I got along pretty well for about seven or eight years having my tenants pay me. Once in a while, someone would get swamped by Life, and for some reason, Rent would be a low priority on the totem pole. But for the most part, everyone was pretty decent about keeping up with their obligations, and I didn't feel much incentive to change.
Up until I had That Tenant. (Fill in your own dramatic story here.) And the lesson That Tenant taught me (at my own expense, as all the most potent lessons are) was that I didn't want to rely on my tenants to choose to pay me. I just wanted to be paid, period, whether they decided I was their priority or not.
So, after a lot of deliberation and research, and realizing that my small, local bank didn't offer me the options that bigger banks might have, I decided to jump on the ClearNow bandwagon for an experiment. Originally, I was a bit nervous, because I wasn't entirely positive as to how the service fee structure was set up--- some illustrative examples would have been nice to help me better visualize--- but I'm sure I'm just slow like that. ;)
Anyhow, it has come in handy multiple times since I started back in November. And it's been nice when people say, "Hey, you're not our priority--" and I can say, "I'm sorry, it's automated, and there's nothing I can do. Make sure it doesn't bounce, because it will probably charge you a late fee."
Today I got a text from a tenant who's been with me since Thanksgiving. Their rent is due on the 15th.
"Hi! Just letting you know this month rent will be a couple of days late, and we are needing to put in our 30 days notice." (She was pregnant when they moved in; I suppose they need a new place.)
I give her the usual spiel, that I don't have any way of toggling the autodraft date. In the meantime, I'm scrolling through my emails and looking for one that said, "FAILED TENANT PAYMENT." Because I did get one, once, that was returned for insufficient funds-- it was the first payment, and we've been good since then.
But there was nothing that indicated a failed payment for today.
So, I have no clue about the state of their bank balance--- but I have no reason to suspect there wasn't enough there to allow my payment to go through, even though their preference was to wait until Wednesday (payday) to square up.
I'll find out on Thursday morning.
--96.46.xxx.xx