Any ideas for an easy way to accept a credit card for rent payment? I do not want a subscription and I do not want them to use Venmo or paypal with a credit card. I want to send them an invoice with a way to pay with a credit card. I will do this once or twice a year or less.

Innago takes cards with a 3.5% surcharge to the tenant.

You have to get everything set up with them, which takes maybe a week. Same with the tenant. ACH is $2 flat, which I make the tenant pay.

Why do you shy away from the other two? Clawback fears?

Get a square account. It's quick and easy and you can send invoices from it. You can make the invoices reoccurring and set and forget.

You can pick several ways they can pay including ACH, credit card, and some other ways. They do charge you 3.3% + $.30 per transaction if you allow credit card transactions. They will let you add 3% to the bill but it still will cost you a little. I just figure it is the cost of doing business. I think ACH fee is 1%.

Does take a little to figure out their dashboard but it isn't too bad.

It works great for getting out of town application fees, security deposits, or rent.

When I signed up I got an handheld thing to take credit cards. I haven't used it. As long as you are near a computer you can do everything from the dashboard. (so don't buy the $300 handheld thing)

It's free to sign up. Here's my referral link. :-)

squareup.com/refer/ZOOCITYREA

Square works fine. It's a bit clunky to set up initially, but we have used it for about 8 years with only one issue.

Just a heads up, once you start taking credit cards you are now subject to PCI compliance.

PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance is a mandatory, 12-requirement security framework for any business storing, processing, or transmitting credit card data, enforced by major card brands (Visa, Mastercard, etc.). It requires protecting cardholder data, maintaining secure networks, and regular testing to prevent fraud, with non-compliance resulting in heavy fines and liability.

Key Aspects of PCI Compliance

Applicability: Applies to all merchants, regardless of size or transaction volume.

Requirements (12 Core Areas): Includes installing firewalls, changing vendor-supplied passwords, encrypting data, updating antivirus software, and restricting physical access to data.

Validation Levels: Compliance is ranked by annual transaction volume, typically divided into four levels (Level 1 being the highest, over 6 million transactions).

Validation Process: Businesses must complete a Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) and potentially an external vulnerability scan by an Approved Scanning Vendor (ASV).

Consequences of Non-Compliance: Fines, potential loss of ability to process credit cards, and legal liability in case of a breach, with fines sometimes ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 per month.

Steps to Compliance

Scope: Identify what data you store, process, or transmit.

Protect: Implement firewalls, encryption, and password protection.

Validate: Complete the appropriate SAQ.

If you sign up with a traditional payment processor, the restrictions that Mapleaf raises apply.

Check your local regulations. It will soon be illegal to charge the tenant credit card service fees for paying rent here in New York state.

I know as a business owner that even if you only accept credit cards through other programs such as Intuit's QuickBooks, you still have to go through PCI compliance and pay an annual fee.

Sir Walter, you may want to double check that information with square and stripe because we use Intuit QuickBooks for husband's HVAC business and even though we only take credit cards through QB via their built-in link and never even swipe a card, they still make you go through PCI compliance and pay an annual fee

Maple,

I checked with Square only. It has a long page about PCI compliance.

Near the bottom of the page, Square has this on the link

squareup.com/us/en/the-bottom-line/operating-your-business/pci-compliance

Square supports PCI compliance for your business

Square is PCI certified, you do not have to individually validate your compliance.