Fees on either end for paying rent from bank account

[josephj11]

I would like to pay my rent within the USA from my bank account via PayPal. I would not be using a linked credit or debit card

My landlord and I both reside in the USA.

My rent is substantial and I need to know what fees, if any, would be be assessed for the transaction. My landlord is not going to absorb any fees for receiving the payment, so I would have to pay those as well as any fees for sending the payment.

I need the total cost of the transaction.

I have reviewed the posts I could finds on this and the answer is not clear.

[Whac-A-Mole]

for goods and services,send

rent plus 30 cents plus 2.9% of rent

for friend and family,send

rent only

--------------------------

if you send friend and family,you get no buyer protection

if you send goods and services,your landlord gets no seller protection

(but you wont be staying in his apt long!) 

[josephj11]

So, just to be clear: Paypal doesn't care if I use the friends and family option as long as I'm not getting any other goods and services? AFAIK, the landlord doesn't have a bunch of rentals, etc..

Why do you say "(but you wont be staying in his apt long!) ? I have no intention of leaving.

If it would cause any grief to him, I won't do it.

[sharpiemarker · Accepted solution]

If the amount is substantial, it is best that you add your SSN to your account profile to get account Verified status if you are not willing to add a card.

Send the payment as Friends & Family payment on the Send & Request page.  No fee if sending by bank account and no fee for landlord either.  If you use a credit/debit card to pay then there are fees but you're not adding a card so no worries.

To figure out the $ amount what you got to pay with fees included, use the PayPal calculator here: http://www.gregledet.net/ppfcm.html

The current goods and services payment fee rate for the US is 2.9%+30 cents 

[josephj11]

Thanks for the quick reply. I need to be sure I really understand how this works.

I have had my PayPal account for a long time. It has a verified checking account and a verified  credit card associated with it. I just wasn't going to use the credit card if using it added a big fee for nothing. I don't remember if my SSN is part of it or not.

So (as I asked the other poster), is it the case that PayPal doesn't care which way I do it?

When I looked into this a few years ago, there was something that said if someone received more than $500 a month, then they had to have a merchant account with associated recurring fees. Is there anything like that now?

Paying with PayPal would be great if it simplifies things - not if it makes them more complicated or gets anybody upset.

I want to do this for convenience. I do not want to do anything that might come back to bite me.

I need to get this right the first try because I have a very good relationship with my landlord and need to keep it that way.

[Whac-A-Mole]

The reason I said you wont stay in the apt long,is that if you pay him thru goods and services and file dispute of item not received,your landlord has no online viewable tracking showing goods has been delivered to you,so you will win and get the money back,hewould then be angry and throw you out !

As to if there is any problem for your landlord receiving recurring payments month after month of $500 plus,it could be a problem when you use friend and family,since Paypal earns no fee ,it would be suspicious you two are laundering money.

why not do online banking and get his bank account number,it would take a few days,but he faces no risk of having his paypal account restricted.

I paid my utility bills every month with online banking. 

if your landlord loves his Paypal account,he can transfer your fund frm his bank account to his paypal account or get a Paypal business debit card.  

[josephj11]

Thanks for clarifying that for me. The idea of sending a payment bank to bank is interesting too.

[sharpiemarker]

Whatever happened to paying by check.    The landlord's bank may have a service where you just take a picture of the check and it gets deposited.

[josephj11]

That's what I do now. BUT: when a check got lost in the mail, I had to overnight another one for $15 or $20 on top of a $35 stop payment fee! And he's out of state, so everything takes so long to clear. I'm hoping it might be faster via PayPal.

I ended up calling PayPal customer service and they confirmed your answers. If you pay with a linked bank account as "Friends and Family", there are no fees and no restrictions.

The fees are only to cover credit card processing and to provide buyer protection and seller payment protection when actual goods or services are changing hands - and rent really isn't goods or services.

Thanks