation and gender identification, disability, and familial status.) He's just trying to make the payment and recording of the rent easier for both of you. If you give this method a chance, I think you'll discover that you have a great deal of control over the process.
You can't imagine how dispiriting it is to have to wonder if your tenant is going to pay what they owe. The online payment process takes away the anxiety by showing us that the payments have been set up. We don't have to call with "reminders." We don't have to show up on their doorstep mid-month trying to collect.
Oh! and it is possible to have credit so poor no bank will give you a checking account. During a 4 year stint as a personal banker, I had to tell lots of people with scores under 500 that we were sorry, but we couldn't offer them an account. Then I'd counsel them on how to repair their credit.
But I wouldn't rent to them. There's no need to take that sort of risk with an asset in which we have invested--and continue to invest--a great deal of money.
According to the standard lease (which we pull off our state's website) after the lease term is up (we usually require one year) the tenant can stay on a month-to-month basis at the same rate. If we determine that an increase in rent is required at that time, we have to give our tenants 30 days notice of the change, just as they must give us 30 days notice of their intent to move.
There's nothing random about real estate. It all has to be done in a scrupulously legal way as described in the lease agreement.
I get that leasing from a megacorp may feel impersonal and they aren't considering the wishes of their tenants, but the problems they face (constant increases in taxes and insurance, repairs and maintenance costs, tenants who are habitually late or delinquent) are the same problems we Mom & Pop landlords deal with. It just hits us harder because we have fewer tenants to spread the risk across.
Your landlord isn't out to discriminate against you, OP. (You have to be in one of the protected classes in order to be discriminated against--race, color,
religion, national origin, sex, which includes orientation and gender identification, disability, and familial status.) He's just trying to make the payment and recording of the rent easier for both of you. If you give this method a chance, I think you'll discover that you have a great deal of control over the process.
You can't imagine how dispiriting it is to have to wonder if your tenant is going to pay what they owe. The online payment process takes away the anxiety by showing us that the payments have been set up. We don't have to call with "reminders." We don't have to show up on their doorstep mid-month trying to collect.
Oh! and it is possible to have credit so poor no bank will give you a checking account. During a 4 year stint as a personal banker, I had to tell lots of people with scores under 500 that we were sorry, but we couldn't offer them an account. Then I'd counsel them on how to repair their credit.
But I wouldn't rent to them. There's no need to take that sort of risk with an asset in which we have invested--and continue to invest--a great deal of money.
