Collecting cash rents

[Jake Miller]

There was a thread about a year ago that discussed this same topic but I wasn't able to find it again.

I recently purchased a quad, which is my only property. When I took over as the property manager I gave the tenants two options to pay which were the preferred method, Venmo and Zelle pay through their bank. Two of them use Venmo and have no issue with doing that. The other two prefer paying cash or cashier's check. In discussions it sounds as if they either don't have bank accounts and may not have smart phones either. I'm looking for alternative ways to collect rent that would be automatic and without me having to drive to the property. Don't want them driving to where I live now or setting up a P.O. box and having that hassle.

In the last post someone had stated a positive experience with Paylease. Has anyone had experience with them? I also considered providing the two tenants a deposit only debit card. I know that wont be scalable but since it would only be for the two tenants now, with differing prices of rent, I thought it might work until I am able to get a different level of tenant in there.

Any advice or input is greatly appreciated!

[John Johnson]

I deal with this with lots of my investors, especially those that are outside of the US.  One easy answer, both Chase and BofA allow for deposits (not WellsFago) into another person's account. 

Super easy, tenant walks to bank. Makes deposit and it shows up in the account minutes later.  No mess. No fuss.  Plus the deposit is time stamped. No arguments about what time it made it there

[Bob B.]

@Andre Johnson I don't have a problem with Wellsfargo accepting deposits for non customers.  They recently told me they have a deposit only debit card that would work for tenants.

[Jake Miller]

I have Chase for the property management account and I thought about that but didn't know how I felt about giving them the account number. Which is where I thought about the deposit only card so they just had that and didn't get the additional information.

[Kyle J.]

@Jake Miller Its not a big deal for the tenants to have the account number. They’ll be able to deposit into the account but not withdraw from it since they’re not an account holder. You’re account number is printed on your checks so every time you write a check everyone who handles it sees the same info, if not more. 

[Michael Plante]

we just have them deposit the cash in our bank account 

[Thomas S.]

Once they deposit you move the money out of the deposit account into your business account. The account you provide them to make deposits into is a special account you set up for that purpose only. There should never be any money left in it.

[Jason Lee]

I have a rental in another state.  I have a savings and checking account at a local bank where the property is located.  I gave the tenant an ATM card that only works with the savings account.  The ATM will accept cash deposits 24/7.  I can move the money from one account to another using my phone or laptop.