RBI Rent Payment Rules: Following the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) new guidelines, the facility for paying rent by credit card has been discontinued on fintech apps like PhonePe and Paytm. Tenants will now be required to pay rent through traditional methods like bank transfer or check.

RBI Rent Payment Rules: India's leading fintech companies, PhonePe, Paytm, and Cred, have discontinued the facility for rent payments using credit cards on their platforms. This decision was taken following new guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on September 15.

What are the RBI's new guidelines?

The RBI has tightened the requirements for payment aggregators (PAs) and payment gateways (PGs).

Now, a payment aggregator will only be able to process payments for merchants with whom it has a direct contract.

Marketplace payments will not be permitted.

Transaction proceeds will only be credited to the bank accounts of merchants whose full KYC and verification is complete.

Due to this rule, rent payments using credit cards through fintech apps will no longer be possible, as landlords are typically not onboarded merchants.

Why was rent payment an important business?

Users used credit cards to pay rent and earned reward points and cashback, and fintech companies were earning substantial profits by charging convenience fees. Banks also benefited from increased card spending. However, the RBI considered this model risky due to lack of KYC compliance and potential misuse.

What happened last year? (RBI Rent Payment Rules)

In June 2024, HDFC Bank announced that an additional 1% fee would be charged on credit card rent payments through fintech apps. Following this, ICICI Bank and SBI Cards discontinued reward points for rent payments in March-April 2024. Several fintech apps, such as PhonePe, Paytm, Mobikwik, Freecharge, and Amazon Pay, halted rent payments starting in March 2024, although some later reinstated the feature with additional KYC procedures.

What has changed now?

The new guidelines, issued on September 15, 2025, clearly state, “A PA shall ensure that a marketplace onboarded by it does not accept payments for a seller not onboarded on to the marketplace’s platform.” This means that rent payments will now be possible only if the landlord is registered as a merchant and has completed full KYC. This model is difficult in practice, so fintech companies have discontinued the service.

Direct Impact on Users

Users will no longer be able to pay rent using credit cards through fintech apps. They will be forced to revert to traditional methods such as NEFT, IMPS, UPI bank transfers, or checks. Rewards and cashback benefits will also be lost.

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