Has anyone found a way for residents to make free ACH payments in anyway?

Has anyone found a way for residents to make free ACH payments in anyway? we currently have appfolio, we also have about 500 units and a lot of residents. (AF recently announced they would start charging $2.49 per ach transaction.) We are kind of in a wait and see. My one boss thought Zillow was an option, but I believe there is a maximum amount of units/properties for that. Honestly, we have about 90% residents paying online. I dread the thought of them all mailing in checks. We do have the option to pay a flat $1 per unit fee per month to eat the cost, however, that fee would pay for those who don't utilize the ach feature. I thought about Zelle, but I would have to create unique emails to allow that and we have about 12 different bank accounts. Anyone else in the same boat? I personally have no issue paying the $2.49 fee, it comes out to what, $30 a year, but I am already getting calls and, not to make myself stressed, but I'm the one who does all the deposits and such and the thought of now having to manually deposit all this is dreadful.

I dont think it will be that big of a deal at the end of the day. You may have a few people upset at first but they will get over it. I would just let them know you or your mngt company had no control over it. This is the new norm and like you said it’s a very nominal fee.

It’s not free ACH, but you should look into Bilt Rewards. They have a free credit card processing for residents.

Tbh for me, I would just eat the cost per resident and chalk it up to doing business.
But that’s not a really the “investor mindset”.
So- Still have the business pay the processing fee at $1. And then increase the renewal rate by the difference. Or if you want to be extra, charge a flat $25 a year admin fee per door. Then you make additional ancillary income.
And if a resident says something, say it’s due to inflation and the platform(pass the blame). Create a cost comparison email if the resident pays vs what your charging and send it to the residents showing them that they’re actually SAVING money.
The headache of switching platforms really isn’t worth the price in my opinion.

You are faced with an extremely simple choice. Is your time worth more than $1/unit/month or not.

Totally depends on demographics of property, but I think it’s a reasonable fee. Otherwise, absorb the cost. It would still be less than the cost to process paper checks.

I do not believe there is a charge for the resident if they set up the ach at their bank to be deposited directly into your account. Call your bank and ask. Or just budget the fee u see yur “bank charges”

We took the option to pay the cost in Appfolio

Absorb the cost and increase the amount at renewal, or add a admin fee at renewal.

Most don't charge if a bank account is used, only a debit or credit card.

Rent Cafe charges $0.95. The Owner can absorb the fee if that's an option

Our community uses RentCafe and they charge to utilize any form of payment through their side. The only way around not having to pay for online resources or getting a cashiers check, or residents can pay with a personal check and some utilize bill pay through their bank which doesn't cost anything either

I had only a few people clarify it with me. Unfortunately so many companies are already doing it. Most ppl will pay the extra fee vs writing out a check every month.

You could offer an end of year incentive… no lates, no nsf’s & no lease violations = the money will be credited toward 1st month of renewal term. Win Win for everyone

Our company has a clause in our lease agreement that the lease rate is for auto pay. Without it, there’s a $25/mo fee. Plus, when we advertise our units there’s a disclaimer that the advertised rate is with auto pay. EDIT TO ADD we use Buildium. Also, the resident pays the fee charged by Appfolio.

Zego! .45 per unit per month for ACH payments. The property would absorb the fee. It’s the cost of doing business and much cheaper than payroll to manually enter checks and drop off at a bank. You would need to check to see if they integrate with Appfolio. We use ResMan.

I currently charge $2 for online payments and it hasn’t deterred most my residents from paying online

ResMan! You’ll be pleasantly surprised with not only our payments, but the entire platform! PM me if interested!

You can try Domuso or Zego

We just opted in for $1 per payment to keep it free to the residents through Appfolio. Even at a $500 a month cost (for your size property), that would be beneficial in my book to avoid the labor of entering all those payments.

BUILDIUM does not charge the residents to make payments as long as they pay with a checking or savings account. If they elect to use a debit or credit card, the system automatically charges them a 2.99% fee. They pay the fee. All but 3 of our residents use the ACH method; the ones who elect NOT to use our system are charged a $15 fee for sending a check or money order. Our thinking is that we pay good bucks for the BUILDIUM system, and if they are causing us to have to go to the POB to get the check, bring back to the office for accounting, and then take it to the bank, they should have to pay us for the extra work involved. I might add our properties are in other towns other than where we live, the Post Office Box is a 20 mile round trip, and then the bank is another 10 mile round trip. Hence the $15 fee.

We took the $1 cost as well. Definitely worth the hassle and am not willing to have tenants charged more fees. We will move up rents to cover over the next year.