Costly convenience fees can be unfair and outrageous.

This person was charged $10 for paying rent each month through a bank or card.

They didn’t want to pay the extra $10, so they found a workaround and shared it with their neighbors so everyone could avoid paying the fee.

Read the story below for all the details.

Paying rent without a fee

When we first moved to our apartment, a question came up.

This was about how we want to pay rent.

They had a website with two choices. It was either pay by card or pay by bank withdrawal.

Both options charge an additional fee.

I picked “pay by card” and filled out all my information online.

On the last page, it said they’d be charging me a convenience fee of about $10.

It’s for doing this automatically.

I then tried again for “pay by bank withdrawal”, and filled out all the information.

And once again I got hit with that $10 convenience fee.

This person was annoyed.

I thought that was annoying.

I didn’t want to keep paying an extra $10 every month for rent.

The “convenience” is of them automatically taking the money instead of me manually writing up a check, and giving it to them.

He devised an ingenious plan.

So, I looked up their address and went to my bank’s “bill pay” page.

Then, I scheduled a recurring payment to that address every month.

I ended up saving $10 every month for free.

The inconvenience was passed to the apartment managers.

They now have to open the mail and get my check every month.

He shared this hack with other renters in the area.

After a while of living there, I talked with a few neighbors.

They complained about having to pay this extra $10 all the time.

I told them about this trick of paying automatically through the bank.

It made them happy.

I love that this renter shared their hack with their neighbors.

Let’s see what others have to say about this on Reddit.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

This is illegal in the UK, says this person.

This person agrees that BillPay is your friend.

This person has a similar experience.

Finally, here’s an honest opinion from this user.

Way to be money-savvy!

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.