Increase in Credit Card processing fees - corporate landlord

[Aiko C.]

When I moved in and got into the payment portal, the verbiage on the portal said no processing fees for credit cards (two days after I signed the lease). Great, I thought. The only place was in the FAQ for "payment options'. I took a screen shot that has the date, the complex address and even the Uber corporation that owns it. Now, the exact same portion of the FAQ says this (second screenshot) When I inquired about it, I got this response.

Unfortunately I do not handle any website settings/integrations, but our credit card policies haven’t changed since we opened.

All credit card transactions have always charged a service fee, a debit card charges a flat fee, and a bank account payment has no service fees.

We are still in the processes of finalizing all our software platforms and websites. Updates to the site are made on the backend and it is quite possible that this was one of those.

Your first screenshot is in line with what I would expect to see before your portal switches to a ‘residential’ portal. The only time a fee is not present is when you are paying your application fees online.

Here are the screenshots and I believe the relevant portion of the lease. Note, there is nothing else in the lease about CC payments or 2.5% surcharge. I am only posting the relevant portion of the first screenshot for privacy of the company, but it does have the date, complex address and uber corporation name. You're gonna have to take my word for it that I've got the date on the first screenshot - two days after I signed the lease and that I'm inside the payment portal.

I will note this one other oddity. Twice in the new FAQ they state the property management company doesn't make any portion of the 2.5% fee. Twice in a 2 page FAQ. Of course, the property management company no longer has to pay Visa and MC the interchange fees.

Who's right here? Thanks for reading.