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.