Ray White Payment Gateway fee -- anyone use this system?
- Thread starter shuggy
- Start date
In NSW the agency must provide one free method of paying rent to the tenant. Ray White, thank you.
i may be wrong (it has never happened before but there is a first time for everything 
) but i am pretty sure a few years back in victoria someone challenged having to pay a fee to pay their rent and in short the ruling was that agents had to offer tenants at least 1 free form of paying their rent and that agents/landlords were not allowed to pass on those fees to the tenant (at least directly anyway).
We use Macquarie Bank and the DEFT system, tenants can pay by their cheque or savings account or pay by BPAY and our agency has to wear the bank fees associated with it, they can also pay by credit card but this incurs a 1.5% surcharge which is charged to the tenant at the time they make the payment, this is ok due to the fact that there are numerous other free options to pay. And of course there is also cheques and cash that can be paid in at the office - although we tell tenants we don't accept cash due to the security risk of keeping cash onsite and then transporting it to the bank - however it is illegal to refuse any legal tender and if a tenant was in arrears and the matter went to VCAT and they said they tried to pay cash and it wasn't accepted i can't imagine the tribunal member would be too pleased with the agent.
In this day and age it is ridiculous to charge tenants to pay their rent, and while the agency is probably just trying to recoup the fees charged by the bank (from what they have listed that is pretty consistent with what we are charged) and it is unlikely to produce too much profit for them, it is still a disgrace... why set out to agrevate tenants off before they even sign up? It is hard enough to lease properties in the first instance without putting more obstacles in the way!! Although the PM from Ray White who made the post sounds a little too arrogant to think of that perspective....
) but i am pretty sure a few years back in victoria someone challenged having to pay a fee to pay their rent and in short the ruling was that agents had to offer tenants at least 1 free form of paying their rent and that agents/landlords were not allowed to pass on those fees to the tenant (at least directly anyway).We use Macquarie Bank and the DEFT system, tenants can pay by their cheque or savings account or pay by BPAY and our agency has to wear the bank fees associated with it, they can also pay by credit card but this incurs a 1.5% surcharge which is charged to the tenant at the time they make the payment, this is ok due to the fact that there are numerous other free options to pay. And of course there is also cheques and cash that can be paid in at the office - although we tell tenants we don't accept cash due to the security risk of keeping cash onsite and then transporting it to the bank - however it is illegal to refuse any legal tender and if a tenant was in arrears and the matter went to VCAT and they said they tried to pay cash and it wasn't accepted i can't imagine the tribunal member would be too pleased with the agent.
In this day and age it is ridiculous to charge tenants to pay their rent, and while the agency is probably just trying to recoup the fees charged by the bank (from what they have listed that is pretty consistent with what we are charged) and it is unlikely to produce too much profit for them, it is still a disgrace... why set out to agrevate tenants off before they even sign up? It is hard enough to lease properties in the first instance without putting more obstacles in the way!! Although the PM from Ray White who made the post sounds a little too arrogant to think of that perspective....
In its simplest form it’s only a clever little system that allows trust accounting to be completed quicker. If you had over a thousand people depositing money into your trust account it would take a month of Sunday’s to input that data from the bank account transfer information, assuming the tenants are even using the right reference codes.
Trust me, working out who “2-weeks rental payment”” is from isn’t an exciting process.
Advantage card/Payment Gateway System automatically inputs the data and reconciles the rental payments and saves you hours.
Should tenants have to pay for this.. No. It’s a convenience for the agency.
Like other states, Queensland needs to offer the tenants I believe 3? Payment methods, the “3” methods gets abused – Money order, bank cheque and Advantage card/Payment Gateway.
Having seen how much time the system can save is great, just not at the expense of the tenant. It isn’t the tenant’s problem at all.
Dany - perhaps not the smartest way to put your name for Ray White, I think you've done yourself a disservice off the mark.
Anyway, I'm not here to pick on others arrogance.
Payment gateway sounds like a crock - I always beleive the easier you make something, the more likely someone is to do what you want them to do.
We did not offer direct debit, as it's a PIA to figure who paid what if the reference numbers are incorrect, instead we used Bpay however all charges involved with the set up were paid by us the company not the landlords or tenants.
Anyway, I'm not here to pick on others arrogance.
Payment gateway sounds like a crock - I always beleive the easier you make something, the more likely someone is to do what you want them to do.
We did not offer direct debit, as it's a PIA to figure who paid what if the reference numbers are incorrect, instead we used Bpay however all charges involved with the set up were paid by us the company not the landlords or tenants.
Lil Skater ... PIA, is that Jan Sommers Property Investment Analysis program ?
If I can add a couple of thoughts/comments for consideration. A lot has changed over the years with property management. Most agencies now do not accept cash payments for a number of reasons. Some being, their insurance premiums have gone through the roof, the risk for staff doing daily cash deposits has gone through the roof etc, so most have gone to a cashless office. Most banks used to offer "agent deposits" for free. This allowed tenants to deposit at any branch of the agents bank, and the deposit with correct reference would appear on the statement. The banks then upped their charge for this, some to as much as $5 per deposit. When you had shared tenancies the weekly cost was quite high. They also stopped preprinting deposit slips, so often the reference would be "rent" and it was a PIA, to track down the depositor. So that as an option was no longer viable.
Then along came a few outside technology companies, who had developed software that they had worked with the banks with, to be able to collect payments, and send to the agent as an electronic file, that would merge with the management software, and everything was easy to reconcile. For the networks, they could even allow the software to be network branded, ie "Ray White Rent Payment" program. Sadly, being an outsourced program, it was quite expensive. You had to pay the licence fee, then a volume transaction fee, and well as the banks fee. I think we all know that the banks change for electronic transfers. All in all the cost seemed quite high, even though it had a lot of benefits. The software company then gave agents the idea, to share the cost with the tenant. Their thinking was, that being able to pay their rent, without having to track down to the office or go to the agents bank, would be a convenience that would be worth a small fee. Well in some people’s eyes it was, and in others it was not. I believe I can say with certainty, (I don’t know all systems) this fee, does not go to the agent, it goes to the software provider who collects the rent, does the processing, and then sends it to the agent. This fee, is over and above the fee that the agent pays for the licence to the software, and other volume fee.
That said, I do believe that all agents do have to have at least one “no cost” method of payment, and as with all things, all they need to be able to do, is explain to the tenant what the various options, costs/vs benefits etc are. Just usual good communication, and t people will except that things do change, and some of these changes do incur costs.
Hope that helps some what.
Do we pay their PM fees?
It comes under PM fees which are tax deduction.I'm not sure why we should have to pay to make a payment.
Do we pay their PM fees?
I'm not sure why we should have to pay to make a payment.
It's not a PM fee, it's a bank fee. Just like you pay when you book a flight or pay your phone bill.
I don't think you dhould have to pay to make a payment either, but it makes even less sense for the owner to pay for YOU to make YOUR payment.
And easy on the eyerolling, you'll give yourself a headache...
RW has invested in a system that has increased efficiency and reduced their operating costs. Then they charge tenants to use a system that benefits only RW, not the tenant.
And now you're saying the landlord, who supposedly should benefit from the increased efficiency and lower running costs (and hence hopefully some of the operational savings are passed along to sweeten the management deals), should cough up the money instead?
I don't see the logic here.
How would the owner on charge it to the etnant ? There is nothing in the lease that says the owner can charge the etnant anything more than the rnet.
Ray white simply shouldnt;' be charging this as ar as I can work out... jsut like Coles doesn't charge yoiu a fee to pay for your your groceries etc.
It really does seem the "professionals" and "industry experts" and "standards" in many many thing relating to residentail real estate investment are very amateur.
To me it doesn't make any less sense.
It's a rort of a fee that no one should get charged and the only reasons the tenant would get charged is if the landlord chosses these clowns instead of any other PM in the country.
Someone compalin to consumer affairs already....
I would understand it to mean it places a slight upward pressure in the big picture. If it costs me more to hold my property, then it makes me re-look at the figures needed to make the investment viable.
Not that $1.65 pcm makes a large difference... but if it starts going $1 here, $1.50 there, another $1.65 there... it adds up.
+1
I notice the OP's location just says 'East'. If he happens to be in Queensland I'm pretty sure there has to be at least one fee free option offered to tenants. I could be wrong, but I seem to remember reading that somewhere. Might be worth checking out the legality of those added fees before offering to pay them for the tenant.
Oops, I see that's been said already (sorry, missed a whole page).
Oops, I see that's been said already (sorry, missed a whole page).
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Next time the rent came up for review, which is six months at most (in SA, anyway), the extra fee would be added to the rent.
It's not rocket science, Jaycee.
I agree. But 'shouldn't' doesn't mean a jot. A lot of people and organisations do things they 'shouldn't ' do.
If they DO charge a fee, why should the owner wear it? The owner already pays $5.50 per month for 'post & sundries', even though the rent statements are emailed.
Coles doesn't charge you a SEPARATE fee to pay your groceries, but you can be sure it is covered in their markups. They don't just wear it.
