All Forum Posts by: Alyssa K.

@Chris Virgil-Stone about 24 hours

@Mindy Jensen thank you! @Greg H. I’d love to hear any insights you have to offer! Currently in the first lease, with my first two tenants, in my first two rentals, so absolutely still learning!

@Joe Splitrock turns out Cozy made an error and reported their failed payment, due to insufficient funds, to me as they had claimed fraud/disputed with their bank. Still dealing with not having rent in hand, but feel much better knowing they didn’t maliciously report their payment as fraud to buy themselves another week.

@Bryan Devitt that is the plan, however I’m having a heck of a time finding any hard and fast rules about dates in regards to starting the eviction process. I’d like to give a proposed notice to vacate, and if payment is not received by X days, follow through with an actual notice to vacate. But the laws don’t appear to spell out timelines other than they need to have received notice 3 days prior to my filing a forcible detainer. Their new payment is already pending, and after talking to the renter I don’t think I’ll have an issue with it posting, however as it will be a week late by the time it switches from pending to posted, I still want to make sure I take the necessary steps to follow the letter of the law, protect my asset, and deter them from allowing this to happen again.

@Matthew Olszak I thought the same and contacted both Cozy and my bank to remedy the situation. Cozy is accepting responsibility as it turns out there was a glitch in their system that caused payments missed due to insufficient funds to report to the landlord as fraudulent causing unnecessary panic from several landlords, myself included. Apparently when you have express pay Cozy floats the tenants rent while they wait for it to be received, when it wasn’t, they reclaimed the money they floated. Still dealing with unpaid rent, but all is well with Cozy and my bank.

@Joe Splitrock I did tell the tenant they now need to pay this month in a cashiers check, however because they rescheduled their payment through Cozy already, they are claiming the money already left their account; which is totally possible, however it won’t hit mine until the 8th. My husband spoke with our bank this morning and complained that Cozy did not have his authorization for the withdraw, and so now they have credited the account back. I’m worried this was the wrong move, as the waters now seem muddy with a second payment pending in Cozy, our bank floating the withdrawn money, and Cozy I assume being charged for that reversal from our bank; especially in relation to eviction.

@Eric C. And yes, absolutely, we are very much “company policy” driven, and will uphold the lease to the letter

@Eric C. They have been charged a return payment fee as stipulated in their lease. On the 5th (Texas) we will begin charging late fees. I’m reading up on Texas law currently to see when and if I should post notice. They have rescheduled their payment, but it will still be considered late if it goes through, as it will not deposit until the 8th. My husband would like to post notice tomorrow to get the ball rolling in the event things go south.

@Caleb Heimsoth that will most likely be the route I take with these tenants moving forward if I don’t evict.

@Joe Splitrock definitely not Cozy’s fault it happened, I was just taken aback that it’s allowed under their system. I thought I protected myself from this situation by requiring they use the ach option over the credit card option, obviously not. Your explanation of the various ways something similar could happen makes sense.

The payment being marked as fraudulent is what concerns me as well. The tenant told me that she had insufficient funds and her bank did all this as a result, however Cozy emailed me stating the tenant marked the payment as fraudulent through their bank. I’m more inclined to believe Cozy, and don’t think a bank would mark a payment as fraud due to insufficient funds, but would rather charge the account holder an overdraft fee.

They have scheduled another payment, won’t be received until the 8th, however my husband wants to begin the eviction process even with the payment pending to get the ball rolling in the event we need to follow through.