Use Online Banking to make rent payments hassle free
Paying rent used to mean depositing your paycheck, sitting down to write out a check, driving it to the management office, and leaving it with the receptionist or in a drop box.
In other words, a major hassle.
I'm glad to tell you, those days are gone. In the age of the internet, instant transactions and internet appliances, paying your rent- and all your bills for that matter- is simply a matter of the click of a mouse. You see, a number of things happened that brought on the death of the old fashioned drop box.
First, management companies starting seeing theft from drop boxes, and in some cases, break-ins targeting dropped rent checks. Delayed payments, identity theft, lost rents, and other problems followed. At the same time, postal rates continued to rise and national banks started offering free or low cost pay-online features for their customers. Today, a huge number of banks and credit unions offer free online banking as a standard service, and property management companies have used this as a means to transact timely, secure and effecient payment from their tenants, while discontinuing troublesome drop boxes.
So you now have several great choices for making your rent payment:
Online payment
Almost all national banks and credit unions now offer this service to their customers. Most often called "bill pay" or "pay online" services, these allow you to set up your bill recipients- utilities, loan servicing, or rental management offices, and provide a recurring or monthly-entered payment to them, which the bank deducts from your account and sends on your behalf.
These are a great option because it saves you postage, finding a post box, and time consuming check writing and envelope addressing.
Here are a couple of tips that will make online banking a breeze:
-Be aware of the send date vs. delivery date. Online bill payment services often let you choose a "withdrawal date"- the date they deduct the funds from your account- and "send date", which is the day they either put the payment in the mail, or estimate that it will arrive based on their mailing schedule. Without providing enough time, some tenants get hit with late fees because they set up the payment to occur too close to the rental due date, and the bank doesn't have enough time to schedule, print, and send your payment before it's due. Be sure to set up the payment online with enough time to get to the landlord by the due date.
-Use the proper account ID for the receiving party. Online services almost always allow you to enter an "account #" associated with each payment. Although you may not have one of these for your rent payments, be sure to ask the landlord or use your rental address. Each month, they receive a stack of checks, and if yours doesn't have any way to identify it, they won't be able to properly credit it to your account.
-Let your landlord know you've set up online payments. The first time you use online payment, call and let your landlord know you've set up payment through your bank, and the name of the bank. This just helps them identify and verify the payment the first time it comes from the new payment source.
Once you try it, I know you'll begin to love the convenience and security of online banking.
Credit/Debit and online check payments
Some property management companies are starting to offer these types of payment- which are very similar to other online shopping transactions. In essence, they allow you to pay directly at the managers web page with a credit or debit card, or an electronic check (you provide the bank and account # and they draft the funds directly).
Be aware, however, that these can sometimes be associated with a hefty fee, often $10.00 or more. That's because the credit card companies charge merchants a percentage of each transaction to process the payment. For a $12.00 book at Amazon, it may be 40 cents; but for a $1595.00 rent payment, it could be $30.00 or more. Businesses who offer this payment service are forced to pass all or a big chunck of this on to the tenant as a convenience fee.
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US Mail
Some tenants have long relied on sending rent payments in the mail just as they do all of their other bills. And if you don't mind pulling out the checkbook and dealing with rising postal rates, this continues to be a relatively easy and low cost means of paying your rent. Just be sure to get the proper mailing address from your landlord, and allow up to 3 business days for local mail delivery on or before the due date. Most landlords require the payment be postmarked no later than the due date and received within the allowed grace period to avoid incurring late fees.
So, if you haven't yet tried to ditch the old-school drop-box hassle, try one of these payment methods. Always check with your landlord first to see what payment types they offer and any guidelines they may have. From there, you'll be amazed how easy paying rent can be!