separate bank accounts for each tenant?

[Tedd Lodes]

Our property manager recently quit on us and so I'm going to be taking over for the foreseeable future. The only problem is we travel a lot and I'm trying to figure out a way to collect rent without actually being here. We have 24 units that are mostly lower income. I think only one of our tenants has a checking account…nearly all of them pay in cash or with a money order.  I'm considering opening up a separate bank account for each tenant so that they could deposit their rent money into our bank on the first of each month. Just wondering if anyone else has any experience doing it like this or can think of a better way. Again, checks and online pay are not an option for 95% of our tenants.  Thanks for your help!

[Rajeev Kotyan]

@Tedd Lodes: From an ease of book-keeping I have used one bank account per property unit, as it allows me to glance at the bank accounts in the first week of the month and see who has not paid (or partially paid) without actually going through the books.