Q: What are the fees to pay rent?
A: Tenants can incur a fee depending on their payment method. Here's how this works:
ACH (Bank Transfer): There’s a $2.00 Convenience fee for ACH payments, which is typically paid by the tenant. If the landlord is on the Premium Plan, this fee is waived. Landlords not on the Premium Plan can choose to cover the $2.00 fee themselves, which will be deducted from the rent. You can adjust this setting under Account > Settings > Rent Payments.
Credit or Debit Card: Payments made with a credit or debit card incur a 3.49% fee, which is paid by the tenant and cannot be waived.
Note: Some banks are not supported by Plaid. If a tenant’s bank is not listed among Plaid's approved institutions, they can manually enter their checking account and routing numbers or use a credit/debit card. Currently, our system does not support payments from savings accounts.
Q: Can I enable automatic payments for my tenant?
A: As a landlord, you can enable automatic payments for your tenants. This article shows you, the landlord, how to enable this feature in the lease profile. Your tenants would need to finish the automatic payment setup by enrolling. If your tenants have any questions about the set-up process, you can send them the link to this article.
Q: What information do I need from my tenant to collect rent payments through TurboTenant?
A: If your tenant applied online through TurboTenant, you don’t need to collect additional information. Tenants included in a lease within TurboTenant will automatically be notified of any outstanding charges and will be prompted to set up their payment method.If your tenants did not apply through TurboTenant, you'll need to add them to the lease profile in your account with their name, email, and phone number. This will send them an invitation to the portal where they can set up their account. For instructions on adding tenants who didn’t apply through TurboTenant, click here.
Q: How will my tenant know to pay rent through TurboTenant? What do they see on their side?
A: When you send the first charge, your tenant will receive an introductory email from TurboTenant explaining the amount of the charge, and how to pay rent through the platform whether it is a bank account or a credit/debit card and associated fees. After making their initial payment, tenants will receive email notifications for any future charges.
In their TurboTenant account, tenants can view all outstanding charges and payment history. You can view the rent reminder emails they receive in this article.
The image below is of the introductory email to your tenant to make a payment.
Q: Does TurboTenant offer rent reporting for tenants?
A: Yes, TurboTenant offers rent reporting, which allows us to report tenant' on-time and early payments to TransUnion. Rent reporting can be beneficial for tenants, especially those building or establishing their credit history. You can find more about this subscription service here.
Q: I have multiple tenants on my lease. Who will receive the charge?
A: All tenants and co-signers added to the lease profile in TurboTenant will receive the charge notice, and any one of them can make a payment. If you have enabled partial payments, each tenant can easily pay their individual share of the charge.
Q: How long does it take for the payment to reach your bank account?
A: ACH Payments, on average, take 5-7 business days to be deposited into your bank. If you're interested in expediting ACH processing, we offer expedited payments through our Premium plan, which decreases the time to approximately 2-4 business days, excluding weekends and bank-observed holidays. Once you’ve received your first payment through TurboTenant, you can also request your bank to remove any holds to further speed up the process.
Card payments take 2-3 business days to be deposited into your bank on average. This processing time can also improve with a Premium subscription. Learn more here.
PAYOUT SPEED TIMELINES
| Expedited* | Standard |
Credit / Debit Card Payment | 2-3 business days | 2-3 business days |
ACH Payment | 2-4 business days | 5-7 business days |
*Expedited timeline is only applicable to Premium Plan subscribers
Q: Can you restrict partial payments so only the full charge amount is paid at one time?
A: Yes, when setting up a lease in your account, you can choose whether or not to allow your renters to submit partial payments.
This option can be changed at any time by going to your Lease Settings.
Q: What about collecting security or pet deposits?
A: Yes, you can collect a security deposit, pet fees or any one-time fees by by creating a one-time charge on the lease. Click here to learn how to create charges!
Q: Can I charge late fees for rent payments through the platform?
A: Yes, you can set up an automatic late fee whether it is a flat fee or a percentage of the rent when creating monthly charges. Learn more about that process in this article.
Q: Can I charge daily late fees?
A: You can set up Daily Late fees for your recurring rent charges! When setting up your monthly rent charge, you can select "Add Late Fees" and select the Daily Late Fee option! Learn more about that process in this article.
Q: How secure are rent payments through TurboTenant? Will my tenant see any of my bank account information or vice versa?
A: Your tenant does not have access to your bank account information, nor do you, as a landlord, have access to your tenant's bank account information. TurboTenant uses the best-in-class payment processor Stripe to transfer money from your tenants to you securely. You and your tenants' payment information is encrypted within Stripe and is not available or disclosed to anyone else.
Q: Is there a way I can easily track expenses and rent payments with your software?
A: We're glad you asked! TurboTenant partners with REI Hub to bring you intuitive accounting software specifically designed for property owners, which includes automated expense tracking and rental property bookkeeping. This integration automatically pulls any expenses or rent payments tracked in TurboTenant into REI Hub's accounting tool. Learn more.
Q: How will I know when my tenant makes a payment?
A: You will receive an email each time your tenant makes a payment for their charge.
Have a large amount of tenants? You can receive an email notification summary when your tenants submit their rent payment. Make sure your Email Summary notification preference is turned on within the Daily Payments Summary section in your account. Go to Account>Settings>Advanced>Change Preferences.
Q: How will I know when the payment gets deposited?
A: You will receive an email each time a rent payment is deposited into your bank account.
Have a large amount of tenants? You can receive an email summary when rent payments are deposited. Please ensure that your notification preferences for Email Summary are turned on in the Rent Payment Deposited section.
Go to Account>Settings>Advanced>Change Preferences.
Q: What will this look like in my bank account statement?
A: The bank account statement will display RENT: LAST NAME (of the tenant who made the payment) to help you identify which rent payment belongs to which tenant. This cannot be modified at this time.
Q: My tenant is unable to connect their payment method using Plaid; what should they do?
A: If your tenant is unable to connect their bank account using Plaid, we recommend they reach out to Plaid directly. You can share the following link for Plaid: https://my.plaid.com/ where they'll find some information about troubleshooting why their account is not connecting, and there is a chat option available on their site, too. Since we do not have access to their bank account information, this is something that Plaid will need to help with.
Alternatively, they can connect their bank account manually by entering their routing number and bank account number. This process typically takes 1-2 business days.
Q: Can a tenant connect multiple payment methods in their account to pay rent?
A: Tenants can only connect one payment method in their account to make rent payments.
Q: Can we use a savings account to accept rent payments?
A: We do not recommend adding a savings account to accept rent payments. We recommend connecting a checking account to accept rent payments.
Q: Can I set up an escrow account for the security deposit?
A: Yes, your escrow account may be added as a bank account within your account. Please check with your bank that your account will allow ACH deposits and withdrawals; you will need to use a checking account if your account does not support ACH deposits and withdrawals.
We do not offer checking, savings, or escrow accounts at TurboTenant, as we are not a bank. We help you process electronic payments from tenants to your existing account at a bank or credit union.
Q: My tenant reached out and said they got charged for paying rent; what is that charge?
A: If your tenant reports getting charged a fee for paying rent (and it exceeds the $2 ACH fee), they most likely paid using a credit or debit card. A 3.49% convenience fee applies when tenants opt-in to use a credit or debit card.
Q: How do I stop TurboTenant from sending rent reminders to my renter?
A: Rent reminders in TurboTenant are automatically sent based on the charges you've created for your tenant. These are considered important notifications, and the only way to stop sending reminders is if one of the three scenarios happens:
The tenant pays the charge (if they owe the charge).
The payment is recorded as an offline payment (if they already paid you outside of TurboTenant)
If you (the landlord) delete the rent charge entirely, please click this link to learn how to edit/delete charges.
Q: What should I do if my tenant's payment fails and they have a receipt?
A: Tenants will receive a receipt upon making a payment. If the payment fails, they will be notified. To resolve this, the tenant needs to log in and select "recharge" on the payment to make a new payment. The original payment may have failed due to insufficient funds being the most common reason.
Q: Can a rent payment be canceled or refunded?
A: Once a payment is submitted through TurboTenant, it cannot be canceled or refunded. Tenants are encouraged to work directly with their landlord to request a refund. Please note that all refunds must be handled outside of the TurboTenant platform.
Q: How can I, as a landlord, update the memo for all future rent deposits in TurboTenant to display which unit the rent payment is from, instead of just displaying 'RENT'?
A: When you, as a landlord, receive deposits for rent, the MEMO cannot be changed. The word "RENT" will be displayed alongside the tenant's last name to help you identify which tenant's rent payment has been deposited.
Q: Can I set up multiple bank accounts with the same company name for different purposes?
A: Yes, with a premium plan, you can set up unlimited bank accounts with the same company name for different purposes, such as one for security deposits and another for rent payments. To do this, set up the additional account and then go into the lease profile to select where you want a specific deposit to go.
Q: Can I set up a one-time charge for a tenant who is getting rental assistance from a third party?
A: At this time, only individuals listed in the lease profile are able to pay charges. You can add the third party as a manual tenant on the lease and create a one-time charge for them. They'll be able to log in and pay once they add a payment method. You can also add a note to the charge to avoid confusion for the tenant.
Q: How can I send payment reminders to my tenants and can I send additional reminders?
A: TurboTenant automatically sends reminder emails to tenants 7, 3, and 1 day(s) before the due date. If the payment is past due, reminders are sent 1, 3, and 5 days after the due date passes without the charge being paid. However, there isn't a specific reminder tool for you to use as a landlord at the moment. Additionally, there isn't an option to send extra reminders beyond the automated emails.
Q: How can I access TurboTenant's Rent to Income Ratio Calculator?
A: TurboTenant has a Rent to Income Ratio Calculator that you can access here. If the link doesn't work, you can find the Rent to Income Ratio Calculator by selecting the Toolbox tab on your dashboard and scrolling to the bottom.
Q: Can we reverse a duplicate rent payment and send it back to the tenant?
A: TurboTenant does not process refunds for payments. You would need to refund the renter outside of our platform. Once the payment has been fully processed into the account, you should be able to reimburse the renter.
Q: My tenant cannot make a payment. What do I need to do?
A: If your tenant is unable to make a payment, you'll want to verify that you've created the monthly (or one-time) charges. If you can confirm this, ensure that they have been sent to the Payments section of your account. Monthly charges are sent to tenants 15 days before the due date, and they receive an email notification 7 days before the due date. One-time charges are posted immediately, regardless of the due date.
If you can confirm the following, and if your tenant is still unable to make a payment, please provide their name and the details of the issue they are reporting.
Q: How can I disable a tenant's rent payment without deleting the rent charges?
A: You can contact our support team to disable your tenant's ability to make payments through TurboTenant. This will allow you to view past-due amounts while preventing the tenant from paying online - a great use case is during eviction proceedings.