ASX-listedRent.com.au, Australia’s website made for renters, have launched additional payment choices for itsRentPayplatform aimed at expatriate professionals, new migrants and foreign students who represent a significant proportion of Australian renters. Rent.com.au has partnered with fellow ASX-listed companyNovatti Groupto provide Alipay, WeChat Pay and UnionPay payment options for RentPay customers.
“RentPay is about providing choice and flexibility to renters while ensuring that property managers gain efficiency and certainty of payments. By being the first in our market to offer these popular new international payment options, we’re addressing a need that has arisen with increasing numbers of students, expats or recent migrants preferring to keep using these platforms due to the deep ecosystem, and the ties to family and friends they facilitate. At the same time, we’re helping our agent customers to position themselves at the forefront of payments technology without them having to invest valuable time and dollars in doing so,” said Rent.com.au CEO, Greg Bader.
“Specifically, platforms like Alipay and WeChat Pay are completely immersive applications that offer a combination of services from chat and social media through to shopping and finance, so it’s no surprise that people are keen to continue using them when becoming resident in Australia. We have already seen several of our renters use these platforms to pay their rent in a roundabout way. With this release, RentPay now enables customers of these platforms to easily pay their biggest expense (rent) seamlessly and confidently.”
HOW IT WORKS
The integration intoRentPayis both simple and logical for a customer and from the user’s perspective works in much the same way as any other payment method.
From inside the RentPay app a user can simply choose from a range of payment options which now also includes Alipay, WeChat Pay and UnionPay. A secure request is then sent to the users account and once the transfer is authorised, funds are deposited directly into their RentPay account, ready to be disbursed to the real estate agent as cleared funds direct into the agency trust account.
The unique structure of allowing the user to fund theirRentPayaccount independently of the actual rental payment schedule to the agent, means that not only can a renter pay how (payment method choice) and when (time/value flexibility) it suits them, but the agency will always get the funds when they’ve specified, in the method they need (i.e. straight into the trust account) with easy reconciliation data provided too.
“We’ve had these payment methods on our roadmap for some time, so we’re delighted to be able to release them to our customers. It provides more choice for renters, whether they’re direct customers or those that come to us via our agent partners, and that means more on time payments and a better experience for all. It also solves a real issue for many international renters in Australia in that it easily allows international funds to be used for rent in Australia, be they from their own accounts or from family members assisting them.
“Novatti are a long-term partner of RentPay, and this latest integration is simply the next evolution of that relationship as we leverage their unique capability to offer our growing customer base the opportunity to pay their way.
“The Novatti team have been fantastic to work with and we’ve valued having not only their technical expertise but also the ability to tap into their team’s deep experience and knowledge of these payment methods and the communities and brands behind them. This will be invaluable as we look to continue growing RentPay,” continued Bader.
NovattiCEO Mark Healy added, “We have been involved with RentPay from its inception and we look forward to continuing to work closely with their team. Renting is a significant segment with a huge volume of payments involved. We’ve already helped RentPay process well over $200 million in rental transactions and this integration is the latest development of our partnership. There is a clear need for these international payment choices across the student, expat and migrant populations through digital wallets they trust and are most convenient. For most people rent is their biggest expense and RentPay just makes it all a little easier.”
“We aim to offer the best payment choices possible at great, renter-friendly rates. Last quarter we launched our industry leading credit card solution with Click to Pay functionality and low rates of just 0.99%. Now we have released these payment choices and in coming weeks we will have a rewards offering in play too.
“It also delivers on one the of our core promises to agents, that RentPay will take on the ‘payments arms race’ on their behalf. We expect this addition will help some of the agencies in our sales pipeline to choose RentPay as their standard payment solution,” Bader concluded.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, Australian FinTech Pty Ltd is a shareholder of Novatti Group Limited.
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