Landlord Blog

Education and news for smart DIY landlords!

A Landlord's Guide to Collecting Rent Online


In a report made by Money Magazine, millennials pay 61% while seniors pay 42% of their bills online. The main reason why they do this? It’s to avoid late payment fees! Now, imagine that applied to the collection of rent.

Actually, there wouldn’t be a need to as there are online rent collection systems for you to use. These different systems can cater to each of your specific landlording needs whether it’s for the property’s management or the tenant payment method.

After reading the rest of this article, you’ll be convinced to upgrade your rent collection system for sure.

Benefits of online rent collection:

1. Payment security

Unlike the traditional check-in-envelope or cash-in-envelope, e-payments cannot be stolen or lost. There would be no risk for you and your tenant as frauds have no access to you and your tenant’s banking info.

2. Cuts management fees

E-payments minimize or eliminate the cost of hiring and maintaining employment of a property manager especially if your rental property is far away. You can save a lot of money from this and it can be advantageous for you.

3. Minimize late payments

With online rent collecting platforms, systems are automated to notify tenants of their due dates. Your tenants or you can set for auto-pay on a due date or before. This saves you from the headache of late payments and helps your tenant save money from late fees. Your tenants can also choose different payment options depending on your agreement.

4. See payment statuses in real-time

Reminding your tenant would no longer require an in-person interaction. All you have to do is check your rent payment system for a paid or unpaid status. If the tenant hasn’t paid yet, a call or text of reminder will do. This is an important benefit for landlords who have multiple rental properties. And you don’t have to worry about notification delays, payment statuses get updated real fast!

5. Simplify audit trail and dispute resolution

With rental e-payment systems, every money transfer leaves a digital trail. If a tenant claims to have paid, all you have to do is check the system to verify or disprove their claims. Some of the systems automatically provide receipts for both you and your tenant. Talk about easier auditing! The best part of rental e-payment is that prospective tenants can easily give you their collection of digital receipts, which simplifies your tenant screening in the future.

Online rent collection systems:

1. ClearNow

A rent collection service that debits rent from your tenant’s bank account and directly deposits that payment into your bank account.

2. RadPad

If you want a semi-old fashioned rent collection system, RadPad gives the option of letting your tenants pay by their debit or credit card. After that, a check is then mailed to you.

3. Buildium

No more waiting for a 48-hour payment processing time with Buildium. Their system boasts in cutting 70% processing time of rent, bills, and fee collection services.

4. eRentPayment

This platform is for landlords who both have one-time leases and recurring monthly due systems. eRentPayment simplifies your work by offering you a payment system with a property management tool

5. Avail

Automatically charge your tenants with late fees with this system. Not only that, but Avail also has a security deposit payment option with a separate due date schedule for each tenant.

6. PayYourRent

Exclusive for eChecks and credit card payments, PayYourRent.com gives individual payment options for tenants as well as scheduled recurring payments. If you don’t agree with an individual payment, you as a landlord can decline the payment with their 2-party email confirmation system.

7. TurboTenant

For landlords with property managers, TurboTenant is free for use. Their system is so simple. All a tenant needs to do is buy an eCheck from the TurboTenant system. Then send the funds from the eCheck to you. Funds will be in your account within 2 business days.

Online rent collection is the future of real estate financial management. You don’t have to deal with the hassle of reminding your tenants to pay every approaching due date. You also have it much easier to keep track of payments and auditing!