I self-manage 4 doors,. The units I manage all pay thru Zelle, which works fine for now.
I've been reading posts here about various online rent collection companies. Seems like there are issues with many of these companies - many of the posts are not current. So would anyone care to share their more recent appraisals of their rent collection services?
Also, I'm hesitant to give my Social Security number to these services, for security reasons. Do they all require that?
Azibo, Zillow, RentRedi, PayRent, Avail, Doorloop, etc.
Rental Property Investor · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2020 · 14 posts · 21 votes
2y
Dee,
Getting Started I used apartments.com to collect rent, It was originally cozy.co and apartment's bought them. Didn't have any issues with the platform, and it was free to use as a landlord. If I remember correctly, ACH payments took about 3-5 days to process. It also was useful for credit and background checks. As a free platform I'd recommend looking into it, if you haven't already.
I've since moved onto using Buildum as an all in 1 property managements software. Which as worked well for rent collection. However, its a few thousand per year so that doesn't make sense for a portfolio of 4 doors.
Cambridge, MA · Member since 2015 · 651 posts · 736 votes
2y
@Dee Sivad Some form of official identification (SSN, ITIN, passport, etc) is collected by all banking services, including ones that provide online rent payments. Zelle has your ID on file. Collecting official identification is required by US banking regulations.
The real issue with the various services is how much they cost and how reliable is their 3rd party payment processor. I use apartments.com (formerly cozy.co) to collect rent from my 3 units because it is free for both the landlord and the tenant and its 3rd party payment processor, stripe.com, is well established and reliable. Stripe is the 3rd party payment processor used by Amazon. It not only securely stores information, like your SSN, but it reliably moves money from your tenant's bank to your bank. It is not likely to go belly up mid transfer which is what happened a few years back with another payment processing company.
Rental Property Investor · Member since 2021 · 385 posts · 197 votes
2y
Hey @Dee Sivad, we've been using a property management software for years now and trust me when I say that it's a game changer. You can manage all aspects of your rentals with just one platform and collecting rent has never been easier. I also use my property management company to list my properties, screen my tenants and sign leases.
We've been using Innago and it works really well for us! They too ask for an SSN when signing up, and when I spoke to their support team, they mentioned that they are required by law to do so, since I am using them for online rent collection. I think most of the other companies you mentioned above will ask you for the same. I understand your concern, but it's definitely worth it.
Property Manager · Charlotte, NC · Member since 2022 · 138 posts · 87 votes
2y
Hi @Dee Sivad, I self-manage 1 LTR and utilize PayRent (through WePay), there is a processing fee each month (for me, not the renter). RentRedi is a solid choice as well, I may be making a switch back, when I acquire more doors. PayRent did not require my SSN, but I run this through my LLC. Happy to connect and chat more.