I've paid my rent online in the US for the past 7 years - with 4 different landlords using PayTrust, which simply prints and mails checks automatically. It als

I've paid my rent online in the US for the past 7 years - with 4 different landlords using PayTrust, which simply prints and mails checks automatically. It also scans paper bills, and gives a lot of control and feedback to stop things going wrong, so it's better than most bank-based bill pay services. Like most of the other UK people, I was very surprised about the lack of a direct debit equivalent over here. A major issue is that in the UK, consumers using Direct Debit are strongly protected by law which compels merchants to return the money in the event of a dispute. In the US, no such protections exist, so if the merchant (or landlord) overchaged, you'd be at the mercy of their dispute resolution procedures and the courts.