Need help...Question about paying for rental.

[April614]

I've been looking at renting a Townhouse from an owner. Those of you experienced with this.....is it normal procedure for the owner to want your address, name, and credit card info. to forward to their rental company instead of letting the company handle it?? Also on the rental agreement to send to the owner it ask for the same info plus SS#. I'm just worried about this due to the problem of ID theft. I hate not to trust people but these days it's hard to be trusting.

 

[Mainebound]

I've been looking at renting a Townhouse from an owner. Those of you experienced with this.....is it normal procedure for the owner to want your address, name, and credit card info. to forward to their rental company instead of letting the company handle it?? Also on the rental agreement to send to the owner it ask for the same info plus SS#. I'm just worried about this due to the problem of ID theft. I hate not to trust people but these days it's hard to be trusting.

Is this for the booking deposit, the security deposit, or the full payment?

I don't know what's "normal" but here is our recent experience with security deposits:

Our experience was that we had to stop at the management company office to pick up the key to the villa, and at that time we let them swipe our credit card for $500 for a security deposit, which was refunded promptly when we checked out.

In another case, no credit card was involved. We just wrote a check for $300 as a security deposit, to be refunded after checkout.

For booking and payment we have had to pay with a check, although it would have been nice to be able to use a credit card.

 

[April614]

Your experience sounds more like what I would expect. I think I'm going to look into a few others I have quotes from. I'm not comfortable with giving so much information. It just doesn't sound right to me. I would rather pay more than get into a mess.

 

[kilee]

The only thing that red flags me is the need for the ss#. Nothing else about that is really out of the norm.

 

[April614]

Thanks for the help......I called the management company on the rental agreement. Found out that some owners do handle it that way, and I don't have to give a SS# Whew!! Alright I feel better, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to do something dumb. hahahaha

 

[mbb]

Thanks for the help......I called the management company on the rental agreement. Found out that some owners do handle it that way, and I don't have to give a SS# Whew!! Alright I feel better, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to do something dumb. hahahaha

Good work

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