Has anyone used a bank's "person to person" service?

[Tradd]

I'm with Chase and so is my landlord. I've gotten almost totally away from writing checks - except to my landlord. Due to the way I'm paid and the five days you must allow for bank to send a check through their online bill pay, paying landlord that way isn't convenient.

Chase has a "person to person" money transfer tool. It's free. You don't have to have the other person's account number like you do with ING Direct. Just their email address. My landlord is refusing to use it. He thinks if you use it, money will get taken out of his account as a user fee. Mind you, he's not from the US originally, so I'm getting the impression he thinks this is a wire transfer (which does cost both the sender and receiver, as I know from work-related wire transfers).

The landlord's wife (American-born) thinks getting paid for rent this way is a fabulous idea (they don't have to go to the bank).

Have any of you used the person to person services? How did you like it? Any problems?

Thanks!

[lhamo]

Can the landlord really refuse payment? Maybe you should just work out a deal with his wife -- transfer the money to HER email, and have her tell him the check was received (doesn't have to say how). After the first couple of times when he sees there is no surcharge, maybe he'll be good with it.

lhamo

[Tradd]

That's a good idea except they have separate accounts, hers not with Chase, and it was his condo before marriage three years ago - so handles all financials.

He's not refused the payment, just the person to person tool, so I've still had to write a check for January rent -I first proposed the idea mid-December.

[spirit]

I have used ING's person-to-person payment with ease for about 6 months now. Easy and reliable, I'd say.

[Yossarian]

hers not with Chase

According to this hers doesn't have to be and it is free. https://www.chase.com/online/services/quickpay.htm

[fidgiegirl]

He may have that idea because if you use PayPal, that's what happens, if I am correct . . .

Another idea is to have your bank's bill pay send him the check. For us that service is free through our credit union.

Otherwise, you can stretch a box of checks for a pretty dang long time if it's only once a month that you need to write one! :)

[redfox]

I use it with a friend when we loan each other money, as we're at the same CU.

[chrisgermany]

I would offer landlord to give it a try for 3 months and, should fees appear, to compensate him for this.

[maribeth]

I haven't tried this, but I am going to! I hate checks and this would make several recurring transactions much simpler.

Currently I use an automatic bill pay for our rent -- I just set it to withdraw the amount 5 days before the first of the month, and the landlady always gets it on time.