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Old 07-28-2015, 08:54 PM
 
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Tenant uses bill pay for rent
Tenant uses online bill pay banking to pay the rent, is there any problem with this for landlord point of view. Is there possibility that the payment could bounce back later if there is no enough balance in tenant's account, like what is happening if tenant pays with personal check.
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Old 07-28-2015, 09:16 PM
 
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Not sure how you even know they are using bill pay or not(?) You get a physical check either way. One comes directly from the bank and the other is handed/mailed to you.

It is no different than getting a handwritten check other than with bill pay the funds are definitely in the bank once the check is cut/released or it would not be released, where as with a handwritten check, funds may not be in the bank at the time they write the check. But either handwritten or bill pay the check can still bounce if funds are not in their bank when the check is actually cashed/deposited by you.
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Old 07-28-2015, 09:26 PM
 
Location: southwest TN
8,568 posts, read 18,035,440 times
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How responsible of the tenant to use bill pay - there's no "forgetting to write the check", "wrote it but it didn't get mailed", and a myriad of other things. It's set up as a monthly payment and the bank automatically does it all.

Imagine how convenient for you if you gave the tenant info to have the check go directly to your bank.
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Old 07-28-2015, 09:36 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NY Annie View Post
How responsible of the tenant to use bill pay - there's no "forgetting to write the check", "wrote it but it didn't get mailed", and a myriad of other things. It's set up as a monthly payment and the bank automatically does it all.

Imagine how convenient for you if you gave the tenant info to have the check go directly to your bank.
Partially true. I use bill pay but I don't set up as 'automatic' bill pay. I just cut the check from my bank account when I am ready instead of setting it up as automatic. And also, with bill pay, most places will still get a physical check instead of the payment going directly to the recipient's bank. Only very large companies are, and can be, set up to go directly to their bank, like some utility companies, etc. Otherwise, how would your bank know what the recipient's bank is? You are cutting the check/payment to the recipient, not their bank. The recipient would have to have some kind of automatic routing set up to their bank for that to happen
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Old 07-29-2015, 06:49 AM
 
Location: Phoenix, AZ area
3,365 posts, read 5,187,588 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Corn-fused View Post
Not sure how you even know they are using bill pay or not(?) You get a physical check either way. One comes directly from the bank and the other is handed/mailed to you.

It is no different than getting a handwritten check other than with bill pay the funds are definitely in the bank once the check is cut/released or it would not be released, where as with a handwritten check, funds may not be in the bank at the time they write the check. But either handwritten or bill pay the check can still bounce if funds are not in their bank when the check is actually cashed/deposited by you.
In my experience a bill pay check is not able to bounce and in most cases once the funds are withdrawn from the sender's bank account the check can't even be cancelled. The way it works is the bank will remove the funds from the account and send a check through their system with their account to the payee, essentially transferring money from your account to theirs. Because of the process used it is a little safer for the sender because the check sent out doesn't even have the senders account number on it.

Bill pay is the best way to take payments IMO because the funds are almost as good as certified and IF you have issues with the check being deposited, very rare, your first call would be to the bank not the tenant, contact information will be on the check for that too.
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Old 07-29-2015, 07:30 AM
 
3,461 posts, read 4,657,119 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AZ Manager View Post
In my experience a bill pay check is not able to bounce and in most cases once the funds are withdrawn from the sender's bank account the check can't even be cancelled. The way it works is the bank will remove the funds from the account and send a check through their system with their account to the payee, essentially transferring money from your account to theirs. Because of the process used it is a little safer for the sender because the check sent out doesn't even have the senders account number on it.

Bill pay is the best way to take payments IMO because the funds are almost as good as certified and IF you have issues with the check being deposited, very rare, your first call would be to the bank not the tenant, contact information will be on the check for that too.
I am sure you are probably correct in that part (in bold). That makes sense now that I think about it (duh) because as soon as the check is released they deduct the amount from my account.

However, my understanding, and what I was told by my bank, that when I use bill pay for my LL, they get a physical check and also others I have done bill pay for get a physical check. The bank has no idea what the recipient's bank account is so they are not able to transfer directly to recipient's bank account. This is how the bank explained it to me. However, with my utility bill, it does go directly into their bank. That is why I assumed that larger (local perhaps?) companies must have a way of getting the funds to go directly into their account instead of receiving a paper check.

In my bank account when I set up recipients for bill pay it only allows a field for who the recipient is and their address and also a reference area for an account # (not bank account #), if applicable. There is no area that I can designate the recipient's bank account so how would they know that info to transfer the money directly into payee's bank account (unless it was a larger, local company that can set it up that way)?

Perhaps other banks allow bill pay to be done differently where you can designate a payee's bank account to have it directly transferred but my bank does not.
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Old 07-29-2015, 07:53 AM
 
Location: Phoenix, AZ area
3,365 posts, read 5,187,588 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AZ Manager View Post
In my experience a bill pay check is not able to bounce and in most cases once the funds are withdrawn from the sender's bank account the check can't even be cancelled. The way it works is the bank will remove the funds from the account and send a check through their system with their account to the payee, essentially transferring money from your account to theirs. Because of the process used it is a little safer for the sender because the check sent out doesn't even have the senders account number on it.

Bill pay is the best way to take payments IMO because the funds are almost as good as certified and IF you have issues with the check being deposited, very rare, your first call would be to the bank not the tenant, contact information will be on the check for that too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Corn-fused View Post
I am sure you are probably correct in that part (in bold). That makes sense now that I think about it (duh) because as soon as the check is released they deduct the amount from my account.

However, my understanding, and what I was told by my bank, that when I use bill pay for my LL, they get a physical check and also others I have done bill pay for get a physical check. The bank has no idea what the recipient's bank account is so they are not able to transfer directly to recipient's bank account. This is how the bank explained it to me. However, with my utility bill, it does go directly into their bank. That is why I assumed that larger (local perhaps?) companies must have a way of getting the funds to go directly into their account instead of receiving a paper check.

In my bank account when I set up recipients for bill pay it only allows a field for who the recipient is and their address and also a reference area for an account # (not bank account #), if applicable. There is no area that I can designate the recipient's bank account so how would they know that info to transfer the money directly into payee's bank account (unless it was a larger, local company that can set it up that way)?

Perhaps other banks allow bill pay to be done differently where you can designate a payee's bank account to have it directly transferred but my bank does not.
I meant with the banks account, your bank, not the payee's account. I think I confused you a little with that and I should have been more clear.
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Old 07-29-2015, 07:56 AM
 
Location: Seymour, CT
3,639 posts, read 3,315,285 times
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It's an excellent way to pay. The check sent out is essentially a "bankers" check and is immune to bounces. If the payment is sent out and the account holder has insufficient funds, you still get paid and they get some mighty hefty fees.

It's superbly easy to send out bill pay checks and can be set automated.

I personally setup a "rent only" account and linked auto pay to my landlords. So All I need to do is throw money in the account and the banks do the rest.
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Old 07-29-2015, 08:15 AM
 
Location: 89052 & 75206
8,097 posts, read 8,237,361 times
Reputation: 19885
I don't accept rental payments via check being sent directly to me; only money orders.

I have tenants who pay me via Paypal's function "send money to a friend" and I immediately have the money sent to my bank account. It takes a few days but cannot be reversed once the money is deposited in my account. There is no fees on either send or receiver for the transaction.

I have other tenants who bank at Wells Fargo, and each rental property has its own bank account at Wells. They use the WF "SurePay" transaction to send money to the accounts and it is also not reversible.

The balance of my tenants use the pre-printed deposit slips I provide and they take their rent directly to Wells and pay their rent there. The check is processed within 24 hours and I have not had a check bounce yet.
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Old 07-29-2015, 08:37 AM
 
3,461 posts, read 4,657,119 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AZ Manager View Post
I meant with the banks account, your bank, not the payee's account. I think I confused you a little with that and I should have been more clear.
This was the part I was questioning:

"The way it works is the bank will remove the funds from the account and send a check through their system with their account to the payee, essentially transferring money from your account to theirs."
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