Chase launches a techy rent-payment platform to boost reliable revenue (minus the checks)
Chuck your checkbook… Rent payments are entering the 21st century. Yesterday JPMorgan Chase said it's testing a digital platform called “Story” to automate rent payments, which are still often paid by check. Here’s how it’s supposed to work:
- Renter center: Story will let renters enroll in auto-pay programs, get notifications, and view their payment history online.
- Owner dashboard: Story will allow landlords to view payments across their properties, use analytics to set prices, and screen prospective tenants.
Rent tech is stuck in the dark ages… Today, 78% of US renters pay their rent by check — a paper technology that’s been used since the 1400s. One reason: most of America’s 12M landlords have relatively few units and collect payment just once a month, so they haven’t needed fancy systems. Now startups and banks are pushing for techier tools:
- Rent rewards: Bilt Rewards, which offers a credit card in partnership with Mastercard and Wells Fargo, lets users earn rewards points by paying rent on time and then use those points to pay for travel, Amazon purchases, or even homes.
- Big bucks: This month Bilt raised $150M at a $1.5B valuation, and rent-tech startups Esusu, Stake, and Piñata have also raised millions for rent-rewards programs.
Banks are betting big on boring… Banking big shots like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are investing in more consistent revenue streams like specialty consumer loans and co-branded cards to offset volatility in their investment-banking and trading divisions — and rental payments are as consistent as it gets (though less exciting than IPOs). JPM is already the biggest lender to US landlords; now it aims to snag a chunk of the $500B/year that Americans spend on rent.