[Updated: 6/24/16]
Debit/Credit Rent Payments
Forward Cabin reports that there’s now a service by Radpad with which you can pay your rent via debit or credit card. Radpad is a company that focuses on all aspects of renting property, and they now have a service which takes care of sending your landlord the check. You pay via debit or credit card.
Here are the fees:
- Credit card – 3.49% for Visa, Mastercard, Amex, and Discover.
- Debit card – Free for payments up to $5,000 (RadPad is now free for all debit card transactions)
Of course, my first thought was to use the service to just send the money to a friend, but Forward Cabin reports that there’s a verification process that the landlord goes through, so that probably won’t work. That being said, this may be a good option for those who have legitimate rent payments.
Unfortunately, Radpad no longer processes rent payments for unregistered landlords. Only landlords who were verified by Radpad can be paid. They do encourage you to have the landlord be verified and registered.
Credit Card Option
The credit option doesn’t sound too good because of the fee. On the Radpad site they mention the fact that you’ll earn credit card rewards, such as the 2.2% rewards with the Barclay Arrival, which could cover most of the fee, but the fee is too steep for that.
It still could be an additional option for someone looking to meet a minimum-spend requirement or for someone looking to liquidate Amex gift cards which were purchased through a shopping portal for extra rewards. There are lots of other ways to do that, but for someone looking for an easy way, this could be useful. (Currently, you’re better off paying your rent with Plastiq at just a 2.5% fee.)
One other thing that comes to mind is that if you have a landlord who isn’t totally scrupulous, and you’re a little worried about losing money somehow, it may be smart to pay your rent with a credit card in order to get a certain amount of protection from the credit card issuer.
Debit Card Option
The debit option could be interesting for someone who has a debit card that pays out rewards. To see if this is worthwhile, the main factors we need to calculate is how much your rent is and how much you value the rewards.
[Read: Complete List Of Rewards Earning Debit Cards]
There’s the Suntrust debit card which earns 1 Delta mile per dollar spent, but I was thinking more about the Paypal Business Debit Card (PPBDC) which pays out 1% cash-back for non PIN-based debit charges. Besides the 1% cash-back, it’s also useful to have spend to put on the PPBDC in order to liquidate Paypal Cash cards which were purchased with a credit card. Since you shouldn’t be withdrawing the money to your bank account, it helps to have other ways to liquidate.
On a $1,000 rent payment, for example, you’ll net $10 from PPBDC.
The Radpad site mentions explicitly that Paypal debit cards will work for the debit card option.
Final Thoughts
On a lighter note, I’m absolutely convinced that the owners of Radpad are Flyertalk members (and I’m almost serious about this) – they’re way too familiar with the rewards angle. They have a long explanation (click the “Does it make sense” link) about credit card points and signup bonuses. And, they have a special paragraph about the Paypal debit card, which is very odd. (This would also seem to indicate that card-processing fees on the PPBDC are around the same as a regular debit card, see Who’s the Sucker?)
In any case, if I had a nice size rent payment, I’d definitely consider using the service with my PPBDC, mainly to be able to liquidate Paypal Cash cards.
