Nigel7 Loc: Worcestershire. UK.

As several have said your bank details are on every cheque you give out.

However, for when I'm unsure of someone paying me, I have opened a separate bank account in which I keep very little cash and I give out that account's details. In the case of fraud there would be next to nothing there to lose.

Just an option.

josquin1 Loc: Massachusetts

I've sold to them twice and they have paid me via my account numbers with no problem. But it's up to you to decide if that's ok.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

But if you have regular debits to your account (such as for utilities), you have already authorized ACH transfers. If you think about what you had to do to authorize those transfers, you typically filled out a form online with your account number and routing number and name - most of mine (and I have a number of those transfers since I have HOA dues on rental property), it doesn't even require anything further such as an SSN. Frankly, I was surprised also, but some individual renting a property in Atlanta used my account and routing number and successfully initiated an ACH transfer from my account. It could have also been a member of the management company, but either way, my bank and the CFO of the rental company could not track it back to an individual, and as the manager of my bank told me, “your only recourse is to change your account number by opening a new account - anyone who has your account number, routing number and name can do it again”. They didn’t need an account to transfer the money into, they used the information to pay a bill. And it doesn’t take anything special for an account to receive ACH transfers either. If you use PayPal for example to receive funds, you receive $ via ACH transfers from Paypal. I would have thought there were mechanisms to protect against this type of fraud (such as verifying the transfer with the account holder), but I can tell you from painful personal experience, there is not. This isn’t a theoretical example, this actually occurred.

Having said that and to clarify, I’m not concerned about ACH transfers INTO my account from payers such a MPB (or SSN or Zillow Rental Manager or Paypal), what I am concerned about and don’t do anymore is giving checks which have all the information necessary to initiate an ACH transfer to individuals I don’t know well.

WCS

Don't be silly!
The only information they ask for is available on your bank checks - acct # and routing number. So, if you're anxious about writing a check to someone because the check provides these numbers, by all means never write a check again nor provide MPB that information.
I've used MPB and loved it! No fees, no middleman
Shalom

lagunamike

I think by now you've got the picture. Those here who started telling you to never give out your account info and run if the site doesn't use PayPal, just don't understand our banking system. It is completely safe to allow someone your account info to PAY YOU. When you are paying someone else, then 3rd party payers like PayPal make sense. Direct deposit has been around at least since the early 70's. Used by employers, government, and businesses.
You will get fair offers from MPB, they are one of the best. I've personally used them multiple times with very fair offers and pain free transactions. KEH, not so much.
Give them your banking info and get your $$$.

ggttc Loc: TN

This is true.

Not even your wife if it a separate acct.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I have just provided an actual example above when an unauthorized ACH transfer/withdrawal took place (by a complete stranger) using my account and routing number and repeated verbatim what my bank manager said about the possibility of it happening again. That does NOT prevent me from providing that information to a Payee (such as MPB), but I am now much more careful who I write checks to.

Bill UT

Have used them several times and they have been fine.

RichinSeattle

Correct. And, all they - or anybody - can use that info for is to deposit $$$ INTO your account. There is NO WAY they can use it to remove funds from your account. Many, if not most, people employed by corporations and governments give that info to their employers so they can be payed automatically and on time.

Lucius Loc: Denver, Colorado

When you give some on a check, you give them this information. Your bank account and bank routing number is on every check

MDI Mainer

I understand what happened in your case, and frankly I think the bank is covering for itself. As I understand the process the bank is supposed to ascertain that the same account name appears on both ends of the transaction. In other words I can authorize a utility to initiate a monthly ACH transaction on my account to pay my bill, since the account names are the same. But even if I have your bank account and routing number, the utility should not accept, and the bank should not honor, my authorization to the utility to raid your account to pay a bill with my account name. But I'm sure, like in most other areas of on-line life, there are flaws in the safeguards.

kkayser

Every check you write has that info on it.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

So in this case, unless someone in the property management office did it, a tenant submitted my information in payment of his/her rent. Since the property management agency sees only the tenant’s name and the account/routing number, they see no issue. The management company’s bank sees no issue since the management company routes ACH transfers regularly, and my bank sees no issue since the transfer is routed through another bank. So there is no one to check the name against the debit. If you believe the CFO of the management company, since they handle many drafts for rent, they can’t track the transfer back to the tenant.

And suppose I set up an ACH draft with a company. Unless the company checks to see it matches my name, who is going to catch it, because the bank has no idea who I authorize to draft my account and have no way to insure it’s valid.

MDI Mainer

Whenever I have done this with SunTrust now Truist, I have had to provide my name as part of the identifying account information on the receiving end, as well as (usually but not required) an account number associated with my name. And when I have done this on the other end, e.g., set something up with a utility for auto payment, I have had to give the name on the bank account, as well as the routing and account number.

As far as the management company is concerned, I find it difficult to believe that they are unable to track a specific payment back to a specific tenant. How else can they know who to evict for non-payment?

If carrying out this fraudulent scheme were quite so easy, we'd likely see so many cases that the ACH system would collapse! And all these transaction are traceable, at least by a law enforcement agency with subpoena power.

chikid68 Loc: Tennesse USA

I would question the Bank for allowing it