Free Rent Payments Using a Debit Card

Free Rent?

A week or so ago, I wrote on Radpad – a service that let’s you use a debit card or credit card to pay rent payments to your landlord.

When I found the service, they charged a $4.95 transaction fee for debit card payments, which is a great deal considering the amount of points you can earn off of it, and because it is for transactions of up to $5,000 (If you need to process $10,000 the fee increased to $10).

You’ll notice I’m using the past tense here – and, for good reason. Radpad sent out emails to customers, including myself, noting a great new change of there being NO processing fee for debit transactions. The credit card processing fee still remains at 2.99%, which, in either case is a terrible swipe rate if you’re trying to accumulate miles on your credit card.

 

As I’ve noted in my previous post, prior to making a large payment with your debit card, test it first. Some debit cards, especially from smaller, “home-town” banks, will charge the credit card fee. I’ve had this happen with several services, and would suspect the same would happen here with Radpad.

Of course, when you use a debit card, you’ll want to use a debit card that accumulates points or miles based on how much you spend, or a card that you’ve purchased or loaded with a credit card (such as an Amex Serve or Bluebird).

I personally don’t think this will last. There have been several instances of other companies using low or free transaction rates for processing, only to remove it later, or become very suspicious of large, repeated transactions and lock accounts. I can’t say that will for sure happen here, but it’s a word of caution.

 

While many reward earning debit cards have gone by the wayside, some still exist, so some of you may be able to take advantage of this new “discount.”