No Docs! No Exceptions!
Property managers are creatures of habit, especially when it comes to technology. All too often, we align ourselves with the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Think of it this way: Perhaps, nothing is broken, but maybe you could be more efficient.
Take checks, for example. Each month, you or one of your employees delivers a bundle of checks to the bank. This happens after the trouble of manually entering them in your accounting software. When you finally get down to depositing those payments, there’s likely to be a significant amount of unusable checks. They can be torn, illegible, or unsigned, and it becomes another hurdle to overcome before getting paid. For HOA dues payments, if there is no payment coupon with the check, or if there is not an association identifier, the bank cannot process the payment.
When this happens, you find yourself and your resident or homeowner in a bit of a gray area. Do you charge them a late fee? Does this affect their status as a resident? Was it an honest mistake, or are they buying time?
These are examples of docs or exceptions, and they can throw a wrench in your monthly operations. There’s a large propensity for human error in the steps between cashing, or resolving, these exceptions. The time it takes to rectify these mistakes costs your company money and resources. Resolutions resulting in actual payment to the property or HOA can often be delayed for days, or even weeks.
Having safeguards in place to prevent docs or exceptions from occurring will transform your business, and your cash flow. Your best bet is to do everything possible to keep docs and exceptions from happening in the first place.
Offering online payments to residents and homeowners is a good way to cut down on the number of checks, and ultimately, docs or exceptions. Without those pesky docs or exceptions, you’ve sped up your processing time while saving some money. And, if there ever is an issue with a payment, your provider will be there to fight your battles for you. You’ll have so much more free time on your hands you’ll wish you “fixed” things sooner.