This article covers how rent gets billed, how tenants pay it, what it costs, and where the money goes.
How bills are generated
Tenvale generates one rent bill per active lease on the 1st of each month, due the same day. You don't create these manually. As long as a lease is active, its bill appears on its own.
How tenants pay
From the tenant portal, a tenant can pay a bill with Pay Now using either an ACH bank transfer or a credit/debit card. If you'd rather not accept cards, you can turn on the "ACH only" setting in your payment settings, which hides the card option for your tenants org-wide. That's the only way to change which payment methods are offered; there's no setting that shifts fees onto tenants beyond what's described below.
Processing fees
Tenvale charges a processing fee on each online payment, deducted from your payout. It is never added to what the tenant owes:
| Method | Fee |
|---|---|
| ACH bank transfer | 0.8%, capped at $5 per payment |
| Credit/debit card | 2.9% + $0.30 |
Tenants are never surcharged and never pay more than the rent they owe. The fee comes out of your payout, not the tenant's charge. There is no setting to pass these fees on to tenants.
How payouts work
Rent payments settle through Stripe Connect directly to your own bank account, on Stripe's standard payout schedule. Tenvale never holds rent funds in an intermediate account. The money moves from your tenant's bank or card to your bank via Stripe.
Payouts depend on your Stripe Connect account being fully set up. If you skipped that step during onboarding, see Getting Started for how to finish it from Settings → Payments.
Recording a manual or offline payment
If a tenant pays you outside Tenvale, by cash or a check you deposit yourself, record it against the bill so your records stay accurate. Manual payments don't run through Stripe and carry no processing fee, since no online transaction occurs.
Rent reminders
Tenvale sends tenants automated reminders around each due date: 5 days before, on the due date itself, and 1, 3, and 5 days after if the bill is still unpaid. Reminders go out by email, and by SMS as well for tenants who've opted in to text messages.
Related
- Autopay — how tenants can enroll in recurring automatic payments
- Late Fees — what happens when rent isn't paid on time
Need help?
Questions about a specific payment or payout? Email support@tenvale.com with the tenant name and bill date.