Anyone know why landlords don't permit rent on a credit card?

[LuvOrlando]

Anyone know why landlords don't permit rent on a credit card? We have rented a few places including kids college places and a total of zero allowed rent to be charged which strikes me as peculiar. Its not a great idea overall but if it is this or out on the street it would seem helpful to people who hit a bump in the road. Plus wouldn't it have prevented all the losses to property owners during quarantine if they had a card on file as backup?

I would think a card would exist that would split some bit of profit with landlords & maybe a partnership with a Homegoods or some such... odd the market for it is so quiet when housing seems the biggest concern... just wondering.

 

[Skippy918]

I wonder if credit card processing fees have something to do with it. Plus there would need to be a compliant way to store CC info for autopay purposes. Some kind of online payment portal would need to be created.
I wonder if landlords accept Venmo these days.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Possibly because of the percentage cost the c/c company takes before the vendor(landlord or property management co) receive the funds.

 

[gottalovepluto]

They would lose at least 3% of their rent to processing your cc payment. The game of rentals and profits is razer thin, you don't give up 3% (unless you have a large portfolio and then maybe you pay a lower amount to contract for a system to give customers the option to pay the processing charges themselves, Fwiw anyone who lets you pay rent with a cc for free has increased their rent by the processing fees to cover it).

It would not have prevented any rent loses to property owners over covid because they can't charge your credit card without your permission. Rent is not a subscription service. Also, state governments literally passed laws that people didn't have to pay rent.

The CC that tried to make of go this is called BILT and the issuer, Wells Fargo, is losing millions upon millions with the only hope of stemming the bleeding being if they are able to offload it to some other issuer.

 

[QueenIsabella]

My DD21 is in an apartment, and she pays by credit card. It IS a college-adjacent apartment--both literally and figuratively, in that they treat the renters like students (she moved in 8/16, between 2 and 5pm, for example--when I was in a regular rental in college, we moved in whenever, June 1 or later).

 

[jmarkdavison]

They don’t want to pay the fees, and mortgage companies (which landlords pay) don’t accept credit cards either. I wish everyone accepted credit cards! Some places take PayPal which charges a fee if you use a CC, but sometimes quarterly cash back cards give you 5% on specific categories, one of which is PayPal.

 

[kdonnel]

There is a credit card for that.

https://www.biltrewards.com/card

It is rumored that Wells Fargo is losing $10 million a month. Seems like lots of people who have the card only use it to pay their rent and don't use it otherwise.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Hmmmm it would appear BILT is not doing such a great job in advertising, it also seems super complicated to use with a non participating complex. Just give me checks to use for the year and I'm good, wouldn't that be easiest?

 

[gottalovepluto]

Hmmmm it would appear BILT is not doing such a great job in advertising, it also seems super complicated to use with a non participating complex. Just give me checks to use for the year and I'm good, wouldn't that be easiest?

Why? So WF can lose millions more because people don’t carry balances of rent?

Listen, rent is not ownership. You aren’t buying clothes, food, experiences for your memories. You’re renting someone else’s property for the moment. You have no investment in it, it is not in your future. It would be idiotic to carry a rent payment at whatever outrageous APR your credit card is charging for it. Even as bridge financing to get to next month it’s too expensive. Better to be late for a month, or to be kicked out months down the road (it’s a long process to kick someone out of residential property). Maybe the landlord pursues for you for the rent, maybe they don’t. Even if they do and you have to pay you aren’t going to end up paying any 30% APR on it.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Why? So WF can lose millions more because people don’t carry balances of rent?

Listen, rent is not ownership. You aren’t buying clothes, food, experiences for your memories. You’re renting someone else’s property for the moment. You have no investment in it, it is not in your future. It would be idiotic to carry a rent payment at whatever outrageous APR your credit card is charging for it. Even as bridge financing to get to next month it’s too expensive. Better to be late for a month, or to be kicked out months down the road (it’s a long process to kick someone out of residential property). Maybe the landlord pursues for you for the rent, maybe they don’t. Even if they do and you have to pay you aren’t going to end up paying any 30% APR on it.

But what about a family being in between jobs and waiting for a new job lagging paycheck or unemployment to show up? My family lost their home when I was little, I can see reasons.

 

[jmarkdavison]

Why? So WF can lose millions more because people don’t carry balances of rent?

Listen, rent is not ownership. You aren’t buying clothes, food, experiences for your memories. You’re renting someone else’s property for the moment. You have no investment in it, it is not in your future. It would be idiotic to carry a rent payment at whatever outrageous APR your credit card is charging for it. Even as bridge financing to get to next month it’s too expensive. Better to be late for a month, or to be kicked out months down the road (it’s a long process to kick someone out of residential property). Maybe the landlord pursues for you for the rent, maybe they don’t. Even if they do and you have to pay you aren’t going to end up paying any 30% APR on it.

I assume this question was for someone who pays it off every month and just wants to earn points/miles or cash back. I agree it would be awful to carry a balance paying rent, it’s bad to carry a credit card balance for any reason.

 

[tvguy]

Like others have said, the landlord isn't willing to pay the fees for tenants who choose to pay by credit card. I also expect it could get complicated if there were a dispute and a tenant tried to have a rental charge reversed and landlords just don't want to get involved in that. Many areas of strict laws on what a landlord can, and can't do and those laws may be different than credit card rules. Whose rules take priority?
And in many areas of the nation, there is a shortage of rental property, so to be blunt, they don't have to take credit cards because they can fill their rentals without taking credit cards.

 

[MillauFr]

I also expect it could get complicated if there were a dispute and a tenant tried to have a rental charge reversed and landlords just don't want to get involved in that.

This is the correct answer. How would they deal with renters constantly requesting charge backs?

 

[lanejudy]

But what about a family being in between jobs and waiting for a new job lagging paycheck or unemployment to show up? My family lost their home when I was little, I can see reasons.

There are programs and even less-formal avenues to help such situations.

 

[gottalovepluto]

But what about a family being in between jobs and waiting for a new job lagging paycheck or unemployment to show up? My family lost their home when I was little, I can see reasons.

I think most consumers in those situations can see how this will make it even worse. You’re gonna get kicked out a couple months later except you’ll be paying 30% APR for heaven knows how long now on those couple rent payments you made. It simply doesn’t make sense and I rather think that’s why the card didn’t take off beyond the points and miles community.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Traditionally I think most of it is just about ensuring payment is actually received. You typically can't pay your mortgage either with a CC. Your Federal student loans also don't take CCs, etc. Yes there is that card for rent that is newer-ish.

Sure processing fees are part of it but my impression was that it was mostly tied to ensuring payment is actually received. Yes you can have bounced checks and the like but it's a lot easier to just charge to a card and spread out the payments.

Personally we'd like to be able to get CC rewards with the mortgage payment (like you can now with rent with the new card) but we do pay it off each month.

 

[china mom]

Landlord here. Two reasons. Processing fees and chargebacks.

My margins are already beyond slim (in fact, thanks to a s couple of bad tenants in a row, I have lost money each year for the last several years). If I accepted cards, I would have to charge the tenant the credit card processing fee and that would offset any credit card perks they were hoping to build.

And if they are using the credit card as a short term loan, I can almost guarantee they will not finish out their lease. Tenant turnovers and evictions are very expensive so I want a tenant who is able to make the monthly rent without using a credit card to pay. Plus, my late fee is only 5% but their interest payment is likely 25% or higher so they are better off just paying the late fee.

Chargebacks would likely be used by poor tenants as a way to delay eviction and bail on the last few months rent.

 

[lovesmurfs]

DD's last leasing company allowed CC payments, but also charged 3% more than a bank debit.

 

[ak517]

I can pay our HOA by CC but I have to pay the fee (~3% or $30 per transaction). When I rented from a major landlord in NYC we could also pay by CC but again, I'd have to cover the fee. There are certain cash back cards where the cash back will offset the fee (not BILT), but the few bucks a month wasn't worth it to me to try to figure it out. If I was trying to hit a minimum spend for a new CC reward and I had no other way to reach it, the $30 fee might be worth it to me.

We rented previous properties and never thought beyond accepting payment by Zelle. To a previous poster's point, we were already "losing money" on our rentals due to maintenance and repairs, so the 3% fee would have been another blow.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I would think it’s the fees.

The last time I rented my complex allowed credit card payments but we had to cover the fees and it was a crazy amount. Way more than 3%. It was a big jump when I looked into it.