To document this in the program, follow the steps below:

1.  Move a tenant into their unit as normal, through the property tab, and  document their security deposit charge.

2. Record your tenant’s security deposit in the tenant’s security ledger, however indicate “none” for the bank account.  Use the description line to note that the tenant deposit is being released to the owner.

3. Head to your Settings tab and select Setup Categories.  From here create a new income category for tenant security deposits that will be released to the owner.

4.  Next, post a charge in the tenant’s standard ledger for the security deposit charge.

5.  After your charge is created in the standard ledger, post a payment in the tenant’s standard ledger for the security deposit payment and be sure this time to indicate which bank account the funds are deposited into.

6.  Now you will be able to disburse these security deposit funds to the owner by posting an expense transaction with the category of  owner disbursement  in the property ledger.  Be sure to indicate the same bank account for this transaction that was selected in  #5.

To get started, download the import_template.xls file.  Within this file are column headers and sample data.  Populate the spreadsheet with your own data, and return the data by email to docs@rentecdirect.com.  We will import the data and let you know as soon as it is ready.

If your data is in a different format or if you are having any challenge converting your data into the spreadsheet above, we also offer advanced data import services.  For this we have experienced database administrators which will review the data you have in it’s current format and give you an idea of the time involved to convert the data to the Rentec system.  Contact our support department at 800-881-5139 or support@rentecdirect.com for more information on this program.

First, we recommend you secure authorization from your tenant to begin using EasyPay.  Under your Settings tab/EasyPay Setup, we have provided you with Application Examples.  Feel free to download these examples and customize them for use.  Once you have customized your Tenant Application, you can upload it to this screen.   In this Settings tab, if you are going to be allowing credit card payments, you will want to set your convenience fee percentage and which cards you will be allowing.  Be sure to verify your email notification address and which account you wish to post transactions to within the program.

Next, to set-up individual tenants, head to the tenant tab, right-click on the tenant’s name, and select EasyPay from the menu.  In the EasyPay screen, you you will enter in the tenant’s banking information, check the box to enable EasyPay and set what you will charge the tenant for an ACH convenience fee.  If you will be scheduling your tenant’s payment, you can do that from this screen.  For Multipay, the frequency day is the day of the month this transaction is to happen on.

Once you have enable a tenant’s EasyPay, they will be able to toggle their payments from their portal.  Follow this link to learn more about the Tenant Portal.

To track your EasyPay scheduled payments, you can pull a the Financial Reports “Completed EasyPay” and “Upcoming EasyPay”.  Note that any failed EasyPay payments from tenants will be emailed to you directly from your merchant account provider.  Once a transaction has failed, there will not be any subsequent attempts.  You will need to post this failed transaction within the program in the tenant’s ledger.  (Follow this link for instructions on how to post an NSF Transaction.)

After you have been setup for EasyPay (no merchant),  we require an application from each tenant who is going to use the ACH payment option.  Under your Settings tab/EasyPay Setup, we have provided you with two application forms to choose from.  You will need to provide the form to your tenant, or they can download it from their portal.  Once your tenant has completed this form, you are they can fax or email to us.  We will notify you by email once a tenant has been successfully setup for EasyPay.  (Typically takes 1 – 2 business days.)

Once your tenant has been setup for EasyPay, you will notice an icon of green dollar bills next to their name in the tenant tab.  By  clicking on this icon, you can toggle their EasyPay options.   If you will be scheduling your tenant’s payment, you can do so from this screen.  For Multipay, the Frequency Day is the day of the month this transaction is to happen on. If you need to cancel a tenant’s EasyPay access, use the option of “remove” next to their account number.  Once you have enabled a tenant’s EasyPay, they will be able to toggle their payments from their portal.  Follow this link to learn more about the Tenant Portal.

In the Settings tab, if you are going to be allowing credit card payments, you will want to select which cards you will be allowing.   (Tenants do not have to return an EasyPay Application if they will only be paying by credit card.)  Be sure to verify your email notification address and which account you wish to post transactions to within the program, as well as which application form will be available on the tenant portal.

To track your EasyPay scheduled payments, you can pull a the Financial Reports “Completed EasyPay” and “Upcoming EasyPay.”  (In the report, if a transaction is listed at failed, there will not be any subsequent attempts.)

Follow this link for questions relating to the ACH timing and how soon you will see funds transfer.

Now that you have added in your credit card as a vendor, you can post your property expense as you normally would, selecting the bank account you wish to pay for the credit card purchase with, and then assign the newly created credit card as the vendor.  You can also add in a memo note to the transaction to document where the credit card purchase was made.

If you have multiple purchases on the card that you want to assign to various properties and/or various expense categories, you can do this under the split transaction option – see http://www.rentecdirect.com/kb/2011/05/entering-split-transactions/

Once you have posted your credit card expense, you can view details of this vendor expense by heading to the Reports tab/Financial Reports/Vendor Ledger and selecting the appropriate vendor. This should also assist you in reconciling your credit card statement.

1. SUBMIT AN APPLICATION PACKET TO GET SET-UP FOR TENANT SCREENING:  The packet can be found by clicking on your Reports tab, Screening Reports and “click here” in the middle of that screen.  Return the packet by email or fax as instructed in the packet.  We will have you set-up to pull reports in 1 – 2 business days.

2.  SUBMIT AN APPLICATION TO SET-UP PAYMENT PROCESSING:  EasyPay is the what we call our payment processing within Rentec.  It allows you to accept online credit-card payments from applicants for the application fee and for tenants to pay rent through their bank account or by credit card.  The application for this can be found under your Settings tab and “Setup EasyPay.”  You can choose our simple plan (no merchant) or go for our more robust option of having your own merchant account.  EasyPay (no merchant) takes 1 – 2 business days to be enabled and EasyPay Merchant takes 7 – 14 days to be completed.

3.  ESTABLISH YOUR APPLICATION FEE:  Once you are set-up to pull tenant screening reports and handle payment processing in the program, you will need to establish what you want to charge your applicant for the application fee.  To do this, go to your Settings tab and select Application Defaults. Scroll to the bottom of the application to enter your fee.  Keep in mind that if your applicant pays their application fee online with a credit card, a service fee is taken from their payment.  If you have EasyPay (no merchant), the fee is 5% and the balance of their payment will be applied as a credit on your Rentec account to offset subscription or tenant screening report fees.  If you have an EasyPay Merchant accont, the service fee is approximately 2.5% and the balance of the payment is directly deposited in your bank account.

4.  ENABLE ONLINE LISTINGS & RENTAL APPLICATIONS:  To accept an application online, head to your Property tab, right-click on the property name and select Edit Property.  Next, enter the Property Menu (upper right.)  In the Profile/Marketing section, you will notice at the bottom a place to enable online applications for your property.  If you look to the right, you will see the web address for this property and the instructions on how to create Craig’s Lists ads, too.

5.  VIEW APPLICATION & PULL TENANT SCREENING REPORTS:  Once an application has been received, you will be notified in your program through the Summary tab, under Notices. When you view the application, you will be offered an option to either approve and add the tenant to the property, or choose to pull tenant screening reports on the applicant.  After you have pulled the reports on the applicant, they will be viewable in the Reports/Screening Reports tab.

1.  If you have a tenant moving from one unit to another, you will first want to enter into their current unit’s ledger and adjust any rent charges and security deposits as necessary.

2.  Once their ledger is correct, you can then select “move-out” from the tenant menu.

3.  After the tenant has moved out of their current unit, you can move them into the new unit by clicking on “place new tenant” in the property tab.

4.  When you are placing your new tenant, select “use existing tenant” and select the move-in date to be the day you want to begin billing them for the new unit.

5.  After you have moved this tenant into the new unit, you have completed the transfer!

For example, say you receive a $90 invoice for plumbing work from ABC Plumbing.  Your policy is to mark-up each invoice by $10.  To reflect this scenario in Rentec,  we recommend you post the full $100 charge to the property, select NONE for the bank account (as we are not paying the vendor in this transaction,) select the expense category for repairs, and leave off the vendor’s name in the payee portion and instead, post their name in the memo line.  Now you can post this charge to the property.



Now that you have charged the property for the marked up expense, you will need to track your true expense of $90 in your company’s ledger, and you will track the actual vendor expense, and bank account they were paid out of, which will be necessary for accurate 1099 population and company expense reports.  We offer a simple solution for tracking company income and expenses separate from property/owner expenses within Rentec.  Here is a help-document from our online knowledge base that covers the how-to:  http://www.rentecdirect.com/kb/2011/12/tracking-business-income-expenses/