risk associated with direct deposit to collect rent

[Ping W.]

I asked my tenant to pay the rent by direct deposit thinking that would be something similar to salary direct deposit but the renter told me that his bank needs to deposit a small amount to my bank and then withdraw it. I need to login to my bank and tell him the amount so his bank can later on transfer money to my bank. My question is: the process created a link between the two banks. If they could withdraw money from my bank, then later on, can the renter transfer money from my account to his? How I can know for sure that it is only set up for one way transfer? I gave him a void check to setup the direct deposit but not sure if I have done the right thing. I tested with my own banks and I could login to bank A and successfully transferred money from bank B to bank A. Does that mean the renter could login his account and transfer money from my account to his?

[Wilson Churchill]

I use Chase QuickPay whenever possible. It is free, and I can see on the statement the source of the transfer. Otherwise, I let tenants make a deposit into my account by giving them my name, address, and account number.