I recently heard reports of some confusion regarding the fees charged by RE Connect oneCard. The story was that one tenant – who may not have fully understood his options - thought he had no choice other than to pay around $288 per annum to pay his rent through RE Connect oneCard.

So this week I thought I would use this post to clear up some confusion about RE Connect oneCard, it’s uses, and the fees charged.

RE Connect one Card is and always has been an optional way of paying rent. Tenants must not be forced to use this service and must be given alternatives. The fact that this tenant felt like he didn’t have alternatives is not something which is approved or condoned by Corum.

As to the costs of using the service there are several different options which can be used by tenants to pay their rent:

a) Direct Debit from Bank Account $3.20 per month
b) Pay by BPay $3.20 per month, plus $0.75 per payment
c) Pay at Australia Post $3.20 per month, plus $1.90 per payment
d) Pay by MasterCard/Visa Card 1.32% per payment

So, if a tenant wishes to pay rent using Direct Debit, they can make unlimited payments from their bank account per month for their $3.20. This is actually cheaper than a lot of other payment methods used today (see my last post on the cost of cash!). If a tenant were to pay their rent fortnightly, then taking cash out of ATM’s could cost $4.00 per month in fees, followed by the time and effort it would take to walk it down to the Real Estate Agents office.

Credit cards, are of course, the most expensive method of paying rent due to the surcharge involved. For the record, most of this surcharge is paid to the banks, the card schemes and the government (GST). Part of the profit the banks and card schemes make on this goes towards funding their reward schemes, like frequent flyers etc. So if a tenant were to go down the route of paying rent by credit card to earn frequent flyer points or other rewards points, hopefully they have done some sort of a personal cost/benefit analysis to make sure that its worth it in the long run.

Recently, most people are aware, we added Ambassador Card rewards to RE Connect oneCard to make the card more attractive to tenants. Ambassador Card can actually help tenants save money on basic items like fuel and groceries and other little “luxuries” like dining and accommodation. (See one of my earlier posts on how Ambassador Card beats the tips from Money Magazine!)

With RE Connect oneCard and Ambassador Card together, paying rent can actually end up in the tenants favour! Take this example:




What it all comes down to is that it’s a matter of choice for the tenant. Under RE Connect oneCard there are three options that are cheaper than using credit card to pay rent.

As an agent you need to make sure that you are offering genuine payment choices to your tenants and that these choices, including any fees, are understood by the tenant prior to them entering any agreements with regard to their rent payment methodology. That way everyone benefits.

Tags: Re Connect, Pay by Credit Card, Pay rent