Squash these Late Rent Excuses with Online Rent Collection

If you’ve already had to hunt down rent payments, you know how frustrating it can be to hear late rent excuses from your tenants. More than half of Americans have paid a bill late. What is the most common reason?

They genuinely forgot about it. 

Whether you’re a landlord or a tenant, paying rent on time is essential. It’s easier than ever before to ensure rent is paid every month, especially when many landlords collect rent online. Here are several tips and tricks to make late rent excuses a thing of the past! 

Common Excuses for Missing Rent Payments

Everyone’s made excuses throughout their lives for different reasons, especially regarding finances. Here are some of the most common reasons tenants say they miss their rent payment:

• We recently purchased a new vehicle. 
• Since Saturday was the 1st, I assumed rent was due on the 3rd.
• My pay period will be changed to the 15th and 30th of each month. I’ll pay on the 17th.
• I’m on vacation- I’ll pay when I get back.
• By the time I get home from work, the banks are closed. 
• My family member passed away, and I need to travel out of town to attend the funeral. 
• You weren’t home when I went to drop it off.
• It’s snowing/raining and I don’t want to drive in it.
• My friend/ roommate paid it.
• and the ever so common, “It’s in the mail”.

While landlords can be compassionate and let a late payment slide, it’s not ideal. However, if you collect rent online, these excuses become invalid, as tenants can conveniently pay from wherever they happen to be. 

Online Payment Systems Are Always Open

If you’re a landlord, you’ve likely heard excuses related to how the tenant couldn’t get you the rent because it was after office hours. Maybe they have an overnight schedule, were out of town, or had a family emergency. If you could collect rent online, this wouldn’t be an issue. 

Clicking to pay online using a mobile-friendly website or payment app will only take a few minutes. Most systems allow you to pay from your desk or on the road, making it convenient for renters. Collecting rent payments or paying rent online as a tenant can be done on your time, eliminating many late rent excuses.

Send Payment Reminders

No matter what you do for a living, you likely have quite a busy life. It can be easy to forget to pay a bill with work, family, events, and other things that take up your schedule. As a tenant, one of the biggest benefits of paying rent online is getting customized reminders sent to your inbox.

Online payment systems provide handy email and SMS reminders to ensure you’re always paying rent on time, boosting your credit score, and avoiding late fees. 

Allow for Scheduled Payments

When landlords collect rent online, it’s better for everyone. It allows tenants to easily pay rent at their convenience and makes it simple for landlords to track rent payments. 

Even better than reminders, many systems allow you to set it and forget it with autopay choices. You’ll be paying on time, every time, with autopay, and late fines won’t be bothering you ever again! 

Show the Full Account Balance

One of the greatest advantages of paying your rent online is that you’ll be able to see the full account balance. Payments, as well as invoices and credits added by your landlord, are included in your balances. 

A positive balance (+) indicates that you owe money, whereas a negative amount (-) indicates that you overpaid or paid early. Future payments and charges are not included in balances. As a landlord, you can say goodbye to the days of excuses like “I thought I already paid rent this month.”

Track Additional Expenses

In the same vein, when you collect rent online as a landlord or pay rent online as a tenant, payment systems allow you to track additional expenses. 

For a landlord, this may be expenses related to additional pets or parking spaces. For a tenant, this may look like tracking your utilities, as they may increase during certain times of the year, such as when your heating bill increases in the winter.

Provide Payment Records for Landlords

The most prevalent rent payment excuse is confusion. While mistakes will inevitably occur, having rent payments online and collecting rent payments online allows landlords to keep track of who paid how much and when it was paid, eliminating several late rent excuses.