Matt Golis – CEO and Founder, RentPayment (a YapStone company)
With so many changes happening in the payments industry, I thought it would be appropriate to begin a regular blog on topics that address where payment services delivered on the Web can benefit vertical markets like multifamily and other bill payment-related industries.

Delivering electronic payments-as-a-service (ePaaS) has been a solution that more of our clients are seeking as a way to offer more choices to renters paying online. With the variability in cost associated with credit/debit cards, ACH/E-check, scanned items and other emerging payment methods, property managers regularly express concern with transaction fees attributed to increasing adoption by renters. After pioneering online rental payments back in 1999, this migration to offering a complete payment service has made bundling more technology (as opposed to simply card or ACH acceptance) the next logical step in this evolution away from check acceptance on-site. With a flat bundled service, properties have the freedom of promoting electronic payments to renters since the incremental cost per transaction is eliminated. This provides certainty around the costs of offering this critical amenity, while saving money in reconciliation, posting, and depositing payments through a complete Web-based reporting and batch reconciliation service.

To provide the convenience of accessing a payment service from the renter standpoint, offering the most mobile-enabled options has proven vital to adoption. RentByText, iPhone apps, and other smartphone-enabled RentPayment interfaces are what Generation Y uses as their primary communication tool. As popular as the Apple iPhone has been, renters using an Android phone for paying rent are the fastest growing segment in the past quarter. Delivering more value in both the mobile and desktop computing channels will be a top priority as RentPayment continues to innovate and deliver technology value to property management clients.