ONLINE RENT COLLECTION by COZY - good? bad?
Investor · Athens, AL · Member since 2015 · 45 posts · 17 votes
ONLINE RENT COLLECTION by COZY - good? bad?
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Founder/CEO · Portland, OR · Member since 2014 · 45 posts · 93 votes
10y@Aly W. to be clear, Cozy has three revenue streams: credit reports, background checks, and debit/credit card payments. Our support is also top notch, seven days a week. We aren't going anywhere. :-)
We're able to support free ACH payments, and simply don't see it necessary to nickel and dime customers over something like ACH. As I've mentioned in other threads here on BP, our ACH payment times continue to decrease, and later this quarter we'll see them cut in half again. Even today, if tenants pay with a card, it's 1-2 day turnaround.
Best,
Gino
CEO & Founder at Cozy
60 Replies
- Equity Raiser and Turnkey Provider · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes10y
Originally posted by @John Morey:
Hello all,
I am investigating some good online rent payment services. I have read an article on here but I am curious about COZY =
https://www.landlordology.com/rent-payment/
Has anyone used this service? thoughts/feedback please.
Thank you....
John
Hello John,
Although I have never used COZY, I can tell you I have heard both good and bad about it on BP. People seem to have mixed feelings on it. Is there a way you can do a demo or a trail? You might want to play around with it before you dive into it.
Speaking from experience, sometimes programs look great, but turn out to be terrible. You want to make sure it is user friendly and can do all of the tasks you require.
- Investor · Athens, AL · Member since 2015 · 45 posts · 17 votes10y
Thank you everyone.... awesome exchange.... lots of help. I appreciate this very much.
Happy investing to all.
- Equity Raiser and Turnkey Provider · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes10y
Originally posted by @John Morey:
Thank you everyone.... awesome exchange.... lots of help. I appreciate this very much.
Happy investing to all.
Good luck, John! If you do end up going with COZY I would love to hear about it. Like I said, I've never used it, but I have been curious.
- Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2015 · 570 posts · 521 votes10y
Originally posted by @Gino Zahnd:
@Mike F. you're correct. The vast majority of rent payments are automatic and recurring. It's also possible to make one-time payments for any number of things as well.
That's what I thought, just wanted to make sure. That's why I'm confused by why you said:
"We see a significant number of tenants paying before the rent due date to ensure the payment arrives early, and any issues can be dealt with before the due date. Restricting the date tenants pay rent to only a single date of the landlord’s choosing has proven to be problematic, and we’ve seen far fewer issues now that tenants can pay on any day of the month. So: our mountain of data shows that providing this flexibility actually improves the experience for everyone."
In response to my questioning the issue of you allowing a tenant to chose the rent payment day during set up of their account. Again my point is if the tenant has signed a lease with the landlord that rent is due on the 1st. I'm sending their 'invite' to cozy with their information already entered, it makes no sense to me from a landlord's perspective how you would be confusing the set up process with allowing the tenant to chose the payment date. If they agreed to the 1st and they are entering into the Cozy system to make automatic payments why muddy the process allowing the tenant to screw it up by typing in the 3rd? That's hard for me to understand the logic of your system it seems to complicate simple things and cause landlords undue extra issues where computers are supposed to make our lives easier.
- Rental Property Investor · Arvada, CO · Member since 2011 · 146 posts · 103 votes10y
HI @Mike F.
I think it's important to note that a due date is not the same as a payment date.
For example, do you pay your electric bill on the last possible day, or do you pay it when it's convince for you, knowing that paying after the due date will incur a fee? What about your credit card? See my point?
Leases are no different.
I've never seen a lease that says payments must be made on the 1st but rather a lease usually says rent is due by the 1st.
Plus, if tenants wanted to pay early, why wouldn't you let them?
Even if a tenant chooses to pay on the 3rd, they will have to suffer the consequence of a late fee. They are adults and must take responsibility for their choices. This is no different than if you accept cash, checks, bill pay, or crops as rent - except that online rent payments is convienient for both parties.
- Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2015 · 570 posts · 521 votes10y
Originally posted by @Lucas Hall:
HI @Mike F.
I think it's important to note that a due date is not the same as a payment date.
For example, do you pay your electric bill on the last possible day, or do you pay it when it's convince for you, knowing that paying after the due date will incur a fee? What about your credit card? See my point?
Leases are no different.
I've never seen a lease that says payments must be made on the 1st but rather a lease usually says rent is due by the 1st.
Plus, if tenants wanted to pay early, why wouldn't you let them?
Even if a tenant chooses to pay on the 3rd, they will have to suffer the consequence of a late fee. They are adults and must take responsibility for their choices. This is no different than if you accept cash, checks, bill pay, or crops as rent - except that online rent payments is convienient for both parties.
I think you're missing the big point.
It's an automatic withdrawl.
The tenant isn't choosing when to pay it other than the very first time during setup, after that there is nothing to choose or decide. The issue is the initial set up process.
Secondly my goals as a landlord are to have the least interactions with my tenants as possible, I'm not interested in late payments or making a few bucks more because of them, I'm looking for ways to eliminate late payments and keep interactions and time to a minimum with tenant management. So if I'm using an online system for rent collection I want the benefits of computerization and systems to automate the process, other than that I don't get the benefits for the reason to use it if I'm still screwing around interacting with tenants every month about rents to collect $20, $40 or $100, I've got better things to do with my time than stepping over dollar bills to mess with pennies.
Like I said the system isn't very intuitive, like when you renew a lease, they make you start all over again as if the tenant has not been using the system of the last year, two or three...
Your tenant signs the renewal lease for you and then you have to start the whole process over again with the tenant, "by the way I know you've been living here for 3 years and have been paying for three years, but as your reward for renewing your lease with us, please go enter all your information back into the rental payment system and sign up all over again." That's not ideal. Computers store information they save you time from things like this, what's stopping you from simply clicking on "renewing" the lease and entering in the new dates, hitting enter and being done? The renter has already gone through the signup, entered their information once and been paying, just continue the process seamlessly.
Last time I renewed a lease it was a 3-4 contacts with customer support, them having to change things on there end, delete files, tell me how to do it, me telling them what they are telling me doesn't show up on their system, them finally saying Oops changes have been made... doesn't work like I told you, try this now...
It all works out, but clunky.
Luckily up to now I've not had to use the system to collecting any late payments or anything else, I'm guessing those situations are going to not be as seamless as possible based on everything else so far.
Does Cozy work? Yes, but it's clunky. I'm not complaining, but if somebody is asking about it I'm giving my experiences with it. Would I switch to something else, probably if I start running into additional issues and find others recommending something way better I would, but right now we have a pretty smooth operation as long as you're in the middle of a lease with a tenant and there are no payment issues, and Cozy does work so far for automatic payments each month. I don't think Cozy has any serious competitors right now, when they do I think they might be more motivated to enhacements.
- Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2015 · 570 posts · 521 votes10y
Just want to repeat, because the above reply I made that explains the details of where I think they can improve can make it sound like their product is bad, and that's not the case. As I said originally, I want to repeat Cozy does work, it's a good product, it just has in my opinion room for improvements.
- Investor · Frankfort, IL · Member since 2015 · 206 posts · 55 votes10y
cozy is an awesome service and all of my tenants love it. Granted I'm only at 4 right now but I don't see myself switching for a long time, if ever.
An awesome feature is being able to list your rentals through cozy directly to realtor.com. That's huge imo for getting more interest on your properties.
Good luck and trust cozy you'll love it.
- Rental Property Investor · Jersey City, NJ · Member since 2011 · 1k+ posts · 876 votes10y
So I just had a tenant pay through Cozy for the 1st time. Do I consider the notification that their payment has been made but not yet deposited in my account meaning they're "paid", like being handed a check that hasn't cleared yet? I'm just trying to figure where I stand on the timeline at that point. I guess I'm OK with the time to clear, though I'd not be surprised if the delay is to allow Cozy to make some money on the float of having millions in their possession for a few days. They've got to make money somehow.
- Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes10y
Originally posted by @Johann Jells:
So I just had a tenant pay through Cozy for the 1st time. Do I consider the notification that their payment has been made but not yet deposited in my account meaning they're "paid", like being handed a check that hasn't cleared yet? I'm just trying to figure where I stand on the timeline at that point. I guess I'm OK with the time to clear, though I'd not be surprised if the delay is to allow Cozy to make some money on the float of having millions in their possession for a few days. They've got to make money somehow.
Yes, that is what I do. When I get the notice that payment is in progress I consider it paid, unless Cozy were to come back with some issue, which hasn't happened yet. I use it and erentpayment, and I like them both. I dislike the delay, but since I always get my money I don't particularly care, and it couldn't possibly get any easier, only a little faster. There is a saying in the car resto business: you can have quality, speed, and economy, but you can only pick two. For auto rent, I pick quality and economy.
Skyline Properties - Investor · Ponca City, OK · Member since 2016 · 46 posts · 15 votes10y
on occasion, i actually used paypal. currently i have my tenants deposit in my account or draw it right from their pay.....
- Rental Property Investor · Mcallen, TX · Member since 2013 · 37 posts · 12 votes10y
Originally posted by @Gino Zahnd:
@Aly W. to be clear, Cozy has three revenue streams: credit reports, background checks, and debit/credit card payments. Our support is also top notch, seven days a week. We aren't going anywhere. :-)
We're able to support free ACH payments, and simply don't see it necessary to nickel and dime customers over something like ACH. As I've mentioned in other threads here on BP, our ACH payment times continue to decrease, and later this quarter we'll see them cut in half again. Even today, if tenants pay with a card, it's 1-2 day turnaround.
Best,
Gino
CEO & Founder at Cozy
I just had my assistant ask for some help on setting up our first tenant on cozy and the answer was to look it up at FAQ. That is our experience with cozy. I'm less than impressed and can't imagine showing that kind of customer service with anything I was trying to expand or grow.
- Des Moines, IA · Member since 2010 · 44 posts · 14 votes10y
@Monte Blackwell Yikes! I agree with you that customer service is very important. Our team focuses on our customers and we are happy to actually talk to you on the phone if you need help with anything. Give us a shout at RentMonitor if you want to learn more about how we work.
- Professional · Portland, OR · Member since 2016 · 19 posts · 12 votes10y
@Monte Blackwell,
Hey Monte -- I manage support over at Cozy and I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience! We're definitely here to help get new users set up. I don't see any emails under your account, but if you want to follow up via email to our support team and ask to be put in touch with me, I'd be more than happy to help out.
We do often send links to our FAQs if someone is asking for detailed steps, but we absolutely don't want you to feel abandoned or left out to dry.
Thanks,
Katie
- Chichester, NH · Member since 2015 · 8 posts · 2 votes10y
I've been using Cozy for 6 months - the delay is annoying but nothing else. TAnother issue I have is they do not support automatic bi-weekly payments - I have a few tenants that pay every other Friday - they have to do this manually. I just started using the application\background\credit check features - nice having an electronic application and a checks that the applicant pays for.
Jason
- Investor · Des Moines, IA · Member since 2014 · 57 posts · 5 votes10y
Just wondering if Cozy got any faster?
- Chichester, NH · Member since 2015 · 8 posts · 2 votes10y
4-5 days at this point - no big deal though - I know the $$ has been sent on the due date...
- Investor · Colbert, WA · Member since 2015 · 2 posts · 0 votes10y
What if prospective tenants don't want to apply online, but want a paper application? It looks like Cozy doesn't have a way to address that yet?
- Professional · Portland, OR · Member since 2016 · 19 posts · 12 votes10y
Hey Angela! Katie from Cozy here.
We don't offer a solution for applicants that don't want to apply through Cozy, but you could definitely still collect a paper application from them, and then only use Cozy to collect payments once you're ready to rent to a tenant.
I hope this helps, and let me know if you have questions!
- 10yRonald PerichPro MemberInvestor · Granite City, IL · Member since 2014 · 658 posts · 301 votes
My collection provider just sent me word they can no longer collect rental payments due to their clearing house provider ceasing that service. I've considered Cozy and decided to take the plunge.
One thing people seem to forget is that Cozy is free for you and the resident. If you are getting a free service, you'll often have to take some less-than-ideal features with it. Some of the other services mentioned here charge for their service (some quite a bit).
Personally, 4-5 days seems better than the 8 days I was getting with my other provider. The other provider also allowed resident gets to choose when they pay. You want them to decide if it's the 25th or the fourth Friday or whenever so you don't get bounced checks. And some government services don't deposit until the 3rd of the month. It's better to get a payment two days late than to have a bounced check show up two weeks later IMO.
Using Cozy means I will probably need to stop using my other online application service. So I'll need to rework that part of my process.
- Investor · Seymour, IN · Member since 2016 · 165 posts · 32 votes10y
I have been using Cozy for a short time, and I had one applicant that did not want to apply on-line. I emailed a paper application that they can fill out and mail back to me. Not a big issue. I have yet to use the auto pay feature, but it seems that it will be a lot less headache than dealing with checks.
- Tampa, FL · Member since 2015 · 14 posts · 0 votes10y
Originally posted by @Mike F.:
Originally posted by @Lucas Hall:
HI @Mike F.
I think it's important to note that a due date is not the same as a payment date.
For example, do you pay your electric bill on the last possible day, or do you pay it when it's convince for you, knowing that paying after the due date will incur a fee? What about your credit card? See my point?
Leases are no different.
I've never seen a lease that says payments must be made on the 1st but rather a lease usually says rent is due by the 1st.
Plus, if tenants wanted to pay early, why wouldn't you let them?
Even if a tenant chooses to pay on the 3rd, they will have to suffer the consequence of a late fee. They are adults and must take responsibility for their choices. This is no different than if you accept cash, checks, bill pay, or crops as rent - except that online rent payments is convienient for both parties.
I think you're missing the big point.
It's an automatic withdrawl.
The tenant isn't choosing when to pay it other than the very first time during setup, after that there is nothing to choose or decide. The issue is the initial set up process.
Secondly my goals as a landlord are to have the least interactions with my tenants as possible, I'm not interested in late payments or making a few bucks more because of them, I'm looking for ways to eliminate late payments and keep interactions and time to a minimum with tenant management. So if I'm using an online system for rent collection I want the benefits of computerization and systems to automate the process, other than that I don't get the benefits for the reason to use it if I'm still screwing around interacting with tenants every month about rents to collect $20, $40 or $100, I've got better things to do with my time than stepping over dollar bills to mess with pennies.
Like I said the system isn't very intuitive, like when you renew a lease, they make you start all over again as if the tenant has not been using the system of the last year, two or three...
Your tenant signs the renewal lease for you and then you have to start the whole process over again with the tenant, "by the way I know you've been living here for 3 years and have been paying for three years, but as your reward for renewing your lease with us, please go enter all your information back into the rental payment system and sign up all over again." That's not ideal. Computers store information they save you time from things like this, what's stopping you from simply clicking on "renewing" the lease and entering in the new dates, hitting enter and being done? The renter has already gone through the signup, entered their information once and been paying, just continue the process seamlessly.
Last time I renewed a lease it was a 3-4 contacts with customer support, them having to change things on there end, delete files, tell me how to do it, me telling them what they are telling me doesn't show up on their system, them finally saying Oops changes have been made... doesn't work like I told you, try this now...
It all works out, but clunky.
Luckily up to now I've not had to use the system to collecting any late payments or anything else, I'm guessing those situations are going to not be as seamless as possible based on everything else so far.
Does Cozy work? Yes, but it's clunky. I'm not complaining, but if somebody is asking about it I'm giving my experiences with it. Would I switch to something else, probably if I start running into additional issues and find others recommending something way better I would, but right now we have a pretty smooth operation as long as you're in the middle of a lease with a tenant and there are no payment issues, and Cozy does work so far for automatic payments each month. I don't think Cozy has any serious competitors right now, when they do I think they might be more motivated to enhacements.
Mike, have you found a better solution? (just following up)
- 10yRonald PerichPro MemberInvestor · Granite City, IL · Member since 2014 · 658 posts · 301 votes
Just had my first month with using Cozy after the previous service I was using couldn't handle rental payments any longer.
Renter A "paid" Cozy on May 27 (Friday) and the deposit was made June 3rd - 7 days.
Renter "B" was on May 29 (Sunday) and the deposit was made June 6 - 8 days.
That's acceptable to me. Like @Mike F., I think a few enhancements to their service would really make it shine. I'm OK with the time for payments to hit the bank. I'd like an easier way of getting a receipt to attach to my PM software, the ability for my residents to pay bi-weekly, and a more consolidated review of payments made.
When you get above a few residents, you'll find it's necessary to use their "export" feature, which delivers an Excel of all payments made. Kind of klunky. I'd like a simple web page that shows me a listing of where everything stands.
- Investor/Realtor · Wentzville, MO · Member since 2014 · 846 posts · 431 votes10y
@Ronald Perich I agree that it needs a few things to make it more efficient. I have been using it since the beginning of the year. My tenants were mailing their rent to me before using this service. I have had only a couple problems with it, all were user error. One of my tenants did not enter in the correct bank account info which caused their payment to fail. Other than that it has been smooth sailing! (knock on wood)
- Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes10y
Originally posted by @Johann Jells:
So I just had a tenant pay through Cozy for the 1st time. Do I consider the notification that their payment has been made but not yet deposited in my account meaning they're "paid", like being handed a check that hasn't cleared yet? I'm just trying to figure where I stand on the timeline at that point. I guess I'm OK with the time to clear, though I'd not be surprised if the delay is to allow Cozy to make some money on the float of having millions in their possession for a few days. They've got to make money somehow.
So if you'r tenant pays on the 1st of the month, do you get a notification of that even though the money doesn't clear in your account for 5 business days after?
I just don't want to be wondering if my tenant has paid for a week before finding out.
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