Today, landlords have a lot of choice if they want to collect rent online. There are quite a number of different services. Fortunately and unfortunately, the services do not operate identically and have some small and large variances that landlords like and do not like. This blog post will identify some differences between ClearNow and Zillow for online rent payment.
Deposit Guarantee with ClearNow
With ClearNow, rent payment is always directly deposited three (3) banking days after the debit day. Banking days are business days (Monday through Friday) not including federal bank holidays. For example, if your tenant is debited on the first of the month and that is a Tuesday, then if there are no federal bank holidays that week, you would receive a direct deposit to your bank account on the fourth of that month (which would be a Friday).
The reason the direct deposit occurs three banking days later is that ClearNow uses the ACH Payment network. With the ACH payment network, the tenant’s bank has two banking days to notify us if the debit fails (for reasons such as insufficient funds or a closed bank account). Once that window has passed, the funds have cleared, and the direct deposit occurs to your bank account.
On the other hand, Zillow for online rent payment indicates landlords receive funds in three to five business days depending on the method the tenant uses. Zillow does not specify the exact timing based on the payment method. Landlords may find it difficult to manage mortgage or other bill payments when rent receipt is not exact.
ClearNow understands their customers value precision. Throughout our email correspondence and in your ClearNow account, an exact schedule of dates for when you’ll receive funds is always communicated.
Roommates Can Pay Separately with ClearNow
With roommate situations, landlords eliminate the “middle person” when they allow each roommate to pay their pre-determined portion of rent from their own bank account. The “middle person” is the roommate who makes the rent payment in full from their own bank account. They are also the roommate who has to make sure each roommate has paid them. When each roommate pays individually, they just need to make sure they have enough funds to make their payment successful every month. ClearNow enables roommates to enroll separately to pay rent directly to the landlord. Zillow for online rent payment does not. They only permit one tenant per property to pay rent online.