To Incur or Not to Incur?
As a property manager using PayLease you have the freedom to set up your e-payment system to match the needs of your organization. Maybe you want to utilize some of our custom settings, maybe you want payments to be restricted to certain dates, or perhaps you have a specific accounting software integration. One of the most important, and often overlooked, custom options is the ability to incur your convenience fees.
I know, I know…”Why on earth would I want to incur the fees??” At first glance, incurring the transaction fees for your residents seems too cost prohibitive. After all you chose PayLease so that you don’t have to incur those fees right? That is often the first thought when we board a new client. However, as their residents start to use the system, clients begin to see the benefit of electronic rent payments vs. paper ones. Then the light bulb goes off… “The more e-payments I get the less manual work I have to do!! How do I get more people to use e-payments?”
So what is the #1 way to increase utilization of e-payments and streamline your AR process? You guessed it, to incur the convenience fees. When residents have the option to make their rent payment electronically you are already in front of the curve. But if it’s free, you will see a majority of your residents use the system. In turn, your manual AR process will dwindle drastically. Here are the two major things to consider when deciding to incur vs. not incur…
- Cost to Incur – Property managers absorb processing fees when they incur on behalf of residents. We make it a point at PayLease to provide you the lowest possible fee structure in the market.
- Cost to Process Manually – Here is the kicker. While yes, you are adding a cost by absorbing the convenience fees you are deleting a much higher cost to manually process a paper check. Ask yourself…How much is it costing me to process a check manually? Then compare that to the cost to incur the fee on an e-payment.
Everyone has different operating costs but I have yet to see anyone that can process a manual check for less than an electronic one. Think about what it costs to process a paper check. Not just in wages but also time, gas, benefits, insurance, etc… Think of all the time and money you could save reallocating that energy to different areas of your business.
Remember, PayLease not only offers the lowest fees to property managers who incur but we also offer the ability to incur for only certain properties, only certain payment types, only residents who are in legal, etc… Lots of customization to help you improve efficiency!
Maybe it’s time to think about incurring?