Venmo works! Money shows up, you transfer it to your bank.
Are you not supposed to have a business account with Venmo to use them for rent?
You're right, business account needed. And reading other online comments, maybe Venmo, Zelle, Paypal etc are not that great from a Landlord perspective (Ex: Cannot reject partial payments if eviction is needed). But those platforms are great for the younger generation to pay rent online using an app. I have to do some research on what else to transition to. Looking at the comments here, Cozy or Zillow Rental manager look like decent options. Have to see how much of a burden it is for tenants....
I gotcha. I wanted to like it and use it...it’s so easy for simple transactions and most people are very familiar with it.
One negative with Venmo is that if you are in an eviction process...they can send partial payments which muddies the water and makes process more difficult.
One negative with Venmo is that if you are in an eviction process...they can send partial payments which muddies the water and makes process more difficult.
There's actually usually multiple ways around this, but the easiest would be just to block the sender on Venmo so they can't send you partial payments. Just FYI.
Just thinking out loud....what if they tried to pay in full and you had blocked them?
Well, I assume if you've already went to trouble of filing a formal eviction as you stated, you are likely well passed the point where they're going to pay you anything in full. (The scenario you mentioned involves a tenant making a partial payment during the eviction process, which is a well-known tactic to slow or even stop the eviction process.)
However, if by chance you do have a tenant you were evicting for non-payment and they're now wishing to make a full payment, do you really care if it stops the eviction process? You've been paid in full.
(I could go on and tell you other ways around this if you really wanted to still evict. However, it seems unnecessary since - if you were worried about a partial payment - then you were likely evicting for non-payment, and a full payment would in all likelihood therefore render the eviction a moot point.)
We use Cozy for rent collection and it is completely free. Zibo compares themselves to Cozy mainly because Cozy is the largest processor of rent payments. Cozy has a paid option that is $2.99 per month for express payments, so you get the money within 2-3 days instead of 4-5 days. Zibo is advertising 2-3 days without any fees, which is great. That being said, Zibo has a different offering of services. They offer banking, insurance and lending options. The insurance and lending are referral or broker services, so I am sure that is where they make their revenue. Zebo is a very new business so I am not ready to trust them with my money. If a startup goes out of business, how do you get paid? Cozy has options to list your property for rent, take applications and do tenant screening. I like all those services in one place.
Cozy was purchased by CoStar who owns Apartments.com. Cozy is not accepting new customers, so you will need to sign up with Apartments.com which has similar services. All Cozy customers are being moved to Apartments.com. It is similar but not identical.
If I was shopping rent services today, I would consider Zillow over Apartments.com. Zillow has gotten into the rent collection business. You can list a property on Zillow, take application, screen, sign leases and collect rent all through one website. All my qualified leads come through Zillow and they provide pre-screening information. It is just a better platform than Apartments.com.
As far as Zelle and Venmo, neither platform is intended for commercial use, so technically collecting rent on there is a violation of terms of service. Some member banks in Zelle have daily dollar limits that can be lower than rent amount. I have used both these services to collect security deposits, but we set people up on Cozy for monthly rent collection.
Both Cozy (Apartments/CoStar) and Zillow are backed by publicly traded corporations. That means financial oversight and public accountability. Zelle and Venmo are stable too, but really not built for or intended to collect rent.
@Kayla Jones so I had been requiring payment of cash or check by my tenant, but then they suggested using Zelle, and it's worked without any problems. It goes right to your listed bank account, and you can get notifications on your phone when the deposits are made.
@Kayla Jones I’ve been using Zibo.co. It’s free and has bank accounts for security deposits
Sarang Bhutada, I never heard of Zibo, so was checking out the website and noticed your name is listed in executive management as product manager.
FYI from a moderator: self promotion is not allowed on BiggerPockets. Promoting or even discussing your company is self promotion and posts will be removed.
@Joe Splitrock when I recently got an insurance payout from Travelers they paid me via Zelle. And if you go to the Zelle website you will see they have a business option - but your bank needs to support it
I've been using Tenant Cloud four a little over a year and have been very happy with them. Not only can you collect rent (w/ no charge to your tenants) it keeps track of your properties, gives you the ability to list them, communicate with your tenants, track payments / leases, store documents, schedule maintenance, etc. I'm sure there are plenty of other features as well that I just haven't gotten into but it's great and sort affordable - $9/mth or you can pay annually ($90 I believe). It's truly a great platform and I'm so thankful I found it. The only thing I was concerned with was customer service but they've been very helpful and prompt.
I've used Cozy and Avail in the past and neither hold a candle to Tenant Cloud.
Also, not sure what you use for tracking spending but I use Stessa for this. It's also amazing, easy to use and free.
I will say this about Venmo. It is very difficult to interact with them in case of fraud. All email. Took like 6k out of a bank account, they don't flag transactions as possible fraud, they didn't stop the transactions, yes they eventually sorted the issue out but it took a while. Basically we were advised that Venmo should be linked to a debit card and never a bank account. Now on the receiving end if your tenant uses a debit card they can likely reverse the transaction like a CC I suppose so its not like ACH. It is also against Venmo terms to use this for business transactions. Zelle and popmoney are services that tenants have through their banks with which they can pay. I just tell tenants I accept whatever electronic transfer their bank uses, that works for now.
I use a product called Zrent. It’s free (if you have an account with an affiliated bank)and has been a game changer. Can see if tenant scheduled rent, can take one time payments ie water bill. Not sure if they are nationwide but worth checking out. They also hold security deposits and send annual interest to tenant.
Cozy became apartments.com. It’s a good platform with no cost to the property owner. Tenants who try and use ACH or debit card Pay a fee. But transfers from their checking account or no cost. The only downside I see is the lag time for payments that hit your bank.It’s just a few days, it’s nothing major. Otherwise it’s an easy platform for those who don’t want to use it we offer a $25 service charge. That tends to motivate them.
@Kayla Jones I’m a huge fan of Buildium.com. Allows for e-checks and credit cards. Have used them for 10+ years w great success. Tenants love the portal and ability to set up automatic payments.
@Michael Plante Thank you! I’m just learning about Cozy! And I just read about Zibo, which is suppose to be like Cozy, but there are no fees. We shall see!
I’ve never paid a fee with cozy
My tenents have never said they paid a Fee expect for the background check
The tenants do not pay a fee if they pay through a bank account. However if they pay with a credit card they have to pay 3%.
Many ways to a cheap way to have tenants pay the rent in many ways.
1.) Tenantcloud (free)
2.) Cozy (free)
3.) Innago (free)
I've tried Cozy and I find them very slow in transaction but it has been very easy to set up.
TenantCloud is more of the same but I feel they can do a bit more and allow adjustable payment for incidental things. So invoice is more a breeze.
Innago is another one. I have not personally used the platform.
I'm a tech guy so I love options.
I am planning on using all them to see which has the best user friendly option as a tenant and as the landlord.
I will be happy to write a blog if I get enough feedback. So please do let me know if anyone who really wants a detailed case study of these or others.
Zibo has a different offering of services. They offer banking, insurance and lending options. The insurance and lending are referral or broker services, so I am sure that is where they make their revenue.
All companies that process money - whether a payroll processor, a portal where tenants can pay their rent, venmo, paypal, etc etc etc make their money by investing your money. They make a LOT of money this may. Millions and millions of $$. It is the real business they are in - everything else is fluff to get folks to use their money transfer services.
I have been using cozy for a couple of years and aside from the 3-5 day hold period it works great. It's also a good app for managing your portfolio, scanning prospective tenants and sending payment notices.
I recently started also using Zillow rental manager and feel this platform works equally well to cozy for payments. Zillow seems to yield a much higher number of renters during vacancies, so I'm considering transitioning completely to Zillow.
The last platform I also use is landlord studio. They recently started doing tenant screening and accepting payments. This app is the system I prefer for property management. Very detailed reports, great email messages for tenants and easy to stay organized. Biggest downfall is that they charge per unit
Hope this rambling helps!