Category: General

Today, Bloomberg.com has an article on a recent landlording trend: New Retirement Plan Is Millennials Paying Rent

There are some really great statistics in this article describing the huge number of small landlords in the United States.  For example,

• Two thirds of single family rentals are owned by landlords renting 3 or fewer units.
• Over thirteen million rental units belong to landlords renting 10 or fewer units.

Of course, the size of this market is not a surprise to us.  Throughout our history, ClearNow has been a leader in online services for landlords.

Sixteen years ago, ClearNow launched its core service of easy-to-use, inexpensive online rent collection.  Today, thousands of landlords and property managers use ClearNow’s core service to put rent collection on auto-pilot.   Over the years, ClearNow has continuously innovated.  Our “owner proceeds” capability for property managers continues to be unmatched as the simplest way for property managers to directly deposit collected rents between themselves and their property owners.  In 2012, ClearNow became the first service that allowed landlords and tenants to furnish rent payment data to a “Big 3” credit bureau – a milestone in allowing renters to benefit from making on-time rent payments.

And, this year, ClearNow launched RentalIncomeExpense.com, a free service for landlords to track rental income and expenses and generate reports in a way that an Excel spreadsheet cannot easily match.

Going forward, ClearNow plans to continue to innovate to address the needs of the huge market of small landlords.

Owner proceeds is a ClearNow feature that enables a property manager to directly deposit a portion of the rent collected to the owner’s bank account.  After the property manager enrolls the tenant and owner, the property manager can designate a set amount or percentage of rent collected per tenant to be deposited into the property management company’s bank account for property management fees. The remaining amount collected will be deposited to the owner’s bank account. The fee for owner proceeds is $2 per tenant, and it is charged to the property manager.

Credits to the property manager and owner bank accounts occur on the same day – three banking days after the tenant’s debit day.  With owner proceeds, property owners receive their funds faster and efficiently while property managers save time.

 

 

ClearNow can debit some prepaid debit cards. You will need to check with your card company to make sure your account can accept an ACH debit before submitting your enrollment materials. If it can, then you may use the prepaid card account with ClearNow.

Yes! Not only does ClearNow handle rental payments, but we also enable sellers to collect seller financing mortgage payments from buyers. For more information and to enroll, please visit ClearNow’s web site.

You can change your bank account information by logging into your ClearNow account.  Once logged in, select “My Info”, then “My Bank Info”.  Follow the prompts to print the Property Manager Enrollment Agreement.  The box next to “Bank Account Change” should automatically be checked.  Submit the completed Agreement with your bank documentation for the new bank account.  Confirmation of the change will be sent to you via email.

No.  ClearNow fees are based on the debit day and are only charged when landlords attempt to debit a tenant.  Fees are paid by the landlord/property manager.  The choice of debit days include:

For example, the fee for five tenants for a monthly debit would be $22.95/month ($2 x 4 tenants + $14.95).  The semimonthly fee for five tenants would be $40/month ($4 x 2 x 5 tenants).

 

Of course you can! We encourage you to become familiar with all parts of your ClearNow account, which includes personalizing it! You may change your Account ID and password to something that is easier for you to remember. Simply log into your ClearNow account, select “My Info” from the menu on the left-hand side, then “My Contact Info”, change your Account ID and password, and click “Save”. It’s just that simple!

Towards the end of last year, ClearNow launched a free feature for your ClearNow account – “income and expense tracking.” Over the past 10 months, we’ve been gathering feedback from ClearNow customers who have been using this tool, and today, we are rolling out a significantly improved version:

1. Simpler and easier to use. The “Income/Expenses” screen has been redesigned to make it easier for you to add, edit, delete, and search for income and expense records. We’ve added buttons so you can quickly view the “Profit & Loss” and “Schedule E Helper” reports that are created from your income and expense records.
2. More powerful. The “Profit & Loss” and “Schedule E Helper” reports are easier to read and now contain clickable links so you can see the details behind the totals in these reports.

To begin tracking your income and expenses, log into your ClearNow account and click “Income/Expenses” from the left hand menu.

If you’re using a spreadsheet to manage your income and expenses or a software system that just doesn’t work well for you, we hope you will try ClearNow’s income and expense tracking tool. It’s already incorporated into your ClearNow account, and rents from enrolled tenants and associated ClearNow fees are automatically tracked for you. Best of all, it’s free!

If you know ahead of time that you will not have the necessary funds in your bank account on your scheduled debit day, you have the option to do a one-time block. A block is a one-time request to not debit your account for that payment period. Your account will not be debited, and you will need to make arrangements to pay your landlord directly. Your ClearNow debits will automatically resume for the next payment period. The deadline to request a block is always one banking day prior to the debit day before 12:00pm (noon) EST. Both your landlord and you may call and request the block or log into your ClearNow accounts and block the debit yourselves. Blocking a debit is a proactive way to avoid possible late or bank fees. ClearNow service fees are also not charged for a blocked debit.