Are you sick and tired of waiting for late payments? Are your tenants starting to make you wonder about Illinois laws for late-payment evictions? Before you do more drastic research, allow us to suggest a potentially mutually beneficial fix for this common problem.
Online rent collection is one of the best modern conventions in property management. It solves many problems, but it has its drawbacks. Read this handy guide to learn more about the pros and cons of online rent collection and how to get around the cons.
Pros of Online Rent Collection
The two main advantages of online rent collection are saving time and drastically reducing late payments. These primary benefits have further positive knock-on effects.
You incur far fewer costs overall when you take an online payment. You don't have to put money up for a PO box or drive from unit to unit, wasting time and money. Reducing late payments also boosts your cash flow position and makes monthly budgeting easier.
Online payments get logged automatically as the tenant pays them. The tenant can set automatic payments to go off. When these conventions work together, landlords and tenants benefit from the reduced errors in payment amounts and their landlord accounting.
Another great benefit of online collection is that it's far safer for either party than carrying cash to the bank.
Cons and How to Fix Them
Online rent collection is not a perfect solution, merely a really good one with some flaws. The most important drawback to know about is the problem of partial payments.
Online payment portals process full and partial payments indiscriminately (and often irreversibly). In law, a partial payment can count as an attempt to pay and thus frustrate your eviction process. It's impossible to vary this legal rule, even with an expressed term in your lease agreement, so the best way to deal with this is by conducting proper tenant screening.
Disputed payments and chargebacks are frequent issues as well. If a tenant is unaware of a particular expense, they may query the money leaving their account, and the payment processor often takes their client's side. The best way to solve this is to have all possible extra charges visible and clearly stated in the agreement.
Finally, banking fees may also cause headaches. Certain services charge way more for transfer fees than you would pay with mail or cash collections. The best way to get around this is by using a low-cost platform like ours.
Get the Best Online Solution Today
Online rent collection is a marvel of modern convenience that can boost your productivity. However, it does still have unique drawbacks.
It saves the landlord a lot of time and effort and drastically reduces late payments. The transactions get logged automatically, making accounting easier as well. You get the benefits of using your time more efficiently and cash flow stability.
The only problems to consider are partial or disputed payments and excessive banking charges. However, PMI West Suburban can help you navigate these obstacles with ease. Step into easier rent collection today by partnering with a sophisticated property management platform today.
