International Rent Deposits

[Carolyn Fuller]

We have a fully furnished studio apartment near a university that we want to rent to academics. Many of these academics are coming from overseas. That means getting their initial deposit can be challenging if they don't have a US bank account. Is their an online payment service that accepts international payments?

Thanks!

[Roy N.]

Originally posted by @Carolyn Fuller:

We have a fully furnished studio apartment near a university that we want to rent to academics. Many of these academics are coming from overseas. That means getting their initial deposit can be challenging if they don't have a US bank account. Is their an online payment service that accepts international payments?

Thanks!

We have several rooms and units we rent to international students and post-doctorate fellows.    There are several ways these foreign candidates can pay their deposits to you - depending on where they are located.

One of the most universal, though most expensive for both the transferor and transferee is a wire transfer from their bank to yours.  This can also be a bit of a pain for the candidate as smaller U.S.A. banks do not play well on the world stage.  However, as long as you can provide them with an IBAN or SWIFT code for your bank and the necessary routing information for your branch and account, there should be little problem.

Another way which is easier and most often cheaper is to use Paypal - provided the candidate lives in a country where s/he has access to Paypal.

You can also use Western Union, but it has been the centre of so many international scams over the years that it may not be viewed as trustworthy by the candidate.

There are also several ForEx services on-line these days, some of which will wire money for far less than a bank.