Paypal residents association

sillysocks

I’m on a committee for a residents association and we’re thinking of setting up Paypal so people can easily make online payments for their yearly fee. It would be for maybe 20/30 payments max (if 50 eur each). Im lost as to what kind of account to set up and would love to avoid fees if we can.
I assume it’s easy to then withdraw the fees back out to our association bank account (AIB).

I’m guessing it should be a business account but with such small volumes is it ok as a personal one? Confused!!

1874

A resident association?? what kind of housing is involved here?? do you mean something else? a residents association would be a voluntary thing
Do you mean everyone pays around 50 euro and there are potentially 20-30 residences that might do this??
Id say revolut would be a good way to go, not sure if its possible to possible or allowable to open an account for an association like that, or a Post office account, I believe they have some kind of ATM type card?


If it could be done electronically for the purposes of showing who paid and to track outgoings, that would be good, but Id be wary of paying into an account for a residents association, would want good records/receipts, agreed spending.


Out of curiosity, what is the money for? what's it spent on?

sillysocks

1874 wrote: »

A resident association?? what kind of housing is involved here?? do you mean something else? a residents association would be a voluntary thing
Do you mean everyone pays around 50 euro and there are potentially 20-30 residences that might do this??
Id say revolut would be a good way to go, not sure if its possible to possible or allowable to open an account for an association like that, or a Post office account, I believe they have some kind of ATM type card?

If it could be done electronically for the purposes of showing who paid and to track outgoings, that would be good, but Id be wary of paying into an account for a residents association, would want good records/receipts, agreed spending.

Out of curiosity, what is the money for? what's it spent on?

Sorry maybe I wasn’t clear. Yep it’s a voluntary residents association. Really our main purpose is just to collect the yearly sub which covers grass cutting, tree pruning etc. We get in payments for about 120/140 houses but I don’t imagine all would pay by card. There’s about 200 houses in the estate but not all pay unfortunately.

We already have a bank account so it’s only to facilitate online payments we were thinking of. Some people do transfer into the bank account directly but I know that can be a pain sometimes on online banking and think card payments might be easier for people. The main thing is to make it easy for people so we get in as many payments as we can.
All the payments in and expenses are listed at the AGM in our accounts so full accountability.

1874

sillysocks wrote: »

Sorry maybe I wasn’t clear. Yep it’s a voluntary residents association. Really our main purpose is just to collect the yearly sub which covers grass cutting, tree pruning etc. We get in payments for about 120/140 houses but I don’t imagine all would pay by card. There’s about 200 houses in the estate but not all pay unfortunately.

We already have a bank account so it’s only to facilitate online payments we were thinking of. Some people do transfer into the bank account directly but I know that can be a pain sometimes on online banking and think card payments might be easier for people. The main thing is to make it easy for people so we get in as many payments as we can.
All the payments in and expenses are listed at the AGM in our accounts so full accountability.

Youre talking potentially 6k minimum? how is it? or why are you paying out for these services like this?? no council? no manangement company?
Where is the grass that is getting cut? and the trees getting pruned? Ive never heard of trees getting pruned, Ive seen a few damaged and had to be removed.
Im curious, while it may be to the advantage of the residents and maybe cheaper, there is the potential things can go wrong or astray, I can see why people might not want to pay.


Id be thinking Post Office account? and revolut card/some electronic means?, but it seems like you'd need a hardcopy receipt book and issue receipts and then maybe take a picture and someone keep a record somewhere. If I was paying into such an account, Id probably want an e-receipt emailed to me.
Maybe there is some opensource software for managing accounts that is already set up or an excel file with records inputted.


Personally I prefer give my services and time than payout, and I think its better if everyone does their own little bit, there still might be aspects that need finances, but I have never been asked for more than a fiver, I even think there was a lawnmower at one point but Im not sure if it has been appropriated by someone.


You sound like you have your setup in hand, but Ive been more wary of dealing with housing associations and people in them, ok when they get hwat they want, but unwilling to try and fix the sources of problems or give anything in return if you need support.

sillysocks

We’ve very large green areas in the estate, and a lot of mature trees in common areas.

The local council will do something like 2 cuts a year or a ridiculous amount like that. All local estates here have an association that collect from residents who are willing to contribute.
If no one contributes then the grass would go crazy and it’s far to much for one person with a push lawnmower. The company we employ do regular cutting, weed spraying and keep on top of trees that might say grow over footpaths or into peoples gardens. It’s a service we’re happy with and the residents who pay are too.

Anyway that’s all besides the point. We’re not looking for a new full set of accounts. We have an AIB account that we want to stay with, we were just looking at an additional way of getting payments online. So if people could pay say on a paypal link and then we can withdraw any deposits there to our main account. The first thought was PayPal as it would be familiar to most people and something they could trust with card details etc.
Just not sure what kind of account to set up and how to keep fees to a minimum.

Spocker

1874 wrote: »

Youre talking potentially 6k minimum? how is it? or why are you paying out for these services like this?? no council? no manangement company?
Where is the grass that is getting cut? and the trees getting pruned? Ive never heard of trees getting pruned, Ive seen a few damaged and had to be removed.
Im curious, while it may be to the advantage of the residents and maybe cheaper, there is the potential things can go wrong or astray, I can see why people might not want to pay.

Jeez, talk about the third degree The OP was only looking for advice on taking payments.

OP I'm part of a residents association too, and the only payments taken are cash or direct into the back. One of the potential issues with a Revolut/PayPal setup is that theres only a single person/owner, and with PayPal there are fees. Having said that I've seen normal PayPal accounts used successfully for several €k worth of payments. Whatever setup you choose, share the credentials/passwords with other trusted members, so it's all above board

sillysocks

Spocker wrote: »

Jeez, talk about the third degree The OP was only looking for advice on taking payments.

OP I'm part of a residents association too, and the only payments taken are cash or direct into the back. One of the potential issues with a Revolut/PayPal setup is that theres only a single person/owner, and with PayPal there are fees. Having said that I've seen normal PayPal accounts used successfully for several €k worth of payments. Whatever setup you choose, share the credentials/passwords with other trusted members, so it's all above board

Thank you! Just trying to explore our options for the year. We only started online maybe 2/3 years ago and that is great but just not as simple as a card payment.
Will think about it.
Everything is very above board and we’re all experienced committee members (mainly because we can’t persuade anyone else to take over!!)

1874

sillysocks wrote: »

We’ve very large green areas in the estate, and a lot of mature trees in common areas.

The local council will do something like 2 cuts a year or a ridiculous amount like that. All local estates here have an association that collect from residents who are willing to contribute.
If no one contributes then the grass would go crazy and it’s far to much for one person with a push lawnmower. The company we employ do regular cutting, weed spraying and keep on top of trees that might say grow over footpaths or into peoples gardens. It’s a service we’re happy with and the residents who pay are too.

Anyway that’s all besides the point. We’re not looking for a new full set of accounts. We have an AIB account that we want to stay with, we were just looking at an additional way of getting payments online. So if people could pay say on a paypal link and then we can withdraw any deposits there to our main account. The first thought was PayPal as it would be familiar to most people and something they could trust with card details etc.
Just not sure what kind of account to set up and how to keep fees to a minimum.

Maybe, depending on how much area you are talking about, you could consider approaching the council to have some of it portioned off to turn to a natural meadow flowered space, I understand this doesnt need to be maintained and encourages pollinating species like bees. Could keep some that is cut/mowed as an area for playing sports? depends on the space, it also could mean less work for those contributing or at least something to show for it? if someone has the space to store a powered mower, or something bigger, at least you have something to show for your money, 6k minimum seems like a lot to fork out per annum to cut grass and maintain common areas, I understand a business will have overheads, like insurance, payroll, maintenance. It does seem a lot to pay to me, when everyone isnt chipping in and getting the benefit, but theres nothing you can do about that, might be as miffed as I was when I cleaned up or helped and you couldnt get people to do outside their own fron garden or in it.