Ways to pay rent electronically when tenant has no bank account?

Question

Is anyone aware of any services where a tenant can pay his rent electronically without having a bank account? I'm aware of services such as popmoney.com, but I don't know of any that you can use without having a bank account.

Account Closed · Answer

A while back I had an account with Washington Mutual (no longer exists) for my rental checking, and they had "deposit ATM cards" basically its a deposit only card to access your account.  They go in to the teller, swipe the card, hand them cash, and it shows up in your account electronically.  It was pretty sweet, but I don't know if any banks do that anymore.

Renee R. · Answer

@Rick S. Thanks, Rick. I'll check out NetSpend.

Rick S. · Answer

@Renee R. for this type of situation see if the tenant will get a pre-paid card, such as the NetSpend card, as they can use some of those cards like a bank account for electronic payments.  We recommend the NetSpend as NetSpend will provide the tenant a routing and account number they can use like a bank account with payment services.

Not all pre-paid cards allow ACH debits though so make sure they check with the card issuer first.  If you need more information let me know and I can message you.

Bill Pate · Answer

If they don't have a bank account I won't rent to them.  I always tell people as an adult if you are not responsible enough to maintain a bank account I don't want to rent to you.

Renee R. · Answer

I'm not so sure I feel comfortable giving him my account #.