Why don't we pay our rent online?
Tangurena: Some apartment companies already do take rent payments online. But those are the more modern companies who tend to cater to younger folks.In general, folks who run the majority of apartments aren't too interested in fancy new stuff, as much of the fancy new stuff that gets pitched to them are thinly disguised plots to swindle them out of something.Management companies, depending on the size of the apartment complex already suck between 5-10% of the gross receipts off the top. Adding the transaction costs for online payment (usually close to the costs of a credit card, so they'll be in the 1-3% range), and a marginally profitable apartment complex can quickly go into the red with cash flow problems.The apartment complex I live in tends to have a bimodal age distribution. We're close to a private university, so there are a bunch of younger folks, but there are also a lot of older tenants. I've been here 5 years (some bad credit stuff rolls off my credit report late this year, so I can start looking for a house about the beginning of 2010), and among the longer term tenants, I'm one of the few who are "into" computers enough that I'd consider EFT.