5 Ways to Reduce Late Fees

Who likes late fees? No one!Tenants don’t want to pay late fees.  Even landlords don’t like late fees, as this means they didn’t receive their rent payment on time.

Late fees can be substantial. Depending on the state of residence and your lease, tenants may be on the hook for up to 10% of the rent amount. Late fees can be reduced or avoided with simple property management software featuring automated payments, tenant communications, and reminders.

5 Ways to Reduce Late Fees 

1.     Pay rent electronically.  If you are still paying rent by sending your landlord a paper check, the likelihood that your payment will arrive late increases significantly. The postal service may deliver it late, lose it, or deliver it to the wrong address. Theft is also possible as more individuals are involved in the delivery process.  Landlords don’t care why it is late…they just know it is late. By paying your rent electronically, you will always know when your landlord receives the rent, and you will have a confirmation that your rent was paid on time.

2.     Setup AutoPay.  When you setup AutoPay, your rent is paid on the due date every month so payments are never late.  If you use rent collection software like ScheduleMyRent, you receive a courtesy reminder every month that a rent payment will come out of your bank account automatically.  If you need to, you can still change the date or amount of your payment anywhere or anytime.  You also receive an electronic receipt when your rent is paid.  

3.     Receive reminders.If you don’t want to use AutoPay, wouldn’t it be nice to receive a reminder that your rent is due so you don’t forget? If your landlord is using landlord software like ScheduleMyRent, tenants receive reminders before rent is due. Tenants will receive several reminders until a payment is authorized.Once a payment is made, you will receive an electronic receipt of payment.

4.     Talk with your landlord.  This can be as simple as a quick text or email.  Let your landlord know if your rent will be late, indicate why, and when you will be making a payment.  Communication is important. If a landlord understands the tenant’s situation, they may be less likely to charge a late fee or start a court action.  The worst thing a tenant can do is to be silent.  Also, if you can pay part of the rent immediately and the landlord knows when the remainder is coming, your landlord may be more willing to waive the late fee.

5.     Don’t make it a habit.Avoid forming a pattern of paying late every month.  If you pay late every month, it becomes less likely that your landlord will work with you and waive your late fee.

A Landlord’s View of Late Fees

Almost every landlord has a late fee in their lease, but different landlords have different views on how late fees should work.  On one side, some landlords expect rent to always be paid on the date it is due, and a late fee will apply for all late rent payments. These landlords believe that the best policy is to strictly enforce lease terms, to ensure tenants pay on time and do not get in the habit of always paying late.  On the other side, some landlords are flexible, and don’t charge late fees, if the tenant is having problems but is communicating.  Their main goal is to receive rent payments, and to keep good relationship with tenants.

Which method is right?  As in most situations, that typical answer may be somewhere in the middle.  Most landlords have a late fee, but they also have a grace period for the late fee.  For example, a landlord with a three-day grace period may have rent due on the first day of the month, but won’t charge a late fee if rent is received within three days of the due date.  This gives the tenant some flexibility, and ensures the rent is collected timely.  When rent is received beyond the grace period, many landlords charge a late fee.

Landlords like using rental property software so they don’t have to track when rent is late and remember to add a late fee- this is managed by the software.  Landlords also use automated software so they don’t hurt the relationship with the tenant by asking for a late fee directly.  Some automated software programs, like ScheduleMyRent, automatically add late fees, but also allow the landlord to easily waive or refund the late fee. 

Avoid late fees and experience the joy of paying rent online, try Schedule My Rent.

ScheduleMyRent Landlord Software Tenant Portal (Resident Portal)

ScheduleMyRent’s landlord software has an amazing tenant portal that makes it easy for tenants to see what is due, gives multiple options to pay, and has industry-leading security designed in.

Tenants are automatically sent reminders when something needs to be paid, confirmations when payments are authorized, and receipts when payments are made.

Tenant’s might have the following questions:

How much is rent?

Tenant’s see a list of items that are due with a date and description for each item.  In the above example, $750.00 in rent for February is dueon 2/1/2018.  If there are other items, such as utility bills, they would also be listed.

Can I see payments from roommates?

Yes, multiple tenants can split rent anyway they want.  Each tenant can adjust their portion of the rent that they are going to pay.  Tenants can automatically pay their portion or can manually make adjustment to pay more or pay less for a specific month.  In this case, the tenant’s roommate, Sue Smith, has already authorized a $375.00 payment on 2/1/2018.

Can roommates see my bank account information?

No.  Neither roommates nor landlords can see your bank account information.  Your bank account information is kept encrypted and never shared with anyone.  In addition, as soon as you enter your bank account information, your account number is immediately “masked”.  (E.g. XXXXX1234) This protects your account number if someone obtains your login information or if someone is “watching over your shoulder” when you are authorizing a rent payment.Rental property software should always keep your information safe and secure.

How much rent do I owe?

You can see that the total amount due on the lease is currently $375.00.  Either you or a roommate need to authorize payments that add up to this amount.

How do I pay?

If you want to pay this rent, simply select the “Total Amount Due on Lease” option and then click Authorize Payment.  The tenant will automatically receive an email indicating that the payment has been authorized.  On 2/1/2018, $375.00 will automatically be withdrawn from the tenant’s bank account and the tenant will automatically be emailed a receipt for the payment.

What if I want to pay two days later because that is when I get my check from work?  …Or I can only pay a smaller rent amount now?

Instead of selecting the total amount due on lease, select the “Other” option instead.  Tenants can choose any date and any amount that they want to pay.  Note:  If tenants don’t pay the full amount by the due date, they may have late fees or be subject to other penalties, depending upon the landlord.  Landlords have the option to add a “Grace Period” before late fees are automatically added.

What if I want the payment to be made automatically every month?

That’s easy. Tenants can select the AutoPay tab on the tenant portal and enter the amount they want to pay every month.  Up to this amount will be automatically withdrawn from the tenant’s bank account on the due date.  Landlord software makes it easy to pay rent.

What if I change my mind and want to change a payment?

No problem.  Tenants can remove or add additional scheduled payments any time before payments are sent to the bank.  If a tenant wants to delete a payment, they can simply click on the trashcan icon next to the scheduled payment.  Each time a tenant authorizes a manual payment, they receive an email confirmation which includes thedeadline for making changes.

Can I see the lease terms?

Yes, simply click the Lease Details tab on the tenant portal.  You can see the:

·        Lease Start Date

·        Lease End Date

·        Monthly Rent

·        Day of month that rent is due

·        First payment date and amount

·        Late fee amount

·        Return Fee amount

Can I see the history of all payments?

Yes, simply click on the History Tab on the resident portal.  You can see the date, description, and amount of all charges and all payments, including roommates.

Schedule My Rent enables landlords to easily collect rent online by automating rent payments.

Schedule My Rent enables tenants to easily pay rent anytime or anywhere.  Tenants always stay in control and can always see what is due and what rent has been paid.

Try ScheduleMyRent’s Landlord Software today.  There is a 45-day free trial to experience the best Tenant Portal (Resident Portal) in the industry.

Landlord Software to Collect Rent Online –Top 5 Security Features

ScheduleMyRent is an online service that allows landlords to collect rent online from tenants.  It was built by product designers who are experts in the payments industry, in software development, and in banking systems. ScheduleMyRent has and will continue to provide industry-leading, secure products.  Customer data security is always a top priority. 

As payments become automated for everyday products and services, information security is a top priority for all involved in a payment transaction. This applies to general payment processors, like Stripe, and to specific purpose rental property software, like ScheduleMyRent. ScheduleMyRent provides landlords with an optimal solution to enable their tenants to securely pay rent online. Our landlords feel confident collecting rent payments and their tenants feel confident paying rent because of our industry leading security.

Before we dive into electronic payments, let’s discuss why electronic payments are more secure than check payments or cash.  When a check is mailed from a tenant to a landlord, the check is handled by multiple people during the payment transaction - from the postal service to the end deposit processor. Each handling involves the risk of identity theft, fraud, or loss of payment. If you have tenants place checks in a drop box, this is also prone to theft.  There are many instances where criminals “fish” checks out of a drop box with a wire or other tools.  There are also many instances where criminals will break open a drop box or break into a manager’s office with a drop box to steal checks.  The 2015 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey findings show:
* Checks remain the payment type most susceptible to fraud attacks
* 77% of organizations affected by payments fraud were victims of check fraud
* Checks were the payment method most likely to result in a financial loss due to fraud, with 45% experiencing a loss related to checks

Accepting cash is much worse than accepting checks.  When cash is stolen, it can’t be tracked and the tenant can’t put a “stop payment” on it.  In summary, electronic payments are much more secure than paper checks or cash.

Here we go –If you are using Rental Property Software, these are the Top 5 Security Features your provider should have to Securely Collect Rent Online.

1) Immediate masking of account numbers.  When a bank account is entered by the account owner, the full account information should be immediately masked so it is no longer viewable by anyone.  The account holder should only see XXXXXX1234 immediately after the bank account is entered on the Landlord Dashboard, Tenant Portal, or Resident Portal.  This protects the account holder if someone obtains their login information.  This also stops someone from spying or watching "over their shoulder” while future payments are made.

2) Encrypt all information.  Property Management Software should use bank-level encryption to protect both transferred and stored payment information.  Information cannot be read by outside people if AES-256 encryption is used, which is the best in the industry.

3) Tenant payment approval.  In addition to protecting personal information, no payment transaction should be processed without a tenant's approval.  Tenants should personally provide approval for all payments through their tenant portal.

4) No sharing.  A landlord should never be able to see a tenant’s bank account information.  A tenant should never be able to see a landlord’s bank account information.  If payments are divided between roommates, each roommate should be able to see that the other roommates have made a payment, but should never be able see the bank account information associated with the payment.

5) Bank account authentication.  As part of the sign-up process, rental property software should make small deposits into every account.  The account holder must verify these amounts before an account can be used to protect against fraudulent payments.

This is a partial list of the anti-fraud techniques that are used to protect your information and bank account.

ScheduleMyRent landlord software is a great way to collect rent online – Start a free trial today.