Credit/Debit Card Transaction Fees | Convenience Fees (Legacy)
This help article contains instructions for the Legacy Version of Rentec Direct. More information about the latest version of Rentec Direct can be found here: The Remodel | Rentec Direct’s Newest Software Update
You are charged a processing fee of 2.95% (3.5% for Amex) of the exact amount the tenant designates to send plus any transaction convenience fee that you decide to charge them.
Understanding the Tenant Convenience Fee Charge
If rent is $1000, a 3% convenience fee would equal $30 so the tenant will pay a total of $1030. However, the amount you pay for the credit card processing will not be 2.95% of $1000 but rather 2.95% of that total $1030 (payment plus convenience fee) resulting in a $30.39 fee you will pay for processing.
Tiered Convenience Fee Increments
Transaction fees that you charge your tenants are tiered in $100 increments. For example, if you set the fee at 3%:
A tenant with a payment from $101 - $200, would have a $6.00 transaction fee.
A tenant with a payment from $201 - $300, would have a $9.00 transaction fee.
A tenant with a payment from $301 - $400, would have a $12.00 transaction fee.
A tenant with a payment from $401 - $500, would have a $15.00 transaction fee.
A tenant with a payment from $501 - $600, would have an $18.00 transaction fee.
A tenant with a payment from $601 - $700, would have a $21.00 transaction fee.
A tenant with a payment from $701 - $800, would have a $24.00 transaction fee.
A tenant with a payment from $801 - $900, would have a $27.00 transaction fee.
A tenant with a payment from $901 - $1000, would have a $30.00 transaction fee, and so on.
Transaction fees collected from tenants will be deposited into the settlement bank account you have set up on your merchant account, and will post to the property ledger in Rentec as income.
* Accepting an application fee requires an Online Payment Processing account with Credit Card processing enabled. Your account will be charged for the credit card processing fee and you, in turn, can decide if you would like to increase your application fee in order to help absorb the cost.
Convenience Fee Settings
Your Rentec Direct software allows you to specify a convenience fee the tenant will pay to use this option to recover (markup) that processing fee.
Commonly this is set between 3% to 5% and high enough to reimburse you for your 2.95% transaction fee for VISA, Master Card, and Discover (3.50% for AMEX) card processing.
Instructions to set or change the default convenience fee for all tenants can be found here: Payment Processing Setup Part 2