Happy Processing from your friends at RentPayment!

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.

A discussion on rules and compliance is likely to conjure two reactions in people – the anticipation of getting a root canal mixed with the frustration from the hassle of meeting the requirements.  Most people don’t appreciate being told how to run their businesses but when you are handling credit/debit cards there are requirements for processing payments.  The payment industry has evolved significantly from both a technological perspective (fraud and security breaches with card-present retail processing, chip-based solutions on cards themselves to prevent fraud) as well as a business perspective (Visa and MasterCard becoming publicly-traded entities and the financial regulation changes happening right now).  This has expanded the requirements that all merchants that accept credit/debit cards must examine to insure proper card acceptance.  In the apartment/multifamily industry, there are two areas that property management firms need to understand to not risk penalties or exposure to fines: PCI compliance and convenience fee regulations (when applicable).

PCI compliance defines the specific security standards to protect card information during and after a transaction.  It is a rigorous yearly audit that any entity that processes, transmits, or stores cardholder information must complete each year at a cost of up to $50,000 annually.   Many multifamily firms are using either a 3^rd party processor, virtual terminal, or accounting software to collect and store cardholder data (since rent is a monthly transaction the property wants to have the renter’s card available for subsequent processing after the first transaction).  The 3^rd party processor and virtual terminal provider ALWAYS needs to have completed a PCI audit in order to be in good standing with the card associations.  Software companies are required to also have completed a PCI audit if the user is keying the card data directly in the property management software then the software company must be PCI compliant as well.  When considering a payment processing partner, it is critical that the company is current with PCI compliance (if their name is not on the list on Visa’s official website of PCI-complaint providers then they are NOT PCI compliant) – here is the link:

http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/cisp-list-of-pcidss-compliant-service-providers.pdf

Convenience fee regulations are specific rules for how a fee can be assessed to a cardholder for accepting payments in an alternative channel (like online or by phone).   In most industries, merchant acceptance does not involve convenience fees being charged to the cardholder since the merchant would lose sales if they charged a fee to consumers paying by debit/credit card (not to mention that it is not allowed in a card-present/face-to-face environment).  The multifamily industry is moving away from convenience fees being charged to the renter as card acceptance that is fee-free to the renter is becoming a great way to close new leases, boost on-time payments, and be an amenity that renters actually want.  For those property management firms that still have a convenience fee component, it is critical to understand card-specific requirements like:

• Convenience fee must be a flat amount (like $9.95) and not a percentage-based fee (Visa card requirement)
• All payment options in that channel must have the same convenience fee (Visa and MasterCard requirement)
• Convenience fees are not permitted on recurring rent transactions (AutoPay Payments) (Visa requirement)

There are payment industry vendors that fly under the radar by not completing the PCI audit (they do not appear on the Visa PCI compliance list) and by violating fundamental convenience fee regulations.  Whether you collect thousands or millions of dollars in rent, it is imperative that you verify that your payment vendor is PCI complaint and meets the convenience fee regulations listed above.  It is simply not worth the obvious risk and financial loss when it is discovered and reported to the card companies.

Matt Golis – CEO and Founder, RentPayment (a YapStone company)

“Going green,” seems to be the current trend for consumers and business owners to claim they are following. Despite the obvious perks for adopting more nature-friendly practices, many have their doubts of whether or not the costs of applying these practices outweigh the benefits. However, by switching to a paperless ePayment system you can dramatically cut down your carbon footprint while also increasing efficiency and convenience for your company.

Javelin Strategy and Research reported that if every American household viewed and paid bills online, solid waste could be reduced in U.S. landfills by more than 800,000 tons a year and save an estimated 18.5 million trees a year. According to The Federal Reserve, over 170 million pounds of greenhouse gases are used on printing checks and bills each year.  Take a moment to think about how each document not only uses the paper it was printed on but also the gas consumed by the mail carriers to deliver it to you and your renters.

Reducing the use of paper provides benefits beyond saving the environment when using a full service ePayment solution to keep track of all your books and payment history.  Without the endless amounts of paper books and bills adding up, you can save thousands of pieces of paper as well as increase your property’s efficiency and accuracy.  Online payment systems increase accuracy by reducing the risk of human error involved with manual entry and recordkeeping.

Offering ePayment services also saves your business money and time. Electronic payment lowers costs for businesses who spend money on postage and check processing. For example, according to RentPayment.com, an eCheck costs approximately $1 to process whereas a paper-check can cost anywhere from $6 to $12 to process. In addition, the processing time for an eCheck is only a few days whereas a paper check can take up to 2 weeks to clear. The American Forest and Paper Association reports that every ton of paper costs an office roughly $1000 and can add 3.3 cubic yards of waste to a landfill.

Paperless billing is catching on as consumers become more aware of the conveniences and environmental benefits of electronic billing and payment. Surveys have shown that users not only like helping the environment, but they also like the timeliness and practicality of ePayment. Renters enjoy the assurance of securing an always on time rent payment every month without having to worry about physically dropping off a check.  Debit and credit cards are also processed by these same services. This is another benefit for the renter and helps ensure they can always make their rent payment. Renters also avoid being charged late fees while the property managers enjoy the guarantee of receiving rent every month with an automated withdrawal from bank accounts.

The Nature Conservancy sites that half of the world’s original forests are gone and each year 36 million more acres of deforestation are added to that list.  In one 24 hour period, one tree can provide oxygen for up to four people and discharge up to 100 gallons of water from the ground into the air. It’s critical that we preserve our trees to maintain our planet’s livelihood.

“Obviously, businesses and consumers won’t ever stop needing paper, but technology is helping make an impact to reduce unnecessary paper usage and waste. Electronic bill payment is a key element in that quest,” said Kevin Sander, director of corporate partnerships at the National Arbor Day Foundation

Finally, there is a way to save your property from superfluous costs and decrease unnecessary stress for you and your renters while also giving Mother Nature a much needed break too. It’s a win-win situation. Let’s all do our best to save the environment while saving our businesses money by switching to ePayment services today.

About Author:
Krista Norsworthy is a recent print journalism graduate from the Walter Cronkite School at Arizona State University and currently working as marketing intern at RentPayment.com in San Francisco.