Tenant e-Mails Help to Collect Rent Online

We have enhanced our e-mail service to make it easier for landlords to collect rent on-line and for tenants to stay up-to-date.  

Previously, tenants didn't receive additional e-mail notices until they accepted their e-mail invitation and created an account on Schedule My Rent. Now tenants receive additional e-mails, even if they haven't setup an account yet. Tenants will receive rent reminders, change notices, late notices, late fee notices, and other notices as long as they are active on a lease.

Each tenants' name and e-mail are listed on the bottom of each lease. Tenants receive an e-mail invitation as soon as a lease is created.  A landlord is also able to re-send a tenant's e-mail invitation by editing the lease and then clicking the Re-send Invitation button next to the tenant's name. For tenants that have not created an account yet, each e-mail notice now contains a link for the tenant to create an account which reduces the need for landlords to re-send tenant invitation e-mails.

Tenants can pay their rent with cash at one of MoneyGram's 30,000 retail locations.  If a tenant has setup an account, instructions for paying with cash are shown on the tenant's dashboard.  If a tenant hasn't setup an account yet, each email provides details of how to pay with cash at a MoneyGram location.

Landlords can see if a tenant has been sent an invitation email by clicking on the tenant status button.  Landlords can also see a complete list of e-mails that tenants have been sent by clicking on the tenant e-mail button. 

What if tenants don't want these e-mail messages or don't want as many e-mails?
Tenant e-mails now contain a link to select which e-mails a tenant wants to see.  If a tenant has already created an account, the tenant can click on the Notifications tab at the top of their tenant dashboard to change selections.  Tenants can select to receive or not receive any of the e-mails listed below.

• Notice(s) that rent is due
• Confirmation that you scheduled a payment
• Confirmation that AutoPay is setup
• Notice that a payment was cancelled
• Notice that an amount due was changed
• Notice that an amount is past due
• Notice that a late fee was added
• Notice that a late fee was waived

There are additional e-mails, such as returned payment e-mails, that tenants always receive and cannot opt-out of.

Tenants automatically receive custom emails so they always know their status and when to pay rent.  Tenants can also log into their on-line dashboard to see lease terms, history, AutoPay, and their current status.

Schedule My Rent makes it easy to collect rent online by automatically sending tenants e-mails when their status has changed so that tenants always stay up-to-date.

Collecting Rent on Holidays and Weekends

When is rent due?

As a landlord, you can decide what is acceptable and what is not.  Your tenant may express an opinion, but you control your lease terms.  Below are terms to think about.

Due Date: Landlords set the date that rent is due within the lease, with most landlords setting the due date as the 1^st of each month.  While most landlords collect rent once per month, some landlords collect rent twice a month or on a different schedule.  The lease should clearly define what dates rent is due each month.  Landlord software, such a Schedule My Rent, makes it easy to automate rent collection with one or multiple due dates.

Method of Payment: The lease should indicate what methods of payment are acceptable and where to pay.  Some payment methods include: Debit from bank account, direct deposit, bill pay with bank, Zelle, PayPal, Venmo, cash, and credit card. Different payment methods have very different protections for the landlord and a landlord should understand the pros and cons of each method before agreeing to accept a payment method.

Weekends and Holidays: If the due date falls on a weekend or holiday, most leases indicate that rent is due on the next business day.  Please review state laws if you want to be more restrictive since some may not allow collection penalties if the due date falls on a weekend or holiday. With Schedule My Rent, a tenant can authorize a rent payment for any day, including a weekend or a holiday.  Rent will automatically be withdrawn on the next business day for bank debits.  A tenant can also pay rent with cash at one of 30,000 retail locations.  Since retailers are open on most weekends and holidays, tenants can pay rent almost anytime.

When Rent is Late: Rent is late if it is paid after the date it is due.  Most landlords charge a late fee when rent is late, but give a "grace period" before charging a late fee.  Schedule My Rent supports one-time late fees, daily late fees, or a combination of both. Landlords can also select the number of extra days (grace period) before a late fee is automatically added.  Please check your state laws for any restrictions.

Landlord software, like Schedule My Rent, makes it easy to collect rent online.  Simply enter your lease terms and tenants are reminded to pay rent on the date it is due.  Since Schedule My Rent is online, tenants can schedule bank rent payments anytime and anywhere.

See Rent Status when you Collect Rent Online

Landlords need fast and easy answers to several basic questions:

• What rent is currently due?
• Who has paid their rent?
• Who has scheduled or made arrangements to pay their rent?

Schedule My Rent makes it easy to quickly answer all of these questions for all units that you manage. Each unit is shown on a row...and each month is shown on a column.  In this example, please look at January, which is colored green.

• Sunset #1: The due column shows $0.00, the received column shows $900.00, and the scheduled column shows $0.00.  It is easy to see that $900.00 has been paid and nothing is currently due.
• Sunset #2: The due column shows $700.00, the received column shows $300.00, and the scheduled column shows $0.00.  It is easy to see that $300.00 has been paid and that $700.00 is still due.  Since the tenant has not scheduled a payment for the $700.00, the landlord may need to remind the tenant that their rent is late.  Schedule My Rent has already sent a late notice to the tenant.
• Sunset #3: The due column shows $600.00, the received column shows $0.00, and the scheduled column shows that $600.00 is scheduled for 3/9.  It is easy to see that the tenant has not paid anything yet, but has scheduled a payment for $600.00 on 3/9.  Since the tenant has already scheduled a payment, the landlord doesn't have to call the tenant.

Landlords need to perform common tasks quickly and easily:

• Add rent or a fee: Simply click on the amount in the due column for the unit you want.  A pop-up screen shows additional detail.  You can easily add rent, add a fee, or add a credit.  A notice is automatically sent to each tenant on the lease.
• Waive a fee: Simply click on the amount is the due column for the unit you want.  A pop-up screen shows additional detail with a "trashcan" icon next to each fee.  Simply click on the trashcan icon to waive the fee. A notice is automatically sent to each tenant on the lease.
• Add a payment made directly to the landlord: Simply click on the amount in the received column for the unit you want.  A pop-up screen shows additional payment detail.  Simple click on add payment to add a payment made directly to the landlord.  A notice is automatically sent to each tenant on the lease.
• See all of the charges and payments for a unit: Click on the "History" button for the unit you want.  A list of all charges and payments is shown for this unit.  When you collect rent online, it's easy for both tenants and landlords to see a complete history of all charges and payments.
• See all of the e-mails that have been sent to a tenant: Click on the "Tenant e-Mails" button for the unit you want.  A list of all e-mails that each tenant has been sent is shown.
• See if the tenant has logged in and added a bank account:Click on the "Tenant Status" button for the unit you want.  You can easily see if a tenant has logged in and added a bank account
• Add or change a lease: Click on the "Lease" button for the unit you want.  You can easily modify an existing lease or add a new lease.

Daily Late Fees for Rentals - Collect Rent Online

Save time and increase revenue by automatically adding tenant late fees with Schedule My Rent.  Simply enter how you want fees to work when you setup each lease and we automatically add late fees and daily late fees.

• Rent due date:  Enter the date that rent is due, which can be any day of the month.  Most landlords pick between the 1^st and 5^th of the month, but any day can be selected.


• Grace period:  Enter the number of extra days that tenants have to pay rent before it is considered late.  For example, if the rent due date is the 2^nd of the month and the grace period is 3 additional days, then tenants have until the 5^th of the month to authorize a rent payment before it is late.


• Late fee:  Enter the late fee as either a percentage of the rent amount or a fixed amount.  In this example, a late fee will automatically be added on the 6^th of the month if the rent has not been fully paid.  All tenants on the lease are automatically notified that a late fee has been added.


• Daily late fee: Enter the daily late fee as either a percentage of the rent amount or a fixed amount. The daily late fee starts the day after the late fee. In this example, a daily late fee will automatically be added on the 7^th of the month if the rent has not been fully paid.  All tenants on the lease are automatically notified that a late fee has been added.  A daily late fee will continue to be added every day until rent has been fully paid.  If the option "If not paid, stop at the end of the month" is selected, daily late fees automatically stop at the end of the month.  If the option "If not paid, continue adding" is selected, daily late fees continue to be added every day while the rent is not fully paid and will continue into the following month.


• Stop daily late fees manually: Daily late fees can manually be stopped at any time when you collect rent online.  Simply click on the amount in the due column and a detailed pop-up screen will appear.  Then click the "Stop Daily Late Fee" button which is next to the initial rent.


• Waive late fees: Late fees that have already been added can easily be waved.  Simply click on the amount in the due column and a detailed pop-up screen will appear.  Then click the "trashcan" icon next to the fee that you want to waive.  A notification is automatically sent to all tenants on the lease indicating that the fee has been waived. 

Adding late fees automatically saves time since you don't have to track and add fees manually. Automatically adding late fees also increases revenue since fees are added as soon as rent is late and tenants are automatically notified.

Having Schedule My Rent automatically add a late fee also helps to improve the relationship you have with your tenants. Tenants know that Schedule My Rent will automatically add fees. There is an opportunity to hurt the tenant relationship when the landlord calls or emails the tenant directly regarding late fees.

Save time and increase revenue by having Schedule My Rent automatically collect rent online. 

Electronic checks use the ACH network to deposit or withdraw funds from a bank account.

Read More

Landlord Software for Rental Payments - Rent Roll Report

Schedule My Rent landlord software offers a Rent Roll report that lists all units, lease dates, and tenants.  This report is often used for mortgage and other loan companies that require property status information.  This report is run with a specific date to show the leases and tenants that were effective on that date. 

This report can be downloaded in either a Comma Separated Values (CVS) format or an Excel format which allows further customization within Excel or other programs.

 Simply select the Reporting button from the landlord dashboard. Then select:

• Report Type: Rent Roll
• Report Date
• Data Format: CSV (comma separated value) or XLS (Excel)
• Click Export File to download the report

Schedule My Rent's landlord software uses the ACH network to move money between a tenant's bank account and a landlord's bank account.  The ACH network is controlled by operating rules that specify how and when a rent payment can be returned.

Example time frame of rent payment returns

For example, if rent is withdrawn from a tenant's bank account on Monday, the rent return has to be made available by Wednesday morning, two banking days later.  The only exception is if the payment was fraudulent, which creates a 60 calendar day return time frame.

When are ACH rent payment returns made available?

ACH rent payment returns are available every business morning and typically occur within two business days of the rent being withdrawn.

Does the duration of a bank transaction vary based on weekends or holidays?

Yes, transfers may take longer to complete if they are over a weekend or holiday.  Schedule My Rent is able to process payments on Sunday afternoon, so a payment can be entered by a tenant on Sunday and the payment will be withdrawn from the bank account the following morning, Monday.  Returns typically occur within two banking days, which does not include weekends or holidays.

How long does it take for card payments to process?

Card payments typically take 2-3 business days to process.

How long does it take for a bank transaction to complete via the ACH network?

Many companies state that: "A bank transaction usually takes 5–7 business days to complete via the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network."  A much better answer is as follows.  When an ACH payment is sent, it specifies the specific date that the bank account is debited or credited and it occurs on that date.  If the transactions is sent in the morning, it could settle later that day which is called same-day ACH.  Most transactions are settled the following day since they have lower processing costs.  Returns are required to be received within two banking days of the settlement date of the initial transaction.  If the return is regarding fraud, returns must occur within 60 calendar days.

Schedule My Rent reduces the hassle of rent payment returns:

• Know about returns faster. Know about most returns in 1-2 business days, which is much faster than a paper check rent return.


• Automatically receive notifications. Landlords automatically receive an email indicating the tenant and the amount of the return. All tenants on the lease automatically receive an email indicating that a return has occurred and a request to authorize a new rent payment.


• Automatically update landlord and tenant dashboards. Returns are clearly shown on both landlord and tenant dashboards.


• Automatically add Return Fees and Late Fees.  If the landlord setup a Return Fee, a Return Fee is automatically added to the amount that the tenant owes.  If the landlord setup a Late Fee and rent is late because of the rent return, a Late Fee is automatically added to the amount that the tenant owes.

What happens when a micro deposit verification fails?

When micro deposit verification fails for a bank account, there are several potential outcomes. 

Firstly, the failure of a micro deposit to the bank account may indicate that the account is either closed or unavailable. It could also suggest that an incorrect bank account number has been provided. In either case, the verification process cannot proceed.  

Secondly, an automated message is sent to let the person know that the micro deposit failed and that they need to setup a different bank account.

Lastly, if an account is not validated by the date a payment is scheduled, the payment is automatically cancelled by the system and an email indicating this is sent.  A new payment will need to be scheduled after a new bank account is setup.

ACH Return Codes

Code	Title	Description
R01	Insufficient Funds	The available and/or cash reserve balance is not sufficient to cover the dollar value of the debit Entry. What does this mean? The tenant does not have enough money in their bank account to cover the rent payment that was authorized.  Money is typically withdrawn by the tenant's bank in the very early morning of the day the tenant authorized.  The tenant typically has to have good funds in their bank account the night before or a rent payment may return.  The tenant needs to authorize a new rent payment.
R02	Account Closed	A previously active account has been closed by action of the customer or the RDFI. What does this mean? The tenant's bank account has been closed and this bank account can not be used for rent payments.  When Schedule My Rent receives a Closed Account Return, the tenant's bank account is marked as invalid so it can not be used again.  The tenant needs to add a new bank account by going to the left menu bar and clicking Bank Accounts, then clicking New Bank Account.
R03	No Account/Unable to Locate Account	The account number structure is valid and it passes the Check digit validation, but the account number does not correspond to the individual identified in the Entry, or the account number designated is not an existing account. What does this mean? The bank can not find this bank account number.  This is typically caused by a typo, where the account holder enters the bank account number incorrectly into Schedule My Rent.  The account holder needs to add a new bank account by going to the left menu bar and clicking Bank Accounts, then clicking New Bank Account.  This return may also occur if the bank uses a different bank account number on paper checks and statements than it does for electronic ACH transactions.  Please call your bank and ask what bank account number should be used for ACH transactions.  If the bank account number was incorrect, add a new bank account by going to the left menu bar and clicking Bank Accounts, then clicking New Bank Account.
R04	Invalid Account Number Structure	The account number structure is not valid. What does this mean? Different banks number their bank accounts different ways.  For example, a bank may use only 9 digits for their bank account numbers.  If a bank account number is sent with 8 digits, the bank knows that this bank account number is not valid and will return a rent payment.  Please call your bank and ask what bank account number should be used for ACH transactions.  If the bank account number was incorrect, add a new bank account by going to the left menu bar and clicking Bank Accounts, then clicking New Bank Account.
R05	Unauthorized Debit to Consumer Account Using Corporate SEC Code	CCD or CTX debit Entry was transmitted to a Consumer Account of the Receiver and was not authorized by the Receiver. What does this mean? When a tenant sets up their bank account, they choose an account type of Personal or Business.  If the bank account was personal and it was setup as business, and the rent payment was unauthorized, this return will be used.  Please call the tenant and ask why the rent payment was unauthorized.
R07	Authorization Revoked by Customer	The RDFI's customer (the Receiver) revoked the authorization previously provided to the Originator for this debit Entry. What does this mean? The tenant is claiming that the rent payment is not authorized.  The tenant must sign a Written Statement Under Penalty of Perjury in order to claim that the transaction is not authorized.  A tenant has 60 calendar days from the rent payment to make this claim.
R08	Stop Payment	The Receiver has placed a stop payment order on this debit Entry. What does this mean? The tenant has placed a Stop Payment on their bank account.  Please call the tenant and ask why they are stopping rent payments to their bank account.
R09	Uncollected Funds	A sufficient ledger balance exists to satisfy the dollar value of the transaction, but the available balance is below the dollar value of the debit Entry. What does this mean? The tenant does not have enough "available money" in their bank account to cover the rent payment.  When a tenant makes a deposit into their bank account, their bank may hold the money for several days before making it available for withdrawals.  For example, if the tenant deposits a local paper check, their bank may limit the withdrawal of this money for 2-3 days.  Each tenant should make sure they have "good funds" in their account for the date that they authorized the rent payment for.  The tenant needs to authorize a new rent payment.
R10	Customer Advises Unauthorized, Improper, Ineligible, or part of an Incomplete Transaction	The RDFI has been notified by the Receiver that the Entry is unauthorized, improper, ineligible, or part of an Incomplete Transaction. What does this mean? The tenant is claiming that the rent payment is not authorized.  The tenant must sign a Written Statement Under Penalty of Perjury in order to claim that the transaction is not authorized.  A tenant has 60 calendar days from the rent payment to make this claim.  Please call the tenant and find out why they are claiming that the rent payment is unauthorized.
R12	Account Sold to Another DFI	A financial institution received an Entry to an account that was sold to another financial institution. What does this mean? The bank account is not valid anymore because it was sold to another bank.   The tenant needs to add a new bank account by going to the left menu bar and clicking Bank Accounts, then clicking New Bank Account.
R13	Invalid ACH Routing Number	Entry contains a Receiving DFI Identification or Gateway Identification that is not a valid ACH routing number. What does this mean? The routing (or transit) number that was setup in invalid.  This typically does not happen since Schedule My Rent screens all transactions for invalid route numbers.
R14	Representative Payee Deceased or Unable to Continue in That Capacity	The representative payee is either deceased or unable to continue in that capacity.  The beneficiary is not deceased. What does this mean? The tenant's representative is either deceased or not able to provide authorization.   The tenant needs to add a new bank account by going to the left menu bar and clicking Bank Accounts, then clicking New Bank Account.  A new rent payment news to be authorized.
R15	Beneficiary or Account Holder (Other Than a Representative Payee) Deceased	The beneficiary is deceased, or The account holder is deceased. What does this mean? The tenant is deceased.   The tenant's representative needs to add a new bank account by going to the left menu bar and clicking Bank Accounts, then clicking New Bank Account.  A new rent payment news to be authorized.
R16	Account Frozen / Entry Returned Per OFAC Instruction	Access to the account is restricted due to specific action taken by the RDFI or by legal action; or OFAC has instructed the RDFI or Gateway to return the Entry. What does this mean? The tenant's bank has frozen the bank account and no rent payments are currently being accepted.  This could be a short-term situation or it could be long-term.  If long-term,  the tenant needs to add a new bank account by going to the left menu bar and clicking Bank Accounts, then clicking New Bank Account.  Bank accounts are often frozen when the bank notices improper or fraudulent transactions occurring.  The tenant needs to provide a new rent payment authorization.
R20	Non-Transaction Account	ACH Entry to a non-Transaction Account. What does this mean? The tenant's bank account can not be used to pay rent because the account does not accept withdrawals.  Some bank accounts do not allow any withdrawals and some bank accounts only allow a certain number of withdrawals each month.  If the maximum number of withdrawals have been exceeded during the month, then all new withdrawal requests will be returned by the tenant's bank account until the following month.  The tenant needs to add a new bank account, which is not a non-transaction account, by going to the left menu bar and clicking Bank Accounts, then clicking New Bank Account.  The tenant needs to provide a new rent payment authorization.
R23	Credit Entry Refused by Receiver	Any credit Entry that is refused by the Receiver may be returned by the RDFI. What does this mean? The account holder may have a block on deposits.  This is very uncommon.  The account holder should allow deposits into their bank account.
R24	Duplicate Entry	The RDFI has received what appears to be a duplicate Entry; i.e., the trace number, date, dollar amount and/or other data matches another transaction. What does this mean? The tenant's bank thinks that the same transaction has been processed twice.  This is very uncommon since there are checks to make sure a transaction is not processed twice.  In the unlikely event that a rent payment is processed twice, the duplicate rent payment is typically reversed.
R28	Routing Number Check Digit Error	The Check digit for a routing number is not valid. What does this mean? The Federal Reserve has identified that the bank routing (or transit) number is not valid.  This is very uncommon since there are checks to make sure that it is valid.
R29	Corporate Customer Advises Not Authorized	The RDFI has been notified by the Receiver (non-consumer) that a specific Entry has not been authorized by the Receiver. What does this mean? When a tenant sets up their bank account, they choose an account type of Personal or Business.  If Business was selected and they tell their bank that the rent payment is not authorized, the bank will return the rent payment.  A corporate account only has 2 business days to claim a rent payment was not authorized.
R34	Limited Participation DFI	The RDFI's participation has been limited by a federal or state supervisor. What does this mean? The tenant's bank has been restricted by a federal or state supervisor.  This could be caused by a number of reasons, including detecting fraud, insolvency, etc.   Typically, the tenant needs to open a new bank account at a different bank and then add this new bank account by going to the left menu bar and clicking Bank Accounts, then clicking New Bank Account.
CXX	Notification Of Change	Corrected information from RDFI. What does this mean? The tenant's bank account has changed the route or bank account number and has sent instructions to update the information.  Schedule My Rent will notify the bank account holder that information is being updated and will make the updates.

Schedule My Rent’s

Industry-Leading Information Security for Landlord Software

When we designed Schedule My Rent's landlord software, information security was foremost in our minds. We wanted to create a product enabling our landlords and tenants to feel absolutely certain their personal information is secure - no ifs, ands or buts. As our founders and software designers have extensive industry experience in payments and system design, they are uniquely qualified to design and create property management software with industry-best information security design options. Additionally, our partner banks require a very robust security platform, and this combination makes us well positioned to provide our customers with an optimally secure product.

While some electronic rent payment products outsource the rent payment process, at Schedule My Rent, we process rent payments with our expert-based technology, making us a more secure choice. This enables us to better secure your information when collecting rent online.

As we grow and expand our rental property offerings, we continue to design new features with our customer’s security as a primary focus.

How does Schedule My Rent keep customer information secure? We’re excited to share our security features, including:

1. Industry-leading encryption. Schedule My Rent uses bank-level encryption (TLS 1.2, ECDHE_RSA with P-256 and AES-128 or AES-256) to protect both stored and transferred customer information. Our encryption is the best in the industry, and specifically prohibits external parties from reading encrypted information. Click for more information onAES encryption


2. Immediate masking of customer bank account numbers.  When a tenant or landlord enters bank account information into Schedule My Rent, our landlord software immediately masks the bank account information - it is no longer viewable by anyone at any time. What do you see as a bank account holder? After the first time your account is entered on the Landlord Dashboard or Tenant Portal screens, it will subsequently appear as XXXXX1234. This protects the account holder if an unapproved party obtains his or her login information.


3. Account authentication. As part of the sign-up process, Schedule My Rent validates bank account ownership of landlords and tenants by making small deposits into every bank account. The account holder must verify these amounts before an account can be used, to protect against fraudulent rent payments. This process takes just a few minutes, but ensures bank account ownership prior to use. This additional layer of security protects our landlords and tenants, as they are personally verifying their accounts.


4. Payment approval. In addition to protecting personal information, we ensure our tenants approve all rent payments. What does that mean to our customers? Schedule My Rent tenants are able to personally approve any rent payments from their bank account. Our customers have complete control of when rent payments are made, and the amount of the rent payment.


5. Internally Managed Bank Payments.Schedule My Rent has designed our product with the capability to processes all tenant bank payments internally. We do not outsource payment processing to a third-party. This ensures that bank payments are only stored at Schedule My Rent and our approved bank, which eliminates the risk involved with the transfer of information to third party providers, and potential security risk with the use of third party providers.


6. Independent Accounts. With Schedule My Rent, bank account information is only accessible to the owner of the account. For example, a landlord will not have access to a tenant’s bank account information, and a tenant will not have access to a landlord’s bank account information. As Schedule My Rent offers the ability to split rent payments between roommates, we’ve also ensured that each roommate is able to establish their own account with Schedule My Rent, and can only view their own account information. However, roommates are able to view a screen showing which roommates have made rent payments on any given month.

Schedule My Rent’s mission is to provide our landlords and tenants with easy rent payment solutions with industry leading security designed into our landlord software products. With Schedule My Rent, our landlords and tenants feel confident using our rental payment tools, knowing our designers are committed to protecting their information. We look forward to providing you with exceptional landlord software products to meet all of your rental payment needs.

Landlord Software for Rental Payments - Deposit Report 

Schedule My Rent landlord software offers a deposit report that shows all deposits over the dates selected. This report is often used to match deposits from Schedule My Rent with deposits on the landlord's bank account.  The bank account for each deposit is listed on the report, which makes it easy for landlords that deposit money into multiple bank accounts.

This report has a summary view, which provides a summary number of fields, and a full view, which provides a complete list of all fields.  This report can be downloaded in either a Comma Separated Values (CSV) format or an Excel format which allows further customization within Excel or other programs.

 Simply select the Reporting button on the landlord dashboard.  Then select:

• Report Type: Deposit
• Start Date
• End Date
• Report Style: Summary or Full
• Data Format: CSV or Excel 

Will the repeal of net neutrality affect my ability to collect rent online?

Schedule My Rent provides landlord software via the internet.  This allows both landlords and tenants to access their accounts and make rent payments 24 hours a day from anywhere with an internet connection.

The FCC just repealed the previous net neutrality regulation which required that all internet traffic be treated equally, regardless of the content provider.  It also prevented blocking or throttling of traffic.

Will this affect my ability to use Schedule My Rent landlord software to collect rent online?  Will it affect the ability of tenants to pay rent online?  Probably not.  Millions of businesses and customers use the internet and it is unlikely that internet service providers will dramatically change the current system.  We will continue to monitor the rules as they are presented and provide updates.

Below is an article from Marguerite Reardon at cnet that provides a good overview.

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What you need to know about the FCC's net neutrality repeal

The FCC has voted to roll back Obama-era regulation protecting an open internet. Here's a quick rundown to help you understand the issues.

President Donald Trump's FCC has put the kibosh on controversial Obama-era net neutrality regulations.

At its monthly meeting Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission, led by Republican Chairman Ajit Pai, voted to repeal regulation passed in 2015 that prevented broadband companies from blocking or slowing access to websites or services. The rules also prohibited broadband companies from offering paid-priority services that could lead to internet "fast lanes."

While many people agree with the basic principles of net neutrality, those specific rules became a lightning rod for controversy. That's because in order to get the rules to hold up in court, the FCC in 2015 reclassified broadband networks so that they fell under the same strict regulations that govern telephone networks.

Pai, who has called those rules "heavy-handed," contending that they've deterred innovation and depressed investment in building and expanding broadband networks, says he's returning the FCC to a "light touch" approach to regulation.

In November, he release a draft copy of his repeal proposal to the public.  In a last-ditch effort to get Congress to step in and stop the vote, protesters gathered in front of Verizon stores and at the the FCC headquarters in Washington, DC. And they mounted online protests. But in the end, the vote went ahead as planned.

"The internet as we know it is not ending," Pai said. "Americans will still be able to access sites they want to visit and services they want to use. There will still be cops on the beat the way things were prior to 2015."

In case you're still unsure of what all this net neutrality stuff means, we've assembled this FAQ to put everything in plain English.

What is net neutrality?

Net neutrality is the principle that all traffic on the internet should be treated equally, regardless of whether you're checking Facebook, posting pictures to Instagram or streaming movies from Netflix or Amazon. It also means that companies like AT&T, which is trying to buy Time Warner, or Comcast, which owns NBC Universal, can't favor their own content over a competitor's content.

I understand what it means not to block or slow traffic. But what's paid priority all about?

In addition to rules that prevent broadband companies from blocking or throttling access to the internet, the FCC in 2015 included a rule that banned broadband providers from charging a company, like Netflix, an extra fee to serve its customers faster than a competitor.

Net neutrality supporters say that such fees could lead to a pay-to-play internet, with large companies like Netflix, Google or Facebook paying for speedier access, while startups, which can't afford the added cost, could get left out. And that could ultimately result in fewer choices for consumers and less innovation. It could also result in higher prices for consumers, as the added costs trickle down.

Is there any benefit to getting rid of these rules?

Broadband companies said the 2015 regulations were too restrictive. They also say they've voluntarily committed to not blocking or slowing internet access, so explicit rules are unnecessary.

While no ISP has announced specific plans to offer paid-priority services, several executives say they might in the future. They argue there are certain applications -- in medicine or in the development of autonomous vehicles -- that require fast, low-latency internet connections that a paid-priority service would deliver.  

"You don't want your self-driving car operating on best-effort-delivery bandwidth," Randall Stephenson, CEO of AT&T, said last month in an interview at the Economic Club of New York. "If you have any expectation of medical professionals using wireless networks for surgery or EMS or other types of medical applications,  you don't want to outlaw paid prioritization."

If broadband companies don't plan to inhibit traffic and have no plans to offer paid priority, what's the debate really about?

Fundamentally, this debate has been about whether or not the FCC should have the authority to regulate the internet.

Big companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon say they're committed to protecting net neutrality. But opposed the FCC's reclassification, in 2015, of broadband as a public utility, which allowed the agency to regulate their broadband networks like the telephone network.

But without classifying broadband as a utility, the FCC couldn't impose its 2015 rules.

Why were internet service providers so opposed to classifying broadband as a utility?

Broadband providers feared the FCC would try to set prices on their services or would require them to share their infrastructure with competitors. Pai says that the regulations have already hurt businesses and that investments in broadband infrastructure are down in 2017 compared to 2015 when the rules were adopted.

Net neutrality supporters disputed those points and said that phone and cable companies made record profits after the new classification was imposed. What's more, they said, broadband companies didn't tell their investors that they had to curtail  investment due to government regulation.

Landlord Software for Rental Properties - Rent Payment History Report

The rent payment history report shows all charges and all payments over the dates selected.  This report has a summary view, which provides a summary number of fields, and a full view, which provides a complete list of all fields.  This report can be downloaded in either a Comma Separated Values (CSV) format or an Excel format which allows further customization within Excel or other programs.

 Simply select the Reporting button on the landlord dashboard.  Then select:

• Report Type: History
• Start Date
• End Date
• Report Style: Summary or Full
• Data Format: CSV or Excel 

Landlord Software - Automatically Ask for Late Fees

When a tenant is late paying rent, a late fee is automatically added to the amount due.  A tenant can easily see the rent and late fee that are due...and can authorize a payment for both.

What happens when rent isn't late currently, but a tenant schedules a rent payment in the future when rent will be late?

New Feature:  When a tenant schedules a payment in the future that is past the grace period, the tenant will automatically be asked to add a late fee to the authorization.  This saves the tenant from having to authorize a second payment to cover the late fee.

Example:

Lets go through a quick example where rent is due on the 2nd of the month and there is a 3 day grace period.  This means that the tenant must authorize a payment on the 5th of the month or before to be on time.  A late fee will be automatically added on the 6th of the month if the full rent amount has not been paid. 

Lets also say that today is the 3rd of the month and the tenant knows they will have money in their account on the 7th of the month.  The tenant can schedule the rent amount with a date of the 7th.  When the tenant enters this, they will be asked if they want to also include the late fee in their payment.  If the tenant selects yes, the rent amount plus the late fee amount will be scheduled for the 7th of the month.  The tenant does not have to schedule a different payment for the late fee.

Schedule My Rent Landlord Software makes it easy for tenants to select any amount, any date, and even a late fee if a payment is going to be late.