Comments on: Paying rent in DEFT fail land

By: Nathan

Nathan — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:18:28 +0000

Not to mention the security issues
6 characters max.
stored as plain text
Anyone can view your transaction history without a password. Only need to enter your user number.

By: Tony Sparks

Tony Sparks — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 08:54:01 +0000

We have been paying the 85cents for the last 6 years and finally i have had enough.I will be contacting Harourts Monday morning to discuss reimbursment otherwise we will be deducting the fee from the rent amount from now on or when we give notice the rent will stop and the bond can be used and the amount spent over the past 6 years or so will be deducted. There is NO CONVENIENCE for me paying using DEFT.

By: Donna

Donna — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:53:11 +0000

It’s so bad. I’ve been paying via direct deposit to my agents bank now for 12 months. Suddenly, they’re insisting I pay using the DEFT system. So now, I have more numbers and codes to record or memorize in addition to paying the direct deposit not into the agents account directly anymore, but now …..to the Macquarie DEFT account, so that they can administer my funds (instead of me) and re-coup the .85cent fee as a result. They’re nothing more than a pointless but greedy middle man!
I think we all need to complain to the ACCC and our local Ombudsman, don’t bother with the Residential Tennancy Authorities – no balls!

By: meg edwards

meg edwards — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 01:22:29 +0000

How deft are they that scam our pay!

I am another unhappy about this ineqitable system; we have no choice and we are charged for it.

I paid bond and 1st month rent to the agent with the only thing they would take – bank cheque, then I went to DEFT on-line, followed the prompts and have had requests for overdue rent ever since- also no response to requests made to agent to pay rent other ways.

It works; if you are a financial agent, the tenents get shafted , the owners don’t get paid and the agents – well…what do they achieve ??

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 06:48:00 +0000

Similar issues to everyone here I think we all should have a choice on how we pay our rent.
Dan. B

By: Andy Climax

Andy Climax — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 09:36:36 +0000

I’m not concerned with paying a minimal fee for a transaction, but agree it should be borne by the agent.

What I am concerned about, is that the DEFT website does not contain a list of fees in one place. You have to search around and try different options to work it out. And to my reckoning, the credit card option at 1.5% – 3.5% is the first option given to the payer.

This is definitely deliberate and deceitful. There should be a full disclosure of all fees and charges in one place, just like bank accounts offer, so the consumer can make a more informed choice.

By: Helen Simmons

Helen Simmons — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 04:14:04 +0000

This is my first time renting, but I am horrified by the commercialism within the rental system. I dislike the deft system, to start with the 85cents per transaction fee, then my first payment was dishonoured – I didn’t find out until I received a letter from my rental agent charging me $45 admin fee. So I went to the site and made a payment, by this time I had two weeks rent to pay. Two days later the money still hadn’t come out of my bank. Now I phoned Deft to ask why and found out that I had made an error on my account no, by one digit. So now I am having to pay $135 to the rental agent for my error. I asked the rental agent for other options to pay my rent, but apparently all I can do is use the deft system or pay by cheque, involving dropping the cheque into their office.
I am disgusted by the admin fee that the rental agents are charging for the dishonoured payments.
I would like the law to be changed so that I could pay by bpay or direct debt to the rental agents bank account. Something they refuse to give out.

By: idiot

idiot — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 03:58:53 +0000

I agree with everything everyone has said about deft when i first signed up i could not sign up due to the sight being down their was no customer service when i called for assistance so we went in to the rent agents to pay by cash at first they would not except my rent in cash as they do not hold cash on the premises but then when i asked “how am i going to pay my rent then” they excepted. After a brief conversation with the tenancy manager about the not being able to sign up she said it seems to be working for us and if we wanted to come in to the office they would set it up for us. How ever I no nothing about the $0.85 fee I’ve been paying by debit card and been getting hit $6.00 a pop until today when i went to pay double my rent and got double surcharged $12.00 but after seeing that i canceled my payment this just seems dodgy i process my payment by entering in the data payment details and their reaping the benefits for my time the only service their offering is to the agents who use their service so i’m going to walk in and pay by eftpos from now on only because I’m not working the way i had been paying would have cost me $300 a year but not if i can help it and i know the agents are going to harass me about this but i welcome the challenge maybe our local MP does need to be made aware of whats going on in his community i was being lazy in accepting the system not anymore and what about our older generation that don’t really have a choice or the support for their fee-free options and are suffering the consequence.

By: jono

jono — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 04:12:52 +0000

i agree, it sux to the max. like they say someones winning and it’s not us.

By: Mike Grayson

Mike Grayson — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 04:38:28 +0000

I agree with all your comments. I emailed Maquarie suggesting that this was just a form of tax on the poorer members of the population and asking where was their sense of community spirit. Of course I received no reply. My agent replied to my email, expressing my dismay at this, she expressed some dismay at the situation but as yet has not withdrawn from the system.