Online payment tools are transforming how people pay and get paid. The upsurgence of peer-to-peer payment apps, like Venmo, has added to the variety of ways landlords can collect rent online. While peer-to-peer payment apps offer convenience, they also have a lot of limitations when it comes to rent payments. Dedicated rent collection tools, such as Apartments.com, offer specific features for landlords that simplify the process. When deciding what tool to use, landlords should look at the different ways to use Venmo and Apartments.com to collect rent:
Using Venmo to collect rent
As a peer-to-peer payment app, Venmo is a tool many people are familiar with and already have. Venmo is convenient and easy to use but it lacks features that are helpful to a landlord as it is geared towards peer-to-peer transactions. This absence of features can create issues and complications for landlords.
Like other payment services, such as PayPal, Venmo has transactions go to your Venmo account, and then you have to transfer them to your bank. This creates an unneeded step, adding extra time to collecting rent.
Processing and fees on Venmo
Venmo’s processing time is typically one to three business days for a linked bank account or 48 hours for a linked debit card. If you don’t want to wait, Venmo has Instant Transfer, but there’s a 1.75 percent fee.
When you get paid, you want to get the full amount that was agreed upon and not have to worry about fees. However, Venmo charges the business profile owner a fee. You would have to pay a fee of 1.9 percent plus $0.10 for direct payments from another Venmo account. For contactless payments accepted with tap to pay, the fee is 2.29 percent plus $0.10. There’s also a 3 percent fee for senders using a credit card. Venmo has limitations on money for both the sender and receiver. This is for both sending money as well as transferring it to your bank.
Venmo’s features for landlords
As Venmo is created to send money between users, it does not have features specifically for landlords. There are ways to work around this, like setting up recurring requests on Venmo, but it is not optimized for collecting rent.
Fixing payment mistakes Venmo
Venmo opens the possibility of your tenant sending rent to the wrong person. There are few protections to prevent this, and if it happens, all you can do is contact the support team and hope for the best. If the tenant accidentally sent it to a misspelled email or someone not on Venmo, they could cancel the transaction if it is still pending. However, you, as the landlord, are unable to do anything; you would have to rely on the tenant. Also, Venmo does not have a way for you to reject payments. It is important to be able to reject payments if you want to evict a renter for non-payment because once you accept a payment, you can’t evict the renter.
Roommates paying rent via Venmo
With Venmo, you would have to ask each roommate for their share or have one of them pay the full amount and pay each other back.
Collecting rent on Apartments.com
Apartments.com streamlines and simplifies rent collection, allowing you more time for your other responsibilities. With specific features like late fees, options for roommates to pay, several payment methods for renters, Express Pay, and best of all, being free, Apartments.com is designed to help landlords.
With Apartments.com, all payouts go directly to your connected bank account, so you don’t have to transfer anything. This is why Apartments.com is a popular choice among landlords, as it reduces the steps needed to get rent payments.
Apartments.com payments and processing
ACH payments can take up to five business days; most payments go through in two business days. Credit and debit can take up to two business days. If you have established renters in good standing, Express Pay sends payments faster, and it is free. You don’t have to do anything; the system automatically identifies which ACH rent payments are low risk and expedites them so you can get paid a day earlier.
On Apartments.com, it is completely free for landlords to collect rent. Any fees will be on the tenant's side, so you will always receive the full amount. Tenants pay a 2.75 percent fee if they use a credit card, debit card, Google Pay, or Apple Pay. An ACH transfer is free.
Rent collection features on Apartments.com
With Apartments.com, you can set up monthly rents and automatic late fees. Apartments.com reminds renters to set up their payments, sends rent reminders before and on the day of, sends notifications when payment is on the way, and specifies if late fees have been added. In addition, you can easily credit renters on Apartments.com, whether for a rent concession or reimbursing them for a repair.
Apartments.com lets you add categories to expenses to help you organize your property accounting. Some examples of these categories are advertising, auto and travel, cleaning and maintenance, insurance, and more. Venmo and Apartments.com will send you a 1099-K, but Apartments.com goes beyond with its expense tracker tool that streamlines tax filing. This tool makes tax season easier for itemizing expenses on Schedule E (Form 1040). You can summarize all your rental expenses and income by property and tax category, then export it to CSV or PDF formats.
Collect rent safely with Apartments.com
Apartments.com has a dedicated Trust & Safety team and software dedicated to evaluating the risk heuristics of every payment to ensure your payments are safe. Apartments.com handles rent collection quite differently than Venmo. As the landlord, you can set up online payments on Apartments.com and invite your renter. Your renter will receive an email invitation and provide affirmative consent to opt-in to join the rent collection. This ensures the correct person is being added, and you don’t have to worry about the rent being set anywhere else.
In addition, you can end payment collection at any point, such as in the event of a renter issue. If you see that a renter has set up a partial or incorrect amount, you can end rent collection if a scheduled renter payment has not started processing to prevent it. Once a payment is in progress, the renter must contact their bank to try to stop it.
Split rent between roommates on Apartments.com
Apartments.com makes it easy for roommates to pay. All you have to do is create a single rent collection setup, add all the tenants, then enter the total amount of rent. Each roommate will set up payments for their share of the rent. Renters can automate their payments, so they won’t miss paying.
Collect Rent for Free on Apartments.com
Collecting rent on Apartments.com makes this monthly responsibility a breeze. It is also free for landlords, as renters pay any fees. With handy features like late fees, reminders, and automation for it all, Apartments.com streamlines the rent collection process.
FAQ
Is it okay to use Venmo for rent?
Venmo can be convenient and easy to use, but with its limitations, it may not be the best option for collecting rent. It lacks features that are designed for landlords which is why a tool specifically made to collect rent is a better choice.
Does Venmo charge a fee?
Venmo charges fees depending on your use. Landlords collect rent as a business, so they are charged a 1.9 percent plus a $0.10 fee.
Does Apartments.com charge a rent collection fee?
Apartments.com does not charge a rent collection fee, and it is free for landlords to use. There are fees on the renter's side for them to pay
