If you’re ready to learn how to collect rent from your tenants online, there’s no better time than now. Cash and checks — which have a pesky habit of getting lost, stolen, and forged — are, after all, undeniably outdated. Digital rent collection is the technology of the future.

Thankfully, it’s easier than ever to send and receive digital rent payments online. The process is fast, secure, and completely automatable, taking you one step closer to streamlining your entire landlording operation. Ready to free up some extra time and mental energy?

Stay tuned, and we’ll tell you exactly how to set up online rent payments with your tenant in a matter of minutes. Doing so is easier than you might think and makes far more sense than using Venmo, Zelle, cash, or paper checks. Oh, and did we mention it’s completely free for landlords?

How to Set Up Online Rent Collection in 5 Easy Steps

Setting up online rent collection is a straightforward and easy process. By following these five simple steps, you can start receiving digital rent payments in as little time as it takes to brew your morning coffee.

Step 1: Sign Up for Property Management Software

To collect rent online, you’ll first need a platform to help you do it.

We recommend TurboTenant, an all-in-one property management software solution built for small landlords. Signing up is completely free, with no credit card required to get started. With TurboTenant, tenants pay all ACH, debit, and credit card processing fees. If you choose a Premium account, the ACH fee is waived.

To sign up for your free account, simply click this link, fill in a few key details about your property, and you’ll be ready to roll in about 30 seconds.

Step 2: Add Your Rental Property to the Account

After creating your account, add the rental property for which you plan to collect rent. Click the “Properties” tab in your landlord dashboard and enter a few basic details, such as property type, address, lease length, and so on.

Adding a property will not only enable digital rent collection but also unlock rental marketing, document storage, maintenance tracking, and tenant messaging features, all of which are free and manageable from your landlord dashboard.

Step 3: Invite Your Tenant

Once your property is live on your dashboard, you’ll need to invite your renter to join TurboTenant. Click the “Tenants” tab, enter their name, property, and contact info, and they’ll get an email with access to their tenant portal. From there, they can handle the rest online.

Once you’ve sent the invite, the tenant will instantly appear in your dashboard under the assigned property. After they create an account, their status will update automatically. At this point, all the pieces will be in place for you to start collecting rent online.

Step 4: Set Up Online Rent Payments

Next, navigate to the “Payments” tab in your landlord dashboard and click “Set Up Rent Collection.” Select the property, enter the monthly rent amount, and choose the due date. You can also add security deposits, prorated rent, pet fees, and other charges as needed.

Once you’ve entered all the pertinent information, choose “Payments Through TurboTenant” to enable secure ACH, credit, or debit card transactions. Next, enter your bank account details to enable direct rent payment deposits to your account.

Once you’ve linked your bank account, you can enable helpful features like partial payments and past-due prioritization to allow roommates to split rent and prioritize older charges when renters don’t pay rent or fees on time.

After rent collection is live, TurboTenant will notify your tenant, and they will be able to make easy payments directly from their tenant portal.

Step 5: Set Up Rent Reminders, Late Fees, and More

Once rent collection is set up on both ends, you can fine-tune a few more settings to make the process as smooth as possible:

Rent reminders: Set up automatic reminders to notify tenants a few days prior to rent due dates. This subtle nudge can go a long way towards avoiding late payments.

Late fees: Apply automatic late fees in accordance with your lease terms. TurboTenant lets you customize the fee amount and grace period. (Just make sure it aligns with your state’s laws.)

Automated rent payments: Encourage tenants to set up recurring rent payments so that dues are paid on time, every time, with no reminders required.

Rent reporting: TurboTenant gives tenants the option to report on-time rent payments to credit bureaus, which helps them build credit by incentivizing timely payments.

We’ll dive into these features more in the following section.

Benefits of Collecting Rent Online

There’s a lot to love about collecting rent online. Here are a few of the best benefits of utilizing digital rent payments to simplify your process:

No More Chasing Down Cash and Checks

With digital rent payments, the days of checking your mailbox for checks and awkward face-to-face cash handoffs are gone. These methods may have worked adequately over the years, but modern tech makes the entire process faster, safer, and easier.

With digital payments, you and your tenants can handle the entire rent process online from start to finish. Whether they pay by ACH or credit/debit card is up to them (and you’ll never have to check your mailbox or drive across town to collect rent again).

Landlords Can Set Up Recurring Rent Reminders

An automated rent reminder will send tenants a gentle, professional nudge before rent is due. So, instead of tracking who needs a phone call and when, landlords can set reminders and let the automated system handle it.

Tenants will then receive a reminder before rent is due, giving them a chance to gather funds and pay on time without scrambling at the eleventh hour. With less back-and-forth, landlords can focus on higher priorities, and tenants receive a reliable heads-up. Everyone wins.

Tenants Can Automate Their Rent Payments

Automated rent payments enable your tenants to authorize monthly withdrawals from their bank accounts, all but guaranteeing timely rent payments, month after month. Doing so ensures consistent cash flow for landlords and alleviates the stress of missed due dates for tenants.

Getting tenants to sign up for automated payments is so crucial that some landlords offer small one-time discounts, cover the processing fee, or even throw in a gift card to sweeten the deal. A little incentive upfront can lead to fewer payment issues down the road.

Digital Rent Payments Can Sync With Accounting Software

Sending and receiving rental-related payments is one thing, but keeping track of them all is a whole different challenge altogether. To keep your books from spiraling out of control, we recommend syncing your rent payments with accounting and bookkeeping software. Doing so will impart a high degree of accuracy and reliability to your financial reporting.

TurboTenant makes syncing rent payments (along with all other transactions) with your accounting and bookkeeping straightforward and intuitive. Sign up for Premium Accounting and customize the settings to fit your portfolio.

This decision alone will make tax season significantly less stressful.

Online Payments Are More Secure Than Cash or Checks

Physical payments can get lost, stolen, or forged, leaving both parties exposed. Online payments, on the other hand, offer built-in tracking, automatic receipts, and bank-level encryption. With added fraud protection, they provide landlords and tenants with a more secure and reliable way to transfer funds back and forth.

All it takes is one misplaced envelope of cash or a bounced check to throw your cash flow into reverse. With so much at stake and your entire operation revolving around getting paid, why take the risk? Collecting rent online is free and offers a safer, more repeatable alternative.

Rent Reporting Incentivizes Tenants to Pay On Time

Digital rent reporting allows tenants to report rent payments to credit bureaus, helping them build credit with every on-time payment. This feature is especially valuable for renters seeking to secure future financing for a home, car, personal loan, or whatever else they desire.

Here’s how it works: The tenant invites the landlord to verify rent payments, then pays a monthly fee of $4.99 for the reporting service. Each on-time payment helps them build credit, with some tenants seeing their scores rise by up to 40 points over time.

TurboTenant: The Free and Easy Way to Collect Rent Online