Real-time payments have become quite popular across most business segments. Statistics show that the global real-time payments market was valued at $13.55 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual g
rowth rate of 34.9% from 2022 to 2030. Rent collection is one of the sectors shifting to digital payments.
Banks that deal with properties now collect rent via online payments. Property management companies can now process rent payments using automated real-time payment solutions. They can use the different methods available to pay rent, making it easier for the bank to collect rent.
There are advanced and integrated payment platforms that provide ACH and credit card processing solutions if you want to do more than just collect rent. Check out these payment solutions to get you started.
List of Top Rent Collection Applications
Collecting rent online allows banks to stay organized and maintain a record in case of a dispute arises. Fortunately, some rent collection apps can come in handy for this process.
Let's check them out.
Buildium
Property managers with large portfolios use Buildium. The app charges from $50 to $460 per month. It is used to set up recurring and one-time payments for online transactions. The rent is transferred within the same day; however, processing times could vary. This app will allow you to get the rent much faster from the property managers.
TurboTenant
This property management app has an online rent payment feature that makes it easy to process payments to the bank. Tenants can pay their rent using their bank accounts, credit, or debit cards at a small fee. Additionally, tenants can report their rent payments to TransUnion using the Rent Reporting feature which helps boost their credit score.
Rentec Direct
This rent collection app allows tenants to pay rent from their checking account for free or use a debit or credit card at a 2.95% fee. The bank can easily collect rent because Rentec Direct helps set up automatic payments.
Apartments.com
Apartments.com helps automate rent collection and keeps track of all the payments in one place. Therefore, you can see payments, security deposits, and move-in fees from all property managers, leasing offices, and HOAs. This reduces the burden of following up on late payments and improves cash flow.
AppFolio
AppFolio is ideal if you are handling an extensive rental portfolio. This rent collection software has features designed for different property types. You get features like rent collection, accounting software, and utility billing. This makes it easy for the bank to collect rent online since all the payment information is under one software.
Propertyware
According to Strategic Market Research, the property management software market was worth $1.56 Billion in 2020 & is likely to hit $2.82 Billion in 2030 with a CAGR of around 5.73%. Such software is used for online rent collection, accounting, maintenance requests, and vacant property marketing with leasing agents.
Paying Rent With Credit Card
Banks can collect rent online if the property manager allows tenants to pay rent via credit card. Large property management companies have such software in place to accept these payments.
Pros of Collecting Rent with a Credit Card
Fast Transfer: You can use the easy-to-use Interactive Voice Response, IVR payment, which supports ACH and credit card payments on one platform. IVR allows the renter to interact by keypad or voice recognition to process the rent payment.
Cons of Collecting Rent with a Credit Card
It's Costly: Property managers might not accept credit cards due to the fees involved or the hassle involved in collecting and processing credit card payments. The costs are too high; therefore, they are mostly passed on to the tenant.
Slow reversal process: For tenants that deposit the money into the wrong bank account, it is challenging to recover the funds. The reversal process could take a while.
How iCG Payment Solutions Help You to Collect Rent Online
Online rent collection is relatively seamless with iCG payment solutions. Here are some ways you use each of these solutions for your benefit.
Credit Card Technology
Rely on iCG to collect rent online via credit card transactions. The platform provides solutions for banks to accept credit card payments in a single payment platform. The virtual terminal helps you accept cards even if the physical card is not available.
These credit card payments are processed through a secure gateway that protects the cardholder's data. Using the system means no external access to credit card numbers or security codes, which further minimizes data exposure. Additionally, it reduces the number of parties involved in processing your transactions, reducing the fees.
ACH Processing
Automated Clearing House (ACH) processing allows you to pay rent more efficiently. This computerized electronic funds transfer network uses the bank's routing and account numbers for account identification, eliminating paper checks. ACH is useful when setting up recurring bills like rent payments.
ACH payments take two to three days to process and have fewer processing fees than credit card payments.
SMS Payments
iCG's text invoicing solution instantly notifies property managers of bill payments. Once the text is received, tenants can pay rent via a secure text link. Through iCG's customizable integration, they can pay rent on time because it takes less processing time.
IVR Payments
The IVR payment service by iCG is an excellent choice for collecting rent online if you are looking for a convenient no-contact payment method. IVR users can interact by voice recognition or keypad and submit their rent payments securely and instantly.
IVR is flexible because it allows ACH, eCheck, and credit card transactions. In addition, it is PCI compliant by ensuring that sensitive customer data is not stored in the system.
Hosted Payment Portal
Hosted payment pages make accepting ACH and credit card payments easy over a web-based portal. The iCG payments gateway ensures PCI compliance to help you process sensitive financial data securely.
Recurring Payments
You can set up iCG automated recurring payments one-time to collect rent from your tenant's accounts on a fixed, regular schedule. iCG supports billing schedules for monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, and annual rent collection. Additionally, you can create a recurring installment payment plan to make things easier.
What Are the Best Ways To Collect Rent Online?
Most ACH transfers now happen on the same or the next day, thanks to Nacha's newer and faster technology to speed up the transactions. These transactions have lower processing fees, are easier to reverse, and can be automated. You can use them to set up recurring monthly bills such as rent, subscription payments, and insurance.
The Federal Reserve is now working on launching FedNow, the next-generation payment technology that offers faster payments at lower processing fees. This new service will be accessible to all local and community banks, making real-time payments more accessible to all consumers and businesses.
Bottom Line
Collecting rental fees is challenging for property managers without a streamlined process. It can also become costly if you rely on manual rent processing systems that require you to follow up. Automation relieves you of the pressure of following up with each tenant. For faster processing, tenants can pay rent via checking accounts, debit, or credit cards.
Real-time payments offer an alternative to card transfers by making the process cheaper and faster. Property managers can transform the rent collection process using modern payment methods by iCG today and partner with us to accept ACH and credit card payments more seamlessly.
Contact us today to get started and set up your payment processing unit for efficient rent collection.
