Online payment - Cozy users

[Lacee Beitler]

Hi everyone! For any one who collects rent via Cozy (or any online payment processing), I have a question about when the payment processes vs when it's received: We love using Cozy and so do our tenants, but Cozy takes anywhere from 4-8 days to process a payment. In our leases, we have rent due the 1st with the grace period extending to the 5th or else a late fee of $50 is charged. If rent is still "processing" on the 5th , do you still charge a late fee? What if rent was submitted on the 30th of the previous month, vs the 5th of the due month? Looking to see other investors online payment experiences. Also, does anyone use Venmo for rent payments? This seems pretty quick to process and I wonder if it's worth it to switch over. Doesn't seem like there are any fees for business transactions, but I only quickly glanced at their policy. Thoughts? Experiences? Thanks!

[Randy Gillespie]

I personally would not charge the tenant a late fee as long as they made the payment to Cozy per the terms of the lease.  The fact that Cozy takes several days to post the payment to your account should not be a factor in determining late fees.  I've only recently started using Cozy myself but so far I like it.   Considering it is a free service, I don't mind at all that it takes a few days for the payment to clear.  I do log in to make sure they payment is "in progress" by the due date.  I've been meaning to see if there is a way to have Cozy email a notification to me that a tenant has made their payment so I don't have to log in to check.