All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

 Yeah 10-4, I'll have to review it. Currently i require: non-smoker,income 3x rent with pay stub verification, no bankruptcy/felonies/evictions, 5 years rental history/good references, employment verification, submit to background credit check (i don't have any set policy on minumum credit score yet),1st month payment and security deposit due at signing, must comply with online payments. 

 Ahh I see, that may work to leave cc option open then. They would have to dispute the charge to have it reversed after making the payment right? Only issue is that I make the tenants responsible for the convenience fee.. fee for eft is .50 and cc is 2.75%. So I would still give option to send via certified funds or bank deposit. I have one that pays by cc, all the others by eft.. or not at all haha!

 I think I'm going to block from from paying by eft and cc/debt yet still allow them to access the tenant website so they can still view their balance. There is not an option to block jus cc or just debt.. the options are either eft/echeck or cc/debt. I could block just eft and leave the cc/debt available but I think they could still make a payment with a debt even if the funds were not there. Although the hold day for cc/debt is only 1 day vs 3 for eft.

I'm jusy going to block both options and only allow payment by casheirs/money order mailed to a po box. Or maybe better yet, allow them to deposit right into my account at the bank. This would still defeat the lost in the mail excuse. 

 Yeah I should have just went ahead and filed on the 10th. I haven't had good luck with tenants. They always tear up the places and either leave or get evicted. Im usually left with money owed and damages. I don't think I've ever had a tenant that made the last months payment and gave proper notice that they were leaving. Anyway thanks for yout input, I appreciate it. Yes hopefully other adjust their lease or already have language to close this loop hole. 

 They have a year lease so cant update unless they agree. 

Nah, theres no way I'm knocking on doors unless I have some other reason to be there like a repair. They will just expect me to come pick it up every month.. no thanks. Not only would i have to now make an unecessary trip to the bank because they didnt pay online, but also have to drive all the way there and back to (hopefully) pick it up as planned. When I did accept the cash from them I was doing some repairs on the other unit. Online payment is a term of our agreement and i would not have rented to them if they claimed to be unable to pay online. 

What if the property was hours away? 

Good idea.. Wonder if that holds up in court. Good to have that in your lease anyway, most likely tenant will jusy pay the late fee if you threaten to take them to court over it. 

 Thank you for your input! My lease does not state anything about payments after a reversed online payment. It will from now on! I'm going to have to now include my PO box address to receive certified funds after reversed payment in the lease. 

I guess I will have to include some language to discourage sending payments to the PO box when there has been no rejected payments however. As the whole point of accepting online payments is not having to go check the PO box or the bank with checks all the time. Also to do away with the "lost in the mail" excuse. I'm jotting down language to update my payments clause already but I like your wording better! Thanks!

 Thank you for your advice!

Hey BP'ers, another "what to do" situation. Tried to search for similar forum post before posting but didn't come up with anything. When tenants make an EFT/Echeck payment Buildium/Forte apply a 3 day hold period and weekends can extend it to 5 days. So It may be about 3-6 days before I know if the payment is going to be reversed or actually go through successfully. I have a tenant that I think is using this to his advantage. He didn't pay rent on the 1st so I gave them a 7 day notice on the 2nd. he texted me saying he received the notice and would be paying asap. My response was that it would behoove him to pay by the 9th as I would have to go to court to file for eviction on the 10th. On the 9th he made an Echeck payment.. so i hesitated to go to the court and file the next day. on the 12th late(about 9:30pm) I got the email from buildium saying that it was reversed due to NSF. Then on the 13th he made another Echeck payment. This payment is still pending.. and will likely bounce(this will be the 3rd bounced echeck in their 3 months of residency.. wait no.. 4th one lol) Have not filed in court yet, will probably go tomorrow.

In my lease, the only method of payment accepted is through the tenant website(echeck/debt/cc). However I did accept cash once after the first NSF echeck payment with clear communication to tenant that this would be the one and only time.( I know I know.. cash.. not good but I'm working with a shoestring budget at the moment).

I'm wondering if I should mail them a certified letter stating that I am blocking their access to the tenant website due to abusing the hold days and tell them they will need to send a certified check to my PO box on or before the 1st of the month. I don't want to be in limbo about wether to file in court or not while their echeck that will likely bounce is still processing. I know i should just go file, but that's 150 bucks im trying not to spend.

 I'm going to compile my excuse list and bring it to all my lease signings from now on. Maybe I'll even categorize the list as to the type of excuse Categories: Heard these a million times, Creative yet i still didn't buy it, Come on is that really the best you got?, Consider re-evaluating your priorities)