Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Receiving Tuition via Automatic Bank Deposit

Do any teachers here have this form of payment set up with their students? I would like to be able to offer this to my families but don't know how to go about doing it. Do you simply need their account number?

Thanks.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-automatic-funds-transfer.htm

The payor generally sets it up and needs the payee's banking information to do so.

You can also do it via PayPal, though I have no idea how one sets it up on the receiving end. For example, I give PianoWorld $5 a month via PayPal. (you can too!)

I have students who pay by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)
If both parties use Internet banking, it simple to set up.
You just need to provide your students with your bank account details, and they make the transfer.

I would avoid PayPal, if possible, although I do accept it in certain circumstances.
For example, for every $100 Australian, that I receive, I incur a PayPal fee of $2.70. (2.4% plus a fixed fee per transaction, of 30 cents)
I either have to absorb that fee, or pass it on to the student.

Most of my students pay this way now which is great for me as I spend less time going into town to pay cheques in to my account.

You just give them your bank details and they can pay using Internet banking. In the UK we have a sort code which I think identifies the bank and then an account number. That's all I need to provide. When they pay it shows up on my statement which I can view online at any time and tells me exactly where the money has come from.

It's the way forward IMO.

I have a few who pay me like this - the only problem is I find it harder to keep track of who has paid compared to cheque payments, as I pay those into my bank in batches. Bank transfers I tend to forget about. Also, just because someone says they have paid it in, doesnt always mean it has gone through - recently, I realised a payment hadn't shown up from one of my students, and it turned out their bank had "suspended" it for no apparent reason.

Most of my students pay this way. It's my preferred method of payment. In Australia the payee needs my BSB (branch) number and account number and then they can easily transfer the money with their Internet banking, using the students full name as the reference. I like that it provides proof of who has paid and when, unlike cash or a cheque.

Someone will correct me if I'm mistaken, but I think that in Canada or the US for one to set up electronic banking possibilities, a teacher would have first have to have a business account. Many of us avoid those accounts, because we're cheap and hate the extra fees.

Similarly, one would need a business account to accept credit card or debit card payments also.

PayPal is, however, is a viable way to go for the piano teacher who wishes to avoid dealing with paper cheques.

Must resist.......nope can't do it.......points out you ARE running a business.

Thanks for the reminder, Tim.

I have a separate account for my piano teaching income, but I have not labeled it a business account with my credit union. It's simply a separate personal account which I use only for my business transactions.

I guess I'm a bit confused how this works.

I pay my gas bill monthly through automatic draft to the gas company. They didn't provide their account number to ME, I provided mine to them.

Is it safe to provide my number to someone else who is paying ME?

That is a slightly different kind of arrangement, Stanny.

you provided the Gas company your details, along with an authorisation to your bank, to automatically pay the Gas company a fixed monthly amount.

Electronic funds Transfer works by giving the client your Bank, Branch and Account number, so that they can transfer funds into your account.
They can transfer a one off payment, or set up an automatic recurring transfer for whatever time period they wish.

It is perfectly safe, and in fact, those very details, are probably printed on every cheque you write.

From what I've noticed here, it seems that automatic bank drafts are quite common in countries OTHER than in the US.

Very common in Australia. Increasingly the singers and instrumentalists I accompany choose to pay by direct transfer. And you don't have to go to the bank to deposit the cheque!

I don't go to a bank to cash checks anyway...I take a photo with my iphone with my bank's app! But still, the automatic draft would be so easy to do for my clients.

A client who emigrated from Germany told me that she has seen cheques in museums and didn't know they were still used anywhere. I asked after the third European needed instructions on how to fill one out. They all seem to be more at home with electronic transfers.