I’m a bit frustrated using Avail because when I get a new tenant it takes more than a week for the wire transfer to clear from my new tenants account to my account. This always costs me money as I may find a new tenant a few days before the beginning of the month but I have to wait an extra week for the money to clear into my account and thus I have to refund some rent.
After that, it always takes about a week for tenants money to clear once they are tenants.
Every new tenant has issues setting up Avail, avail always wants an online notarization, and the process is confusing for my tenants.
Any advice on streamlining this? I wish money could flow through faster. I love the idea of payments being online but don’t understand what the Avail system is so confusing and slow.
@Brandon Hi and welcome. Lots of things going on there in your post. We’re just a user community here, and while we may have faced some of the things you’re struggling with, we might not be able to help or not timely with issues with the platform itself.
May I suggest you might be best served by calling Avail customer service (contact info is at the bottom of the avail.co home page). Don’t use the email option in this case - IMO speaking with someone will get you on track faster. (I don’t work for Avail but I’ve had pretty good luck calling customer support.)
As management software? All in house stuff and keeping it simple. An age old copy of Neat Receipts 5.7 running on a PC with a usb scanner gives us all the horsepower we need for collecting rent, tracking expenses and filing taxes. As soon as tenants do their Zelle payment, an email comes from the bank within 5 minutes. They are routed into a separate folder that gets opened on the 5th to audit who possibly missed their deadline and need follow up…which is very rare. The same system/process works totally integrated for my PM customer transactions.
@Brandon I understand. We here aren’t privy to the workings of the platform, though, which is where I feel you may need the help. If you call Avail again, and don’t get what you need, do push back to speak to a supervisor. I have only done that once, and was transferred to someone who was tremendous help.
That said. I have rarely experienced problems with tenant payments. Here’s my lease stipulation and experience and how it has worked for me.
I am paying member of Avail, so ACH fees are waved for tenants if bank account instead of credit/debit card is used. Being paid member enables “fast pay” if they use a bank account, which should cause a deposit one business day after withdrawal (but I have seen up to three business days, see below).
My leases specifiy payment is due TO ME on the due date. I have no grace period, I charge a late fee day after due date. Avail’s late fee automation won’t work here, I have to charge manually (see below).
Avail platform works around withdrawal dates not deposit dates. Avail considers the payment made when it withdraws from the tenants account, and if the withdrawal date is x business days late (as defined in your settings) the automatic late charge will occur.
The tenant is in control of scheduling the withdrawal date, on a business day, only. The tenant has no ability to schedule the deposit date.
To me Avail’s process to treat a withdrawal as an on-time payment is akin to the tenant putting a money order in the postal mail and saying I am paid because of the postmark should it arrive. Yeah the tenant has for all practical purposes been relieved of his money irrevocably (moreso with a money order than electronic withdrawal which can be canceled or contested in some cases). Who knows how long until that envelope reaches my hands?
I have observed Fast Pay deposit to occur two business days after withdrawal (infrequently in one, and sometimes three business days).
I have observed credit/debit card deposit to occur in 3-4 business days after withdrawal.
And lastly, occasionally it happens the tenant’s card/financial institution will notify Avail sometime after the withdrawal, the deposit will be delayed xx business days. This is NOT under Avail’s control but is something to do with the tenant’s financial institution or card. I have waited 7-10 business days for a deposit.
I have good tenants so I take deposit delays on a case by case basis. In my lease, if due date is not a business day I will accept the deposit as on time on the next business day. For the 7-10 day additional delay occasionally inserted by their card or bank, my lease states there is no late fee provided the withdrawal was at least four business days ahead of the due date (since four business days is the longest normal delay I’ve seen). These clauses and others ensure tenants understand they are to make every effort to deposit payment on time but also that we will work with the one-offs.
I’m not sure if you expected withdrawal or deposit dates to line up with your due dates, hence my suggestion to speak with Avail on how the platform works so you can feel comfortable with these nuances. I hope my process and observations are helpful to you.
Go to another company like RentRedi. Avail will also return money to your tenants months after the lease is up just because they ask. They did it to me. Lease expired, tenant moved out, deposit returned, tenant stated they never authorized rental payments 3,4 and 5 and although they stayed the whole year on an Avail facilitated lease, paying through Avail, Avail gave them their monies back without contacting me and why? They had a lease and knowledge that the tenant stayed the whole year yet told me when I questioned why give the tenant back money months later that they had no proof the tenant lived there. So their leases mean nothing. Beware of Avail!
Avail’s transfer delays can be painful. One workaround is asking tenants to pay via Zelle, Venmo, or direct bank transfer for the first month, then switch to Avail for recurring payments.
In reference to line number two. From my several years of experience with Avail, the rent is considered paid with no late fee as long as it is scheduled before the due date, regardless of the withdrawal date. For example this month, my tenants rent is considered late on the 5th, the tenant scheduled payment on the 3rd for a withdrawal on the 8th with no automatic late fee added as I have set up. The only time I have had an automatic late fee added is when they scheduled on the 5th or 6th of the month.
Do you only accept the zelle to make this process the smooth as possible? I know some financial institutions have not adopted zelle yet and they discontinued to stand alone zelle app.
I use zelle because it’s faster (I can request the payment directly and reminders to renters are automatically sent), better (the money transfer is immediate unlike ACH transfer’s), cheaper (it doesn’t cost anything to use).
Yes. I love zelle. Instant payment, no opportunity or possibility for someone to reverse the payment as they can with PayPal and venmo and as I’ve heard they can do with avail. I just have tenant that does not have zelle as an option because thier financial institution does not offer zelle.