Vancouver is a city filled with renters still writing their landlords monthly cheques. But a made-in-Vancouver payment option may make those paper transactions a thing of the past.
RentMoola, a new online payment network, partners with property management companies, credit and debit agencies to bring paperless payments to the rental industry.
"It’s really the only industry that still accepts cheques predominantly. I know of no other industry you have to write twelve postdated cheques," said Philipp Postrehovsky, RentMoola co-founder.
Luxury rental company Rent It Furnished is a RentMoola customer. It has hundreds of clients from around the world coming into Vancouver on a weekly basis who want the convenience of online rent payments.
"It's automatic. It's simple and it's no fuss. You don't even have to remember, there's nothing to remember, it's just automatic from your bank every month," said spokesperson Heather Wood.
Property managers pay nothing for access to the service and tenants pay nothing for debit transactions. A 2.75 per cent fee is added on for credit card payments.
Sammie Broomhall, a professional dancer who often spends months on the road, signed up for the service. She says the last thing she wants to worry about is getting her rent cheque in on time.
“I think it's fantastic. It's just a hassle to have to sit down and do that and make sure the funds are in the right account, so it's really great that everything's online now," she said.
RentMoola also has a rewards program for users, offering perks like discounts on Whitecaps tickets and free memberships to the Car2Go service. Some of the companies offering perks pay RentMoola for sending customers their way.
