3 ways property management can modernize rent payments for tenants

Paymentus, an MRI partner, is a leading provider of cloud-based bill presentment, payment and communication solutions. The integrated partnership with MRI provides consumers with easy-to-use, flexible and secure electronic utility bill payment experiences through their preferred payment channel and type. Learn more about the Paymentus integration with MRI here. 

Today’s digitally savvy renters expect a modern experience to pay their bills and make rent payments. At Paymentus, we call it “modernization mode” for two reasons.  

One, modernization is a necessity in meeting the expectations of today’s bill payers. Legacy software is too slow, limited and inflexible when it comes to offering the bill payment experience bill payers – especially younger ones – expect.  

Two, modernization is not a switch you simply turn on and off. That’s why we call it a mode. It’s an organizational commitment to breaking free of legacy limitations and deploying a solution that is comprehensive, inclusive and designed to deliver ongoing innovation.  

Why property managers must enter modernization mode

According to the latest How Americans Pay Their Bills industry report, 49.9% of rent payments are made as one-time, in-person payments – easily the highest percentage among all billing categories (utility, taxes, telecommunications, etc.).  

This one stat highlights two very important challenges for property managers: 

1.  Meeting the expectations of the near 50% of tenants who prefer traditional payments (ACH, cash, in-person) 
2. Ensuring your digital strategy is evolving and delivering the modern payment experience expected by the remaining 50% of your tenants 

Failing to meet these expectations risks late payments, unhappy tenants and more staff time spent chasing collections.  

3 essential property management billing and rent payment strategies

Here’s how property managers can enter modernization mode and deliver a holistic experience for today’s tenants.  

1. Partner with a best-in-class payment technology provider

Everything flows from here. Your billing and payment partner provides the foundation for your platform and its performance. Working with a vetted, trusted and experienced billing and payment partner should be table stakes.  

The real key lies within the solution itself. Legacy payment systems already have inherent limitations. These systems – sometimes decades old – are more vulnerable to security breaches, offer disjointed back-office functionality and are costly to maintain.  

But a “modern” payment solution can be just as unwieldy if not specifically engineered for maximum flexibility. In these instances, innovation is only possible through additional layers and contracts should you want to add payment options like digital wallets.  

A best-in-class solution is one that offers pre-existing, supported real-time integrations with advanced payment options, simplified reporting and reconciliation, a streamlined implementation process and bank-level security. This delivers everything you need in a single solution, without the need for added vendors, fees or IT development. 

2. Prioritize delivering an ultra-modern payment ecosystem

When considering the modernization of your billing and payment solution, it’s important to consider the whole experience for both tenants and staff.  

Adding payment options like digital wallets is great, but if these transactions are ultimately invisible within your reporting and reconciliations, they won’t improve your automation.  

An ultra-modern payment ecosystem is one that first addresses all of your property’s payment needs: rent, utilities, maintenance fees and more.  

From there, residents are offered expanded payment methods (credit cards, digital wallets, etc.), payment channels and features (text, digital disbursements, chatbots, notifications, etc.). Each of these should then be visible in real time through an advanced, integrated analytics and reporting dashboard.  

3. Select a holistic payment solution

The most important aspect of deploying an ultra-modern payment ecosystem is finding a single provider that can offer everything in an integrated solution. One of the biggest challenges many properties face is trying to innovate on a legacy solution that’s not built for today’s payment methods and channels.  

Inevitably, this leads to added layers, greater complexity and potentially dangerous gaps from systems being patchworked together.  

Offering a single integration layer that brings together omnichannel payments, real estate software systems, payment processing services and real-time reporting delivers the ultimate in efficiency and performance. It also offers the opportunity to continuously expand your platform to accommodate new products, features and payment methods as they come to market.  

Of course, partnering with a leading provider like MRI Software that can deliver a modern resident engagement hub helps maximize the power of the full solution. In this way, tenants get an easy-to-navigate platform that meets all their billing and payment expectations.  

Whether you’re looking to modernize your payment options or take advantage of secure, integrated payments to maximize your MRI solution, we’re here to help.  

Learn more about how Paymentus and MRI work together, or schedule some time to speak with a Paymentus Property Management billing and payment expert.