Paying rent by check via bank's Bill Pay - is this "reliable"?
July 22, 2020 6:47 AM   Subscribe

I'm having to pay rent by check for the first time ever. Yay to outdated means of payment! Is there anything I should know about using my bank to send the check rather than doing it myself? I bank with Fidelity and notice it has a 'Deliver By' date that it allows me to choose. Am I pretty safe if I always put the date as by the 1st? New to the world of paying rent by check, so thanks! The landlord will also only allow it to be mailed, so no option of just handing it in.
posted by signondiego to Work & Money (20 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I used my bank's version to pay rent and other bills for years (though not Fidelity) and never had one problem. The variable I would worry about right now is USPS, not my bank, but that would be your variable even if you were mailing it.
posted by magnetsphere at 7:04 AM on July 22, 2020 [4 favorites]


I had my bank auto-pay my rent by mailing a paper check to my landlord for a dozen years or more with no difficulties, and I have found the "deliver by" date to be accurate. The only thing to think about, really, is that your bank will likely debit your account when the bank mails the check rather than when your landlord deposits the check. This may have implications for your cash flow if the check needs to be mailed late in the month in order to arrive at its destination by the first of the month. I don't know if this is the case for you, but the end of the month is often the leanest time financially for many people.
posted by slkinsey at 7:07 AM on July 22, 2020 [2 favorites]


The us post office has been experiencing unusual delays recently due to malfeasance, covid, and protests. I would move up the deliver by date by a week to have a better chance of it arriving when you need it to. Ive heard of things taking 8 days to move across my state.

If you have a reasonable relationship with your landlord you could ask for feedback when your checks are arriving and you could adjust as needed after a month or two.

(You could try having billpay mail small test checks to yourself to see how long its taking, if the bank allows that).
posted by TheAdamist at 7:08 AM on July 22, 2020


Response by poster: I did not think about the delays with USPS right now. I also just checked my lease agreement and I do have until the 5th of the month for the rent check to be received, so there's that. I also kind of figured that the bank would take the money out right away, but in practice this is usually done when they actually mail it? That's not too much of a concern for me.
posted by signondiego at 7:14 AM on July 22, 2020


My bank also did take the money out when the check was mailed. Which I actually found easier because it meant not trying to keep track of checks in the mail.
posted by magnetsphere at 7:16 AM on July 22, 2020


After dealing with several banks revealing that the "deliver by date" actually meant "the date we process the payment request to our check-sending provider" I give myself a bigger buffer. I set the deliver by date for my office rental, due on the 1st, for the 25th of the prior month.
posted by MonsieurBon at 7:19 AM on July 22, 2020


I have been paying rent via my credit union's bill pay service with a "deliver by" date of the 1st for 20 years. I have never had a complaint about a late payment.
posted by jkent at 7:34 AM on July 22, 2020


I did this for years and never had any problem.

As mentioned above, the account generally gets debited when the check is cut/sent rather than when the check is cashed. If you can easily keep enough of a buffer in your checking account that a week or two difference doesn't matter it's a complete non-issue; if you're generally waiting for your paycheck to clear before you send a rent check it's a big deal. I usually set the deliver by date for a few days before the end of the month, just in case.
posted by mskyle at 7:35 AM on July 22, 2020


At least two banks I've done bill pay with guarantee their delivery date. I incurred a late rent fee once and had the bank cover it due to their late delivery.

Would be a good idea to check if that is relevant to your bank, and also if the guarantee is suspended due to current circumstances.
posted by saeculorum at 7:45 AM on July 22, 2020


My bank used to debit when the check was dated for, but a couple years ago switched to not processing until my landlord actually deposited it.

My management company is not the most effective ever and after a couple of times of them claiming that my checks were late, I set the payment date a week earlier for a buffer.
posted by Salamandrous at 8:04 AM on July 22, 2020


I would communicate with the landlord, tell them that you are going to be paying with the bank's bill pay system set to deliver the check by the 1st. I would ask them to let you know if it does not arrive by the 1st bc you have still 4 days to correct it. After a few months you will know how reliable the system is.
posted by AugustWest at 8:05 AM on July 22, 2020


I don't mail my rent check (I live close enough to drop it off), but use US Bank's billpay, and have yet to get a late fee (other than one where I had the date wrong, my fault); also the money comes out of my account only when the check is deposited: for example my storage unit check was mailed to arrive by the 3rd, I got a 'payment received' email from the business, but the check is still floating out there somewhere and hasn't come out of my account yet.
posted by AzraelBrown at 8:37 AM on July 22, 2020


I have used BofA's check service to send rent payments for nearly 3 years. I think I set the deliver by date to the last week day of the month (I also have a 5 day late payment grace period).

The only time I've ever had a "problem" was when someone stole a handful of rent checks out of the landlords mailbox. It was simple to call the bank and have them stop payment on that check and issue a new one.
posted by muddgirl at 9:25 AM on July 22, 2020


I used Bank of America's system like that for my rent for four years (a few years ago). It was reliable; there was one time when the management company say "hey, wtf where's your rent" and there had been some delay in the mail, but they understood right away when I explained what was up. So nthing the suggestion from AugustWest to let them know you're doing this in case there are any kinks early on or hiccups down the road.
posted by dismas at 9:33 AM on July 22, 2020


I did this for years and it's SO MUCH BETTER and I will tell you why. A few years ago my dimwit of a landlord texted me in May saying "never received October rent check, you are delinquent please remit payment immediately" and I was able to pull up the endorsed check image immediately, with a paper trail of date sent, memo line, and address mailed to, and say "is this or is this not your signature on my October rent check, plus all of my receipts, you fucking clown" (paraphrased) and a possibly very stressful issue was resolved in literally 60 seconds.

I always set my pay date by the 26th of the month just to be extra extra careful accounting for mail times. YMMV but I would rather pay a few days early than accidentally late.
posted by phunniemee at 10:08 AM on July 22, 2020 [4 favorites]


The us post office has been experiencing unusual delays recently due to malfeasance, covid, and protests.

This is highly geographically variable, so worth taking local specifics into account, also when the first (or whatever rent due date) is a holiday will also make things off by a day or two. I pay a TON of stuff via check in this way and I'd agree, work in a little wiggle room. Two other things I didn't see mentioned

- the check will come in some blankish looking envelope that doesn't necessarily NOT look like junk mail so the first time or two tell them to look out for it.
- I do this "set it and forget it" with my health insurance, setting BillPay to pay monthly and it's great to not have to remember to send a check each month.
posted by jessamyn at 2:21 PM on July 22, 2020


We have done this for years. Every 2 or 3 years, a check is lost or some other issue happens, but since we have always been on time, our landlord lets us know, we pay him with a regular check, and do what we need to do with the bank.
posted by chiefthe at 5:56 PM on July 22, 2020


I have been doing this through my credit union for years. Once, the check got lost in the mail, but it was definitely issued by the credit union, just lost in the mail. A few years before that, a check that I wrote and mailed got lost in the mail. Both times, my landlord was understanding. If the check sent by the bank gets lost in the mail, you can ask them to put a stop order on the old check and reissue a new one.
posted by hydropsyche at 7:03 AM on July 23, 2020


I did that for like five years. Yes, you have to account for transit time, and the bank is going to debit your account when they mail the account, and keep it until your landlord deposits the check. But even at my SF Bay area rent levels, the lost interest is basically just the cost of the stamp. Easily worth the reduction in hassle.

Just make sure you actually have the money in the account when they cut the check!
posted by pwnguin at 12:15 AM on July 26, 2020


Response by poster: Just an update in case anyone else is wondering about this too: I did this for August rent with Fidelity and the money still hasn't been taken out! From what I can gather, their policy is to not withdraw the funds until the recipient cashes it. I had a delivery date of the 29th and the money is still there, and Fidelity indicates it won't be taken out until then.

Thanks for all the info. Just found it interesting that the policy at Fidelity is different than most banks. No different than mailing a check as far as timing of the funds being withdrawn.
posted by signondiego at 5:07 AM on August 1, 2020 [1 favorite]


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