RentPayment’s Promotion Team has been offering residents a variety of promotional incentives and giveaways this holiday season. Last month, we launched our First 50 Promotion where the First 50 residents to pay their rent online had the opportunity to win a $50 MasterCard Gift Card courtesy of RentPayment. So who were the lucky winners?
Check out a few of them below!

This month we are offering residents the chance to participate in our Holiday Giveaway Spree where one resident has the chance to win a $1,000 MasterCard Gift Card to kick off 2012 and five additional residents will each receive a $100 MasterCard Gift Card for participating. The promotion has been a great success generating an extra 42,000 electronic rent payments from the select communities.

We asked these residents: Why do you use RentPayment?

• “It’s so much easier to not have to worry about writing a rent check and finding a stamp to mail it in. With the holidays it just gets too hectic!”
  Rick M. – Chicago, IL
• “I can pay from my iPhone anywhere in the world. You can’t beat that.”
  Julie T. – Gainesville, FL 
• “The 1st always seems to sneak up on me, especially around New Year’s. The rent reminder emails are perfect because I can click one link and then pay with my credit card.”
  Prasad K. – Houston, TX 

Congratulations to all our First 50 Promotion and Holiday Giveaway Spree winners and a big thanks to the property managers for all their efforts! If you’re interested in running a promotion for the residents at your property, email us at Marketing@RentPayment.com for more information.

If you aren’t currently using social media to communicate with your residents I think you will be surprised to find how beneficial it can be. You can use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to maximize your community awareness, attract renters, and stay ahead of the marketing game. An easy way to encourage residents to pay their rent online is to post a link on your Facebook or Twitter page!

Tips for Rent Reminder Facebook Posts and Tweets

• Providing a link to take residents directly to your payment page will make it as easy as possible for them to pay instantly. 
• If you post a link to your properties login page, automatically generated text will appear.  Feel free to change this text and customize your message.
• When posting, point out the benefits of paying with a credit card or eCheck.  This can include: payment security, good for the environment, fast safe and easy, etc… 
• This is also a great place to remind residents of their payment options (eCheck, Credit Card, AutoPay, etc…)  and any payment fees that may apply at your property. 

For more information on social media tips email us at Marketing@RentPayment.com for a social media guide and a social media consultation. 

Ever forget your wallet and wish you could use your cell phone to pay for your daily cup of coffee? Those days have arrived. It’s 2012 and mobile payment technologies are booming, making payment transactions for residents faster and easier than ever. According to a Juniper Research study, it’s predicted that mobile payment users will grow by 40% to reach 2.5 billion globally by 2015. Payment transactions made through text messages continue to grow rapidly while other new mobile payment technologies and smartphone applications gain in popularity every month. Other mobile technologies, such as near field communication (NFC), allow people to make payments in stores, directly from their mobile phones quickly and securely.

With our lives mostly on the go these days it just makes sense to find ways for people to easily pay their rent. RentPayment has vowed to give renters a multitude of payment options including mobile payments with RentByText and our RentPayment Mobile iPhone App. Below is a video with more information on our mobile payment options:

Mobile payments help Property Managers Bridge the gap between technology and in person payments making them fast, easy, and secure. Properties see the benefits of accepting electronic payments for rent, including more on time payments, integrated accounting and higher closing rates on leases. Email us at Marketing@RentPayment.com to find out ways we can help get residents at your community making mobile payments today!

Happy Processing from your friends at RentPayment!

Money saving web sites such as Living Social, Groupon and ShopKick, have spread through the World Wide Web like wild fire. A survey by RedPlum reported, more people are searching for coupon codes prior to making a purchase and most are members of several reward programs. Are you taking advantage of this money saving, coupon clipping, mentality at your property?

This thrifty trend has opened the doors for innovative and relatively inexpensive ways to increase renter retention and resident satisfaction in the multifamily housing industry.  Many apartment communities currently offer cash rewards if a resident refers a friend, renews a lease, etc.  Although this is a great incentive to a resident, the value of the reward is equivalent to cost to the property, denting your property’s revenue.

The latest trend in the multifamily housing industry is to utilize resident rewards programs rather than cash based incentives. These rewards programs can vary from point based systems to simply offering discounts and coupon codes.  Points or rewards can be given for anything you choose, like renewing leases, referring friends, or helping around the community. The greatest benefit of resident reward programs is you no longer have to give dollar for dollar incentives. The perceived value of a discount or reward is usually much higher than the actual cost to the property.  You can finally reward resident loyalty without “breaking the bank!” 

Although initiating a resident rewards program can seem like a daunting task, as it could take some planning , it has the ability to set your property or Property Management Company ahead of the competition. You can also reach out to local merchants and companies that would like more business from your residents about coupon and discount offers. You would be surprised how many would jump at the chance to give your residents freebies. Resident rewards can prompt renewals, increase referrals and get your residents more involved at your property; so why not give it a try?

RentPayment is always available to discuss reward programs for your renters, whether it be coupon codes, rebate offers, or gift card giveaways, we are ready to work with your property. If you’re interested in learning more about RentPayment promotions, feel free to contact us at Marketing@RentPayment.com.

Want to learn more about Resident Rewards? Read this article by Multifamily Executive.

YapStone Inc., the parent company of RentPayment, is proud to announce we are now processing over $14 Million in electronic payments every day. With the recent acquisition of our largest competitor PropertyBridge Inc., YapStone Inc. has continued to grow as the largest electronic payments-as-a-service (ePaaS) provider for the property management industry, processing significantly more payment volume than any of our payment processing competitors. This astonishing number will only continue to grow in 2012, with our international expansion into residential markets overseas and our new product RentPaymentNow! which is designed for smaller single family residential property owners in the United States.  Matt Golis, CEO of YapStone, explains: “Our significant scale is a testament to our vertical focus and software-centric approach to the market. Unlike competitors who take more of a low tech, one-size-fits-all approach, our ePaaS software is designed with the customer in mind, adhering to the specific business rules of recurring bill payment industries. We believe this approach is a significant differentiator that will continue to drive revenue growth in 2012 and beyond.”

To view the entire article, in Payments Market, click here or for a link to the Press Release, click here.

The CEO of YapStone Inc., RentPayment’s parent company, Matt Golis, was recently interviewed and featured in an article by Multifamily Executive titled, “Durbin Does Debit: Dodd Frank Amendment Saves Multifamily Some Dough.”  The article discusses the widely debated Durbin Amendment and its potential effect on the multifamily housing industry.

The Durbin Amendment is an addendum to the Dodd Frank Financial Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed by Congress in 2010, which calls to expand Federal Reserve powers for setting interchange fees in relation to debit card transaction processing.  In laymen terms, the Durbin Amendment, which went into effect on October 1, will lower the fees associated with processing debit card payments.

This is a great benefit for the multifamily housing industry, as it will facilitate the transition to electronic payment options for properties and their residents. Property Management Companies and individual rental property owners can now provide their residents with the luxury of paying their rent online, by phone, or by text, with a debit card, at lower prices than ever before.

To read the entire article click here.

With the holiday season well on it’s way, we thought it would be fun to share some pictures of our Halloween Company Party.  This was the first Holiday event to take place at our new and improved Headquarters in Walnut Creek, CA! 

This year’s festivities included a Costume Contest awarding the Best Male, Best Female, Funniest, Scariest and Prettiest costumes, as well as a Mummy Making contest, which called for each department to make a Mummy out of their Department head!  As you can see, everyone had a wonderful time at this big company bash.

Visit our Facebook Page for more pictures of this spooktacular event!

Check out this week’s issue of the San Francisco Business Times for a “Fast 100” company spotlight on YapStone, the parent company of RentPayment. The article features an interview with our CEO, Matt Golis, highlighting the growth of electronic rent payments as well as the benefits they provide property managers and residents alike.

To read the full article click here:

Happy Friday everyone! We thought we would end your week with a little “treat.” Say hello to Alexis, one of the youngest members of the YapStone (RentPayment’s parent company) family. She stopped by the Santa Monica office to visit her Dad and made a quick cameo for all to enjoy.

No tricks here, just adorable treats!