With all of the advantages of digital banking, it doesn’t make sense to keep accepting cash and check rental payments. Chasing up tenants for their monthly rent seems like an endless task. Once you finally collect them all, it’s almost time to start again. It makes sense to use technology like rent collection apps to streamline the process—especially when you have multiple properties.
What Are the Advantages of Rent Collection Apps?
Rent collection apps offer more than a gateway for tenants to pay their rent. Many applications include options for automatic late payment fees, managing leases, and taking security deposits. More advanced features can include tenant screening, renter’s insurance, and accounting services.
The best rent collection apps have a visually appealing dashboard that can give you an overview of your property management business. Notifications of payments mean you have a real-time digital record of payments. This function makes bookkeeping for smaller businesses far more efficient—thus reducing accounting costs.
Security is a massive issue in all of today’s industries. Despite more people using debit cards than paper checks, check fraud is more common than debit card fraud, costing $15.1 billion in 2018. Allowing for online rental payments provides tenants with the option to pay by recurring payments, debit and credit card, e-check, even PayPal and cash in some stores.
Why Should You Choose a Free Rent Collection App?
Like many apps today, we are lured in by the word “free” only to discover that it’s a free trial or the free services are somewhat limited. Murphy’s Law will tell you that one feature you had your eye on will cost you. There are two essential things to consider regards to choosing a ‘free’ rent collection app:
- It may be free for the landlord, but the tenant has to pay to make a payment—which won’t encourage them to pay online.
- It may be free for the tenant, but the landlord may have to pay depending on the number of properties they manage.
Here are some examples of ‘free’ rent collection apps.
Tellus—This app is free to make online rental payments. Landlords can accept maintenance requests, manage their accounting, and list vacant units. There are no costs to tenants of they pay from their bank account, but there is a 3% fee for credit cards.
Cozy—The basic rental payment service is free, and you can benefit from a property management portal. For landlords, the no hidden fees are ideal—however, tenants may disagree. Debit and credit card payments cost the tenant 2.75%.
RentDrop—This app for landlords and tenants is entirely free to use. You can collect rent online, manage leases, and accept security deposits. Another handy function is the ability to accept partial payments.
Zumper—Landlords can take rental payments without any fees, see tenants’ rent payment history, and set up schedules. For tenants, ACH direct debit payments are free; however, credit and debit card payments carry a 2.95% fee.
Is There Any Such Thing as a Free Rent Collection App?
So far, we have come across one that ticks all the boxes. RentDrop is free for landlords and tenants. The app allows for online payments by ACH direct debit, credit card, and debit card. Automated payments mean rent always arrives on time, or you can set up reminders. Landlords can collect security deposits through RentDrop and manage leases. Notifications and the RentDrop dashboard mean landlords have complete control of unlimited properties with no surprise fees.
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