Tenant Furious After Apartment Complex Charges A 'Convenience' Fee To Pay Rent
voronaman | Shutterstock An apartment tenant took to Reddit to share the bizarre, unexplained fee that was added onto their monthly rent payment, and sparked a conversation about the ethics behind charging so-called convenience fees.
On the website’s aptly named “Mildly Infuriating” forum, they shared a screenshot of their most recent electronic rent payment. A convenience fee had indeed been added to the transaction, but it may not have been that big of a deal if it had been just a few dollars. Instead, this tenant was now paying an additional $40 just to pay their rent.
The tenant explained that their apartment complex was using a new system for rent payments, which apparently came with a new set of rules.
“My apartment is now charging a convenience fee to pay my rent,” they said. “They just updated the system. The previous system allowed ACH payment, but the new system does not. So infuriating.”
Reddit
To make matters even worse, there really is no way for the renter to get around paying some kind of extra fee for their rent, even if they change their method of payment. “I think I can pay by check but now I have to get a checkbook or get cashier’s checks, which also have a fee,” they added.
The screenshot proved that the tenant had already been charged $1,280 for rent before the fee was added, which isn’t cheap itself. But the convenience fee added an additional $39.68 to their bill, which is pretty different from the few dollars that are occasionally added to a credit card transaction for the sake of “convenience.”
People recognized just how crazy this charge was, and they did what they could to help.
One commenter suggested that the tenant look into an easy method to get a check from their bank. “Most banks (like 99%) will send a check on your behalf for free if you set up ‘bill pay’ or ‘auto pay’ through the bank’s app or website, no checkbook required,” they said.
Someone else said the renter should accept the inconvenience of writing a check for the bill because it would also inconvenience the apartment complex. “Only write them checks from now on,” they advised. “Say that it is inconvenient. And refuse to pay that fee because checks are so inconvenient!”
Others shared that they found themselves in similar situations, but the fees they were forced to pay were much smaller, not exceeding $3. Some were confused because they thought that it actually wasn’t legal to not offer some way to pay without a fee. The overall consensus was that it was an awful move.
It looks like this tenant paid their rent with a credit card, which could explain why there was a convenience fee.
According to Experian, convenience fees are pretty common for “specific payment methods” like credit cards because businesses are actually charged a merchant fee when accepting a payment from a credit card. They even listed paying rent as a “common situation where you may be charged a credit card convenience fee.”
Anna Tarazevich | Pexels
Additionally, Investopedia confirmed that convenience fees like this are completely legal in most states. And, although we’re used to seeing smaller convenience fees, this may be the standard. Convenience fees usually make up 2% to 3% of the total charge, in which case this insanely high fee may actually be correct.
Luckily, it seems like this renter found a solution to their problem. In an update, they said, “The new service is on the Loft app. A number of people let me know that if you select the ‘e-check’ option, you can pay rent without a ‘convenience’ fee … It seems to be working so far.”
That doesn’t really make this kind of thing any fairer, though. It’s unfortunate if a business like the apartment complex has to pay a merchant fee when someone uses a credit card, but it doesn’t make sense to surprise people with frustrating hidden fees.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
