This New Payments Platform Might Transform How Rent Is Paid Forever

Paying rent by check could become a thing of the past.

You can pay for almost anything with digital payments these days, except for one big exception that many of us pay every month: rent. While some landlords have modernized their rent payment options, 78% still stick to paper checks and money orders, according to JPMorgan.

That's why JPMorgan Chase is working on a rent management system called Story. It's currently available in more than 20 states, and it has features that can benefit landlords and their tenants.

JPMorgan Chase's new rental payments platform

The main selling point of JPMorgan's Story platform is how it streamlines rent payments through its rent hub. Landlords can use this to send out automatic invoices and payment reminders to their tenants, as well as accept online rent payments. Tenants can pay their rent using the following payment methods:

• ACH transfers from a bank account
• Debit cards
• Credit cards

As far as costs are concerned, the Story platform is free. Its rent management tool is free for 12 months, and there are also no transaction fees for the first 12 months. After that, Chase clients who meet minimum balance requirements will continue to have free ACH payments. The full fee structure hasn't been finalized yet.

Story also provides additional tools to help landlords. These include:

• Tenant screening: Pull up tenant reports, including their credit, criminal, and eviction history, in minutes with TransUnion SmartMove.
• Market metrics: Get access to market data to make decisions about your properties.
• Property calculator: Calculate a property's estimated value.
• Affordability calculator: Check if a property qualifies for loan rate discounts through the Chase Affordable Housing Preservation program.

A better way to pay rent

Even though the traditional form of paying rent has stuck around this long, it's inefficient and outdated. Any system that requires people to have paper checks on hand or purchase money orders every month clearly needs some work. It's not great for landlords, either, since they need to sort and deposit all those rent checks. For those with large portfolios, that can become quite the time sink.

Digital rent payments are much more convenient for everybody involved. Tenants can pay their rent online in minutes with the payment methods they actually use regularly. Landlords can better keep track of payments from all their properties. They can receive those payments automatically, without needing to manually deposit them.

It's also a helpful change for credit card rewards enthusiasts. Lots of credit cards have sign-up bonuses that require you to spend a certain amount. Those requirements can sometimes be difficult to reach. It's much easier to spend enough if you're able to pay rent, normally one of the biggest monthly expenses, using your credit card.

JPMorgan's Story platform isn't the only game in town. There are several companies that offer payment processing for landlords. However, nobody has taken over the market yet. After all, most landlords still get paid with checks and money orders. Story could be in a good position to take off in 2023, especially since it's being offered by one of the biggest banks in the world.