All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

@Joe Splitrock  There might be situations where you're right, I'm certainly not an expert. In this situation the credit card payment was made to Cozy, not me. That would mean that Cozy would need to go through this process you're talking about, not me. 

Whats more, even if I made an attempt to do what you said, Cozy wasn't allowed to provide me with the credit card company that the tenant used (rightly so). So even if I blindly reached out to every credit card provider, providing the proof you mentioned to every one, would I ever get a result? 

I could take the tenant to court (which I did) and get some result. However, even this doesn't guarantee collection of the amounts owed over and above the court costs incurred (story for another day). No, the best offense is a good defense, and the best defense is to use the safest rent collection methods possible (which is not CC payments).   

Well I agree on one point. Two of the payment methods that cozy accepts are indeed some of the riskiest forms of payment that an investor can receive. Cash>Check>ACH>Credit card.

Credit card: Disputable up to 90 days by the click of a button with minimal verification relative to the other methods

ACH: Disputable up to 60 days by informing the bank in writing (and with a higher level of verification by the bank)

Check: Disputable up to 30 days after the customer’s bank statement is issued and requires the customer to prove fraud or identity theft

Cash: is king - however the chances of getting your tenants to send you cash every month is nil

The goal of any investment is to reduce risk (or be duly compensated for accepting additional risk). A simple change from credit card payments to ACH reduces the landlord’s exposure by 30 days, providing valuable time to go through the eviction process.

If you are a current Cozy customer and there is no way that you can go back to accepting checks, you should reach out to Cozy customer service and request that credit card payments be made optional. If, as Lucas Hall suggests, Cozy doesn’t receive revenue from accepting credit card payments, then there should be no reason Cozy doesn’t add this functionality.

Lucas, as illustrated above, the landlord’s choice of payment acceptance can have a profound impact on risk. Your last statement “Regardless of how a landlord chooses to collect rent, they could experience the same thing that happened to you” is blatantly false (but I can see why you would want people to believe that). 

Well I agree on one point. Two of the payment methods that cozy accepts are indeed some of the riskiest forms of payment that an investor can receive. Cash>Check>ACH>Credit card.

Credit card: Disputable up to 90 days by the click of a button with minimal verification relative to the other methods

ACH: Disputable up to 60 days by informing the bank in writing (and with a higher level of verification by the bank)

Check: Disputable up to 30 days after the customer’s bank statement is issued and requires the customer to prove fraud or identity theft

Cash: is king - however the chances of getting your tenants to send you cash every month is nil

The goal of any investment is to reduce risk (or be duly compensated for accepting additional risk). A simple change from credit card payments to ACH reduces the landlord’s exposure by 30 days, providing valuable time to go through the eviction process.

If you are a current Cozy customer and there is no way that you can go back to accepting checks, you should reach out to Cozy customer service and request that credit card payments be made optional. If, as Lucas Hall suggests, Cozy doesn’t receive revenue from accepting credit card payments, then there should be no reason Cozy doesn’t add this functionality.

Lucas, as illustrated above, the landlord’s choice of payment acceptance can have a profound impact on risk. Your last statement “Regardless of how a landlord chooses to collect rent, they could experience the same thing that happened to you” is blatantly false (but I can see why you would want people to believe that). 

Well I agree on one point. Two of the payment methods that cozy accepts are indeed some of the riskiest forms of payment that an investor can receive. Cash>Check>ACH>Credit card.

Credit card: Disputable up to 90 days by the click of a button with minimal verification relative to the other methods

ACH: Disputable up to 60 days by informing the bank in writing (and with a higher level of verification by the bank)

Check: Disputable up to 30 days after the customer’s bank statement is issued and requires the customer to prove fraud or identity theft

Cash: is king - however the chances of getting your tenants to send you cash every month is nil

The goal of any investment is to reduce risk (or be duly compensated for accepting additional risk). A simple change from credit card payments to ACH reduces the landlord’s exposure by 30 days, providing valuable time to go through the eviction process.

If you are a current Cozy customer and there is no way that you can go back to accepting checks, you should reach out to Cozy customer service and request that credit card payments be made optional. If, as Lucas Hall suggests, Cozy doesn’t receive revenue from accepting credit card payments, then there should be no reason Cozy doesn’t add this functionality.

Lucas, as illustrated above, the landlord’s choice of payment acceptance can have a profound impact on risk. Your last statement “Regardless of how a landlord chooses to collect rent, they could experience the same thing that happened to you” is blatantly false (but I can see why you would want people to believe that). 

@Kyle J.Feel free to reach out to me directly and Ill walk you through the events 

One account added for each transaction (month) the tenant disputed. As to your first question, I'm curious about that too.  

I'd steer clear of Cozy because they accept credit card payments. Most credit card companies allow customers to dispute credit card transactions up to 90 days. This happened to me and resulted in a tenant going from fully paid to 3 months behind in a single day. Cozy held me accountable and the process has resulted in 3 credit collections accounts on my credit report. I'd find a rent collection method that doesn't allow for credit card payments. 

Hi Brandon - your podcast got me started in REI several years ago. After listening to 100 podcasts I felt I had the confidence and game plan necessary to start accumulating multi-family homes. I have purchased 2 very well performing properties with significant cash flows.

I want to discuss an issue I had with a well known property management site. The site allows for tenants to pay via credit card. This is a fundamental issue that is not discussed enough on this forum. Credit card payments are able to be disputed up to 90 days out. This resulted in a tenant of mine going from fully paid to 3 months behind in a matter of hours. I managed to evict the tenant after several more months, a court date, and a significant amount of property damage. The company then came after me to collect the 3 months of rent. This has resulted in 3 collections accounts on my credit statement.

I believe credit card acceptance is a risk that all landlords should be made aware of. As a person who has been burned by this inherent flaw, I feel it is my duty to make other landlords aware. I'd like to share my story so as to help other avoid this pitfall. 

I do not recommend Cozy. The inherent flaw in Cozy's business model is that you cannot turn credit card payments off. If a tenant pays via credit card, they have a 90 day period to dispute the charge. For me, this resulted in a tenant going from fully paid, to behind 3 months in a single day. In this instance, Cozy will come after the landlord to collect the lost payments. This has resulted in 3 credit collection accounts being added to MY credit report. Cozy does not make this situation well known, and it is not discussed on this forum at all. I recommend utilizing a method for rent collection that does not allow for credit card payments.

I do not recommend Cozy. The inherent flaw in Cozy's business model is that you cannot turn credit card payments off. If a tenant pays via credit card, they have a 90 day period to dispute the charge. For me, this resulted in a tenant going from fully paid, to behind 3 months in a single day. In this instance, Cozy will come after the landlord to collect the lost payments. This has resulted in 3 credit collection accounts being added to MY credit report. Cozy does not make this situation well known, and it is not discussed on this forum at all. I recommend utilizing a method for rent collection that does not allow for credit card payments.