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ClearNow vs Zelle for Rent Payment

Landlords have a lot of choices today when it comes to collecting rent online. Choices include focused online rent payment services to basic money transfer apps to full service property management software. They are not all created equal, so landlords should consider things like fees and initiating party before committing to a payment method. In this blog post, we will compare ClearNow vs Zelle for rent payment.

ClearNow for Online Rent Payment

ClearNow is a focused online rent payment service where payments are initiated by the landlord. Serving landlords and tenants since 2000, ClearNow directly deposits funds three banking days after the tenant’s debit day. For a monthly debit, ClearNow starts at $14.95/month. This fee includes the debit of one tenant. Additional tenants are $2/month.

Unique among all online rent payment services, ClearNow has an owner proceeds feature where property management companies can directly deposit tenant funds to the property owner’s bank account for just an additional $2/tenant.

Beyond online rent payment, ClearNow provides landlords with various reports including a Schedule E Helper report for tax time. With ClearNow, landlords can record income and expenses, screen tenants, and esign leases. In 2011, ClearNow was the first online rent payment service to allow tenants to report payments to Experian. So tenants can build a credit history with their ClearNow rent payments. Unlike other services, ClearNow provides telephone and email support, so you can talk with a person if you wish.

Zelle for Online Rent Payment

Zelle is a money transfer app that enables tenants to transfer rent payment directly to the landlord’s bank account. It requires both landlord and tenant to have a bank account that is part of the Zelle network. Generally speaking, money transfers occur within minutes, and generally Zelle does not charge sender or receiver (some Zelle banks do charge small businesses).

While fast and free, some landlords may not prefer Zelle as a method of rent payment. Tenants initiate the payment and may not pay rent in full thus making it difficult to recoup the full amount due or even evict if necessary. Some states prevent eviction if partial payments are made.

Additionally, depending on your bank, Zelle may limit transfers to $1,000/day or $5,000/mo.

Summary of ClearNow vs Zelle for Rent Payment

Service	Pros and Cons
ClearNow	+ Focused online rent payment service + In business since 2000 with an “A+” BBB rating + $14.95/mo for one tenant. $2/mo each additional tenant. Rent payments received in 3 business days. + Email and phone customer support + Tenants can build credit history for paying rent +Automatic income & expense tracking for landlords + Enroll at www.ClearNow.com
Zelle	+ General money transfer service + Same day transfer times + Tenant and landlord have to have bank accounts on the Zelle network. + Tenants initiate rent payment and can make partial payments. + Pricing is free for users with Zelle accounts. Zelle may limit total amounts that can be transferred. + Enroll through a bank that is part of the Zelle network.

The Benefits of Standalone Online Rent Collection

Online rent collection is almost a no-brainer for landlords and property managers. It allows you to collect rent faster, with fewer excuses and less procrastination from tenants. On top of that, online rent collection is less work – rent arrives automatically into your bank account. However, landlords often think that to implement online rent collection they need to sign up with a full property manager suite like Appfolio or Buildium. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, there are strong benefits to just signing up for a standalone online rent collection service.

Less Disruptive to Your Process

You do the things you do for a reason. It works for you. While change is good, it usually doesn’t make sense to throw away your whole process to attain one benefit.

Yet, many providers of online rent collection want you to undertake their entire “ecosystem” of property management software just to do online rent collection. Why replace how you do your accounting just to do online rent collection? Fortunately, standalone online rent collection is available through services like ClearNow (www.ClearNow.com). You can just setup online rent collection without changing the rental processes that you are comfortable with.

Potentially Way Less Costly

Moreover, one of the big benefits of using a standalone online rent collection service is that it is often cheaper. Appfolio charges at least $280/mo. Buildium charges at least $50/mo with additional fees for online rent collection. Holy Moly! Once again, fortunately, standalone services exist and they can be less expensive. ClearNow (www.ClearNow.com) starts off at just $14.95/mo for one tenant and each additional tenant is just $2/mo extra.

Don’t despair if you are looking to try out online rent collection for your rental business and feel like it will be a complex process. Enjoy the benefits of easy-to-implement and inexpensive standalone online rent collection services like ClearNow.

How to Generate Automatic Rent Reminders

the power of automatic rent reminders — Automatic rent reminders work better than you think! Get started today.

We all need a little hand in life. One of the tricks that most of us develop is to create a “reminder system”. Whether it is a datebook, a calendar, or increasingly an online to-do list, reminders help us keep on track with the things we need to do. As a landlord, reminders are also a great way keep your tenants on track to pay the rent to you. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to automatically email your tenants each month a rent reminder? Fortunately, it is possible to generate automatic rent reminders with a service like ClearNow (www.ClearNow.com).

The Power of Reminders

Do reminders really work? Maybe it is common sense, but it turns out that psychological studies show that reminders really do work. Interestingly, studies show that while reminders are very effective (causing 30% more activity sometimes than without the reminder!), people consistently underestimate how effective reminders actually are. What does this mean in practice for landlording? It means that rent reminders are effective, but we probably undervalue how effective they truly are.

Automatic Rent Reminders Built In to Online Rent Payment

What’s an easy way to implement automatic rent reminders? It turns out that many online rent payment services, like ClearNow (www.ClearNow.com), send out an email rent reminder ahead of time. With ClearNow, an email rent reminder is sent eight days prior outlining the rent to be pulled and the debit day. The reminder encourages the renter to have the proper funds in their bank account.

Online rent payment is already a great process. It allows landlords and tenants to pay rent on time without doing any work (and thus without any procrastination). It can build tenants’ credit history. Automatic rent reminders are just another reason to consider using an online rent payment service for those services that, like ClearNow online rent collection, automatically build it in to the process.

How To Run a Fast Tenant Credit Check

Twenty years of observing landlords while operating the ClearNow online rent payment service has taught us one powerful lesson. Good landlords screen their tenants. Even better, while in the past tenant screening was a slow and paper-based process, today’s online services make it easy to run a fast tenant credit check.

Tenant Credit Checks Protect the Landlord

As the adage goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. While tenant screening is not foolproof, a credit report is an indicator of the past financial habits of an individual. For many landlords, their biggest mistake was renting to a tenant that was not qualified and having to deal with an eviction.

Online Tenant Screening is Fast

In the past, running a fast credit check on a tenant was not possible. Now however, the process is lightning quick. With a service like ClearNow SmartMove, the process is as fast as email:

You sign up for a free online account (at https://ClearNow.MySmartMove.com).
Through your account, you email the tenant to do a background check. You can specify that the tenant pays the fee.
As soon as the tenant does their part, you will receive an email that a report with a credit check and criminal and eviction report is ready for you to view.

Unlike ages ago, tenant screening does not need to take days to process. Get started at https://ClearNow.MySmartMove.com today!

The Dirty Secret of Bank Bill Pay for Rent Payment

Having your tenants pay rent via their bank bill payment system seems high tech. Unfortunately, the dirty secret of bank bill pay for rent payment is that it is the opposite of the high tech wonder it seems. Unless you are a large corporation, bank bill payment typically just creates a paper check that is mailed to you. As a result, landlords who collect rent via bank bill pay encounter some distinctly low tech issues.

The Check is Still in The Mail

When your tenants wrote checks to you, did it ever get ‘lost in the mail’? Mail delays and undelivered mail can still exist if your tenants use their bank’s bill payment service. For anyone except large corporations, the bill payment service simply prints out and mails checks at a central facility based on your tenant’s online bill payment instructions.

Given this process, you still need to be around to collect, sign, and deposit your check. Further, if checks are mailed to you, you can not deposit the check if you are on vacation or out of town and the check is sitting in your mailbox.

Recordkeeping and Credit Reporting are Missing

When a tenant sends you a rent payment via their bank bill pay, you have to record the payment. Additionally, the tenant does not have the ability to build their credit history by paying rent via bank bill pay.

In contrast, there is another popular method for rent collection – “online rent payment”. Unlike bank bill pay, online rent payment does not involve paper checks – just real electronic transfers. There are no paper checks to get lost in the mail or sit in a mailbox waiting to be deposited. Further, with a popular online rent payment service like ClearNow (sign up at www.ClearNow.com), you have great recordkeeping and reporting and your tenants can build credit history when they pay you rent on time.

Cozy is Going Away. What is a Good Cozy replacement?

Cozy is going away. What is a good online rent payment service replacement?

Cozy is a popular online rent payment service. As of July 2021, their homepage indicates that they are going away. It states “Cozy will be saying goodbye July 28, 2021”. So for current Cozy customers, what is a good replacement service?

Apartments.com Is Not Quite the Same as a Cozy Replacement

The Cozy homepage pitches transitioning to Apartments.com. However, it turns out that the transition means a reduction in features.

If you own or manage commercial property, Cozy via Apartments.com will no longer process rents for commercial tenants.
Several months ago, Cozy stopped reporting tenant rent payments to Experian.
Cozy customers are reporting that Apartments.com is trying to upsell a premium listing service that costs $349.

Other Online Rent Payment Services Are Good Replacements

Fortunately, there are other online rent payment services that are superior to Cozy. For example, ClearNow (www.ClearNow.com) has been around for more than twenty years. ClearNow allows online rent payment for commercial tenants. And tenants using ClearNow can report their rent payments to Experian. Instead of the bait-and-switch pricing of some services, ClearNow customers pay a flat fee of $14.95/mo for their first tenant and $2/mo for each additional tenant.

Online Rent Payment For Commercial Property

Finding an Online Rent Payment Service for Commercial Property Can Be Tricky

Unfortunately for landlords, many online rent payment services do not allow the owners of commercial property to use their service. Often, landlords discover this only in the fine print. Fortunately however, services like ClearNow (www.ClearNow.com) permit their customers to process rents automatically for a commercial property.

Many Online Rent Payment Services Only Support Residential Property

The number of residential properties outnumber the number of commercial properties. For this reason, most online rent payment services focus only on residential customers. For example:

Cozy: As of 2021, Cozy is notifying customers that they can no longer process for commercial tenants.
Zillow: It appears that Zillow does not allow listings or other services (like their online rent payment service) for commercial properties.

Find an Online Rent Payment Service for Commercial Properties

Do not despair! As a matter of fact, there are online rent payment services for landlords with commercial properties. One of them, ClearNow, allows commercial rents as long as they are lower than $10,000/mo. While ClearNow requires a business owner to sign up in their own personal name, they can submit bank account information for their business. Online rent payment is a win win for landlords and their commercial tenants.

How to Collect Rent on Time

Landlords rely on tenants for income. So for landlords to collect rent on time, they need to make paying the rent easy. Here are a few simple things landlords can do to ensure they get paid . . . on time:

Provide Convenient Payment Options

Traditionally, rent is paid on the first of every month. Not all tenants get paid around that time, which makes it harder to pay rent on time. Landlords willing to accept rent payment on a different schedule can increase the odds to collect rent on time. For example, if a tenant gets paid every two weeks, then collecting rent aligned with the tenant’s paydays creates a win win for everyone. Another convenient payment option is online rent payment. Here, tenants do not need to remember to write and mail a check, which takes time and advanced planning. Instead, rent is automatically withdrawn on the agreed upon payment day. Landlords benefit by having the funds directly deposited and eliminating a trip to the bank. An online rent payment service like ClearNow provides a choice of debit days that satisfy the needs for both landlord and tenant.

Provide Incentives

Anything to reward on time payment increases the chances to collect rent on time. Reducing the rent by a certain amount if the tenant pays earlier than the due date can be an incentive. Additionally, landlords who use certain online rent payment services like ClearNow and RentPayment can help tenants build a credit history by furnishing on time payments to the credit bureaus.

How Property Managers Can Attract Rental Property Owners

Managers Attract Owners — Property management companies need to attract rental property owners to grow.

Property management companies must attract and retain rental property owners. Without owners as customers, there is no property management business. How property managers can attract rental property owners does not have to be difficult. Here are some simple and easy to implement tips:

Provide Value

Property managers who stand out from the competition attract attention. If you provide value and make the lives of rental property owners easier, you can win business. For instance, property managers using ClearNow’s owner proceeds is a strong selling point. This feature enables property managers to directly deposit rent to the owner’s bank account at the same time managers receive rent from tenants. This online rent payment delivers funds faster. Rental property owners want to receive funds as quickly as possible. Finally, property managers can also attract rental property owners by helping them find other investment property. Property managers who do the research and provide owners with a list of investment leads save owners time and create value.

Seek Customer Referrals

One of the easiest and most effective marketing strategies is to ask existing customers for referrals. There is a good chance rental property owners know other owners. If you provide value, your customers will tell owners how effective you are with managing their rental property. Additionally, property managers can also find customer leads in local real estate clubs. Members of these types of organizations include rental property owners, which is the property manager’s target audience! While some club members self-manage, others are probably looking to hand off the task of management.

In conclusion, providing value and seeking customer referrals are just a few tips on how property managers can build business and grow revenue.

Online Rent Payment by Credit Card

In today’s mainly paperless world, online rent payment has almost made rent payment by check, cash, and money order extinct. Instead, payment by ACH and credit card have become more popular mainly because they are convenient payment methods. Between the two, we’ll look at the pros and cons of paying by credit card.

Pros

Convenient: You don’t have to go through the trouble of writing and mailing a check. If you can pay rent by credit card, you’ll provide your card information over the phone, online, or in person. The effort is minimal.
Rewarding: Most credit cards today are tied to rewards. Such rewards can appear in the form of cash back or points. Every time you use your credit card whether it be for merchandise or online rent payment, you earn rewards.

Cons

Access: Many landlords do not accept credit card payments mainly due to the high cost that credit card companies charge. So tenants need to find landlords willing to accept credit cards for rent payment. If you can’t find a landlord willing to accept credit cards, then find one who will still accept online rent payment by way of an ACH debit (direct transfer from bank account to bank account). An online rent payment service like ClearNow is beneficial for landlords and tenants who want to do ACH debits.
Fees: Once you find landlords willing to receive rent payment by credit card, be prepared to pay a fee. Most credit cards charge based on a percentage (usually 2% to 3%) of the amount charged making it quite expensive. For example, a $1000 rent payment can realize $20 to $30 in fees.