I'm moving into a new place in a couple of weeks, when signing the lease the agent told me that rent payments would have to be made to an ATM in cash else i could use a automatic payment provider that would charge me $1.5 every time i made a payment. I've never come across this before as usually i can just pay with internet banking. I complained to the agent and was told that this is the way it is else it's an administrative nightmare for them. I know i can use the service for only $1.5 but paying just to pay is just wrong and putting cash in the ATM every fortnight will just be a pain. Is there anything i can do about this? Or just accept these are my choices
Rental Payment
Lbenny082 on 22/02/2018 - 17:22
Comments
This sounds all kinds of sketchy…
This is why i'm posting here, i thought someone might know why they want me to put it in the ATM. The agent when asked said they have to assign someone to match reference numbers to payments when made online and it required someone to sit there all day, honestly i didn't know the difference either
Exactly what details have they given you about the ATM deposit process?
Did they give you a deposit ATM card? A bar-code/QR code to scan? Or just an account number they want you to type into the ATM?
If it's just an account number, then there's nothing stopping you doing the same thing and achieving exactly the same outcome as a funds transfer.
Never heard of this before. Mine have all been through DEFT
administrative nightmare
what the [profanity]???!?!?!1
If it was such a hassle the company would cover the $1.5 themselves.
benny, what does your lease say regarding rent payments?
ALSO, find out the BSB/Acc number (which you should be able to establish as you are putting money into the account @ the ATM) and then just transfer money into the account with your property/name as the reference.
And continue to do so.
sound dodge. Agree with DEFT or bank transfer. Going to an atm every fortnight isn't exactly a nightmare, but that's getting off my ar$e…so no thanks.
There is no difference between putting the money in an atm and a bank transfer except that a bank transfer you can track that it came from you, they would still have the same administrative cross referencing except cash at an atm you don't have the ability to state what the payment is for, plus they legally have to provide a receipt. Sounds kind of dodgy to me. Tell them if they want cash they would need to come and collect and provide a receipt.
Most states have laws ensuring tenants do not incur any fees when paying their rent. I would call the Tenants Union or Fair Trading in your state to ask about this.
I think paid options can be offered as long as there are fee free options available. That way they are not being forced, it is an offer.
But paying at an ATM in cash is a terrible option, especially if it is the only option!
I wouldn't be doing it, and would be trying to find out their trust account details and just pay it into that. What are they going to do, refuse rent? ;)
I agree this sounds like they are trying to minimise the paper trail here. Bank transfers should be easy for them to track as you can, generally, put in a message that goes with the transfer, as in "rent payment from Ms X". Why would they have administrative trouble tracking something like that?
I wouldn’t have signed the contract with those terms.
Ask if you can pay via direct transfer
I'm sure you can, OP said
the agent told me that rent payments would have to be made to an ATM in cash
If putting 'cash' into a ATM, then it will be just entered into a BSB/Acc number. There is no other way.
What the agent is saying, is you can't use your credit card to pay your rent!!
Get the ATM details and setup a direct transfer, as that is CASH.
FWP…. So 75c a week to save you the 'hassle'….. Just pay it and move on.
Depositing in the agent's personal bank account.
my agents ( lj hooker) wanted to make payment through a 3rd party as they no longer accept direct payment by bank transfer this would have meant a charge for every payment made. after doing some research they have to by law allow at least one method of payment that does not impose fees, so now i pay by cheque!
Do not pay into an ATM with the account the agent gives you. Can I ask "the agent told me", is that a property manager working for the Real Estate Agency or the boss/director of a small agency. I would email the director or call up the director saying you have been told to do this and ask if that is the way it is normally done. It sounds like the agent is trying to get you to divert the money into another account as noted by KaTst3R.
What details have they given you for the ATM? Sounds sooo dodgey.
I have the same problem. What did you end up doing at the end?
Is it correct that a bank transfer from my account into the given BSB/Account number would be the same as depositing in an ATM or to a teller?
Thanks.Just chatted online with Comm bank, apparently they can see on their end whether it has been transferred from my account, deposited into an ATM or through a cashier. In my case they are requesting the cashier if I don't want to pay through the 3rd party…
I am confused about the ATM. How is it different from you transferring the money from your account to the same account as the ATM account that you are depositing in to? Or is the ATM in their office and you give them the receipt when you do it?