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Landlord Bench

ClearNow

Summary

ClearNow is a United States rent collection service that takes each tenant's rent from their bank account on a set day and deposits it to the landlord's or manager's account. It also tracks rental income and expenses and reports rent to Experian.

Open source
No
Best for
Landlords who want rent taken from tenants' bank accounts automatically

What we checked

Pages last read

ClearNow price and terms

Terms

Free plan or trial
NoNo
Sign up without sales
YesYes

Where these prices come from

Its own pages, checked

What we checked on ClearNow

YesPartlyNo

What it costs for 25 unitsYes

What the price is based on

You pay per tenant debited rather than per rental you own: one monthly debit is covered by the base fee and every further tenant on that same day adds two dollars a month.

For monthly debits on the 1st, 5th, 15th, or 25th: $14.95/month for one debit. Each additional debit is just $2/month.

clearnow.comChecked

What it costs for 25 unitsYes

Rent payment fees

The landlord carries the cost of each payment taken from a tenant's bank account, not the tenant: the first tenant is covered by the base monthly fee and each further tenant costs two dollars a month, and the site offers no card option.

ClearNow fees are based on your debit day and are only charged when you attempt to debit a tenant.

clearnow.comChecked

What it costs for 25 unitsYes

Minimum units or minimum fee

There is no minimum number of rentals, but the base fee of fourteen dollars ninety-five a month covers only one tenant, so a landlord with a single rental pays that whole amount.

$14.95/month for one debit. Each additional debit is just $2/month.

clearnow.com/faq.phpChecked

What it costs for 25 unitsNo

Unit caps

No plan caps the number of rentals or tenants: the vendor says it serves portfolios of every size from one unit up, and extra tenants are simply priced one by one.

Since 2000, serving landlords and property managers of ALL sizes (1+ units).

clearnow.comChecked

What it costs for 25 unitsNo

Promotion and regular price

none: the published fees are the standing monthly rates, with no first-months discount, no end date and no yearly price shown as a monthly figure anywhere in the pricing text.

There are no set-up fees. ClearNow fees are based on your debit day and are only charged when you attempt to debit a tenant.

clearnow.comChecked

What it costs for 25 unitsNo

Setup or onboarding fee

The vendor states plainly that nothing is charged to get started, and repeats this on both the landlord pricing text and the page for people managing other owners' rentals.

There are no set-up fees and no long-term contracts.

clearnow.com/faq.phpChecked

Finding a tenantYes

Tenant screening

Screening is ordered from inside your account and the applicant pays, so it costs the landlord nothing; the vendor names no agency in its own words and publishes no report price.

FREE to you. Rental applicants pay the fee when they submit their report to you.

clearnow.com/faq.phpChecked

Leases and rentPartly

Leases signed online

Signing leases online is sold as a separate sister service rather than built into the rent account, and the vendor prices it apart from the rent fees.

Try eSignToday.com- Our easy, no-monthly-fee esignature service. Sign leases online!

clearnow.comChecked

Leases and rentYes

Rent collected online

Rent is pulled from the tenant's bank account on a set day and lands in your own account three banking days later, a wait the vendor explains as the time funds take to clear.

Rent payment is always directly deposited 3 banking days after the debit day.

clearnow.comChecked

Leases and rentYes

Autopay and reminders

Every payment is automatic once set up, so there is nothing for a tenant to schedule, and tenants with an email address are reminded eight days before the money is taken.

Eight days before the debit day - Tenants receive payment reminders (for those with e-mail).

clearnow.com/faq.phpChecked

Leases and rentNo

Partial payments

Part payments are refused outright rather than left to your choice: if the tenant's account is short of the full rent, the vendor takes nothing at all that period.

ClearNow does not collect partial rent payments. If a tenant does not have 100% of the rent amount in his/her bank account, then nothing is collected.

clearnow.com/faq.phpChecked

Leases and rentYes

Rent receipts

Tenants with an email address are sent a receipt by the service itself once the money has gone through, alongside the reminder before each payment.

If you have e-mail, you will receive a rent reminder before every debit and a payment receipt when your payment has been processed.

clearnow.com/tenant.phpChecked

Leases and rentYes

Rent reported to credit bureaus

On-time rent can be passed to Experian's renter record at no extra charge, the tenant opts in, and the first batch goes only after four payment periods have built up.

We do not charge an additional fee for furnishing data to Experian RentBureau and PRBC.

clearnow.com/faq.phpChecked

The booksYes

Income and expenses by property

Income and outgoings can be recorded against your rentals inside the same account at no extra charge, and the vendor says it produces profit and loss statements you can click into for detail.

We do not charge an additional fee for income and expense tracking.

clearnow.com/faq.phpChecked

The booksYes

Schedule E report

There is a report built for the tax form landlords file, which the vendor calls a helper for Schedule E of Form 1040 and includes with no extra charge.

One report in particular, the Schedule E Helper, makes completing the Schedule E of Form 1040 simple at tax time

clearnow.com/faq.phpChecked

The booksNo

Bank accounts from the vendor

It opens no account for you: money is taken from the tenant's own bank and paid straight into the bank account you already hold, so the vendor only moves payments.

Rent is debited from your tenant's bank account and directly deposited to your bank account.

clearnow.comChecked

The booksYes

A bank account per property

Each account pays into one named bank account, so sending different rentals to different accounts means opening extra ones, priced at seven dollars ninety-five a month for the first tenant on each.

Additional account for monthly debit on a different day: $7.95/month for one debit. Each additional debit is just $2/month.

clearnow.com/faq.phpChecked

Managing for other ownersYes

Management fees

You set a fixed amount or a share of each tenant's rent to land in your own account, with the rest paid to the owner on the same day, for two dollars per tenant on top of the rent fees.

A manager can designate a set amount or a percentage of rent collected per tenant to be deposited in the property management company's bank account…

clearnow.com/faq.phpChecked

Your tenantsYes

Tenant app

Tenants get a free online account where they can see payments, stop an upcoming payment or leave the service; the site does not describe messaging you or sending repair requests through it.

To unenroll, contact your landlord or log into your online account.

clearnow.com/tenant.phpChecked

Trying it, starting and getting helpNo

Free plan or trial

There is no free plan for the landlord: the lowest published rate is fourteen dollars ninety-five a month, charged whenever a tenant is debited, while tenants themselves pay nothing to use it.

Monthly debit: $14.95/month for one debit. Each additional debit is just $2/month.

clearnow.com/faq.phpChecked

Trying it, starting and getting helpYes

Sign up without a sales call

You sign up yourself in three steps online, signing the agreement on screen and uploading a bank statement or voided cheque, with no sales call or demo in the way.

You complete your Property Manager Enrollment Agreement online and then upload your bank documentation.

clearnow.com/faq.phpChecked

Trying it, starting and getting helpYes

Contract and cancelling

The vendor states there is nothing to commit to beyond the month, and tenants can drop out from their own login; how a landlord closes an account online is not spelled out.

On the page: Overview, How much does ClearNow cost?

clearnow.com/faq.phpChecked

Trying it, starting and getting helpYes

Support

You can reach a person by phone on weekday office hours in the eastern time zone, or email and ask to be rung back, which the vendor contrasts with rivals offering no phone line.

call (919) 680-4500 Monday-Friday 9am to 5pm ET

clearnow.com/faq.phpChecked

Trying it, starting and getting helpPartly

Getting your data out

Payment history can be downloaded as a spreadsheet file you can open in Excel, but the vendor describes no export of your tenants, leases or the income and expense records kept in the account.

Yes. You can download ClearNow payment data as a CSV file. The data can be viewed with spreadsheet software, such as Microsoft Excel.

clearnow.com/faq.phpChecked

Trying it, starting and getting helpYes

United States

It is built for rentals in the United States, moving money over the American bank payment network from a company based in Durham, North Carolina

ClearNow is headquartered in Durham, NC and is a member of the Better Business Bureau.

clearnow.com/about.phpChecked

Trying it, starting and getting helpYes

Still sold

live: new landlords, managers and tenants can sign up today through the enrolment pages, and the vendor dates its service from 2000.

Since 2000, ClearNow has enabled thousands of landlords and property managers to collect rents easily and automatically.

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ClearNow alternatives

All 9 alternatives

Sources and changes

Last changed

Sources on clearnow.com4

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Own this product? Claim the page free to see who reads it and show it is yours. You confirm it with an email at clearnow.com.

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