Electronic payments for the unbanked

[Matthew Insley]

I currently have about 80% of my tenants mail me a money order and do not have bank accounts.  I would love to try and get some or most of them to pay me electronically using paypal or venmo.  Does anybody have experience doing this? I have read that paypal might have an option to deposit cash into a paypal account at CVS/Walgreens.  I do think that all of my unbanked tenants have smartphones that would be capable of having paypal on them.  My initial thought was to give a one time rent discount for the tenants who tried this payment method out.

[Andrew S.]

@Matthew Insley Hi Matt, Our tenants have the option of depositing rent directly into my account. They get a receipt for their deposit and can take care of it at any branch. So far it has worked very well and with online banking, it is easy to ensure everyone made their payment on time. More connected or tech savvy tenants pay by Google Pay (no fees) or EFT.