Is this a national trend, requiring online payments in lieu of any other payment method? If so, is it being met with as much resistance as the comments that this news story is generating? What kind of payments do you accept?
It's an American problem @Ben Daniel . You are the only country I have ever been in with such backward banking. Electronic online banking is the norm in almost every other developed country I know of. It was like going back 30 years when we started in the USA.
In New Zealand and OZ you can't do anything hardly without a bank account. Can;t even get government assistance. It is more secure, instant and easier to pay everythign online but the USA doesn't seem keen. No idea why. You can only rent a house in most countries if you have either a direct debit or automatic payment for rent. Except in some very poor areas if you told your property manager you wanted to pay your rent in cash they would assume you were joking or trying to launder drug money!
I do require my tenants to pay online and I make that clear in my ads so it's not a surprise.
But I think it's really stupid the way the complex in the video is handling it. If I owned a complex with a staffed office on the property I would definitely allow the tenants to drop off payments there. If they want to move to an online only system they should only require it going forward and grandfather the current residents to pay however they were.
It's an American problem @Ben Daniel . You are the only country I have ever been in with such backward banking. Electronic online banking is the norm in almost every other developed country I know of. It was like going back 30 years when we started in the USA.
In New Zealand and OZ you can't do anything hardly without a bank account. Can;t even get government assistance. It is more secure, instant and easier to pay everythign online but the USA doesn't seem keen. No idea why. You can only rent a house in most countries if you have either a direct debit or automatic payment for rent. Except in some very poor areas if you told your property manager you wanted to pay your rent in cash they would assume you were joking or trying to launder drug money!
We have alot of degenerates here in the usa. That are trying to run from child support payments etc. So they won't have a checking account, which in turn means they can't pay online.
It's an American problem @Ben Daniel . You are the only country I have ever been in with such backward banking. Electronic online banking is the norm in almost every other developed country I know of. It was like going back 30 years when we started in the USA.
In New Zealand and OZ you can't do anything hardly without a bank account. Can;t even get government assistance. It is more secure, instant and easier to pay everythign online but the USA doesn't seem keen. No idea why. You can only rent a house in most countries if you have either a direct debit or automatic payment for rent. Except in some very poor areas if you told your property manager you wanted to pay your rent in cash they would assume you were joking or trying to launder drug money!
It's also a poverty problem, with 50M people to deal with. Opening a bank account in the US is a Catch22 for many low-to-no income people. Have you opened a US bank account lately, as a non-commercial customer? First, you need to have some money to deposit. And then multiple forms of ID and multiple evidence of proof of your address is often required. There are very few free accounts anymore unless you sign up for direct deposit. Direct deposit works great.......if you have a reliable, repeating source of income. If you add an internet requirement to making any kind of payment, that presumes a computer and/or smart phone. That's presuming too much
Comparing US banking to that of any European country or OZ and NZ is comparing apples to oranges. We don't have a national ID system other than SS#, which is a fiasco of an ID system (since it wasn't designed to determine or prove anything on than SS benefits). And we have a much larger population, with immigration issues. Additionally, we don't have a national or state bank monopoly (yet). My husband grew up in Sweden. He's been back 25 years, but I still have to hear a lot of about what works there and what doesn't work here. Well, doing anything for 9M people just doesn't always translate easily or quickly to 320M.
There are a ton of landlords in the US (and here on BP) with tenants living below the poverty line. Making it difficult for them pay seems counterproductive to what they are trying to do.
Is this a national trend, requiring online payments in lieu of any other payment method? If so, is it being met with as much resistance as the comments that this news story is generating? What kind of payments do you accept?
I guess everything is moving toward the Internet. The days of paper are numbered..
My company decided to try and figure this "payment" (aka. "collection" on our end) problem out when we brought property management in house (note 1). The issue is clear. For anyone renting property that meets the 2% rule (or 1.5% rule, and 1% rule in some areas) you will find qualified applicants and tenants who are the "unbanked" or "underbanked". Typically they are good tenants. They work hard. They are poor, but are trying hard to "make" the American Dream for themselves and their family. They prioritize paying bills and the rent. And WE rent to them. In essence, they are US. Hard working Americans trying to make a life for themselves.
BTW, forcing the "unbanked" to "bank" is like forcing a minimum wage worker to get a raise. I conclude this apartment complex is "cleaning house" with a policy that may not make a material difference to their bottom line. My opinion only.
Tenants who are "unbanked" can't pay online, which is certainly cost effective for the collectors. But there are alternatives. The most effective, in-person, collection initiative my company has implemented is the Deposit Card. Wells Fargo, Chase, and other banks have deposit cards that allow tenants to make payments at an ATM machine. 24x7 at tenant's convenience. They can pay rent in cash to a landlord account via their own deposit card. This is a great service to the "unbanked" in that the 'collector party' provides this service (free of fees to the tenant, I might add).
My message to the apartment in the OP post link would be... "put yourself in the tenant's shoes and try to figure out the "payment" (aka. "collection" on your end) problem." There are solutions that are not punitive. Get creative and work it out... Their current solution seems shallow minded. Probably why they are in the news.
Did anyone see this comment to the article? Maybe the tenant featured misunderstood that the LL is not requiring online payment. They are saying it is an option and not a requirement and asked for the story to be retracted. Maybe the journalist who wrote the story didn't see any primary source that said that online payment was required. Sigh.
"Hello all, I wanted to let you know that Asset Campus Housing has been in contact with the KXAN news station regarding the story aired. The statements in the story were incorrect as residents are not forced to pay online but rather offered the service as a convenience. Residents are always welcome to pay by check or money order in the office. We have requested that the station issue a retraction. We appreciate all of the concern for our residents and welcome this story as an opportunity to increase our customer service for our tenants.
It's an American problem @Ben Daniel . You are the only country I have ever been in with such backward banking. Electronic online banking is the norm in almost every other developed country I know of. It was like going back 30 years when we started in the USA.
In New Zealand and OZ you can't do anything hardly without a bank account. Can;t even get government assistance. It is more secure, instant and easier to pay everythign online but the USA doesn't seem keen. No idea why. You can only rent a house in most countries if you have either a direct debit or automatic payment for rent. Except in some very poor areas if you told your property manager you wanted to pay your rent in cash they would assume you were joking or trying to launder drug money!
Did anyone see this comment to the article? Maybe the tenant featured misunderstood that the LL is not requiring online payment. They are saying it is an option and not a requirement and asked for the story to be retracted. Maybe the journalist who wrote the story didn't see any primary source that said that online payment was required. Sigh.
"Hello all, I wanted to let you know that Asset Campus Housing has been in contact with the KXAN news station regarding the story aired. The statements in the story were incorrect as residents are not forced to pay online but rather offered the service as a convenience. Residents are always welcome to pay by check or money order in the office. We have requested that the station issue a retraction. We appreciate all of the concern for our residents and welcome this story as an opportunity to increase our customer service for our tenants.
I have been to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, Borneo and Malaysia but not Mainland China. I was referring to the free world not communist nations like China :-)