Every year or so I get a great idea: Wouldn’t it be nice if my tenants could pay rent electronically? Then I wouldn’t have to go to the bank, tenants wouldn’t have to remember to write a check, I’d lose fewer days to the float, the laborers at the clearinghouse would get fewer papercuts, and everyone would win.
Every time I research this, the problem seems further from being solved. PayPal looked promising in their early days, but their fees keep rising. Even if a tenant pays me via a direct bank transfer, PayPal wants 3% plus a couple bucks (that means I’d be paying them about $75/month.)
Today I’ve discovered that there are quite a few electronic rent-paying services seeking to solve my problem. There are a couple of wrinkles, though. The transaction fees are outrageous (dollars per transaction rather than pennies or fractions of pennies), and they want several hundred dollars in ‘set-up fees.’
Really, I do not have a Rent problem, I have a Money problem. As does every single other American who wants to give money to someone else without counting pennies. I guarantee that every day of the year some bank CEO looks at a balance sheet that includes a six-figure expense for clearing checks, counting coins, and straightening bills. And yet, they expect me to pay a few grand a year to lighten their burden. What gives?
2% + $0.20 per transaction from Google Checkout… I think you could set up a website for tenants and they could just use it?
I was thinking maybe your bank could get you set up with a credit card machine, but that sounds like an even deeper hole to dig.
Thanks for the suggestion — I just signed up for Google Checkout in order to process rents while I’m out of town.
Still, this seems like a bad idea, long-term. It’ll cost me around $700/year to use, and having my tenants pay rent with a credit card seems like a bad idea somehow.