IN FOCUS: Getting paid on-time: A landlord’s guide to rental income The new service that is a game changer for landlords

Get Digs™ is a digital service designed to improve the way renters and landlords pay and receive rent payments. Renters can pay their rent by the method of their choosing: credit card, VISA Debit, Debit Mastercard, Interac e-Transfer, or cheque, and can set up alerts to make sure they never make a late payment. Landlords get the assurance that they will receive their rental income on time every month from Get Digs, even if their tenant is late with their payment for whatever reason.

It was only launched in May 2018, but Get Digs is already making waves among Canadian landlords that have signed up.

For landlords, Get Digs has a feature called RentSteady, which ensures they get paid on time even if the tenant is late paying their rent*,” says Rachael Carswell, Co-Founder at Get Digs. “It helps remove the negative impact on cash flow associated with late rental payments and gives the landlord a security and peace of mind that has been missing for so long.”

The landlord receives an e-mail notifying them that the tenant is late paying the month’s rent, and the RentSteady service means the landlord still gets paid. Get Digs handles all of the follow up associated with late payments and continues to send weekly notifications to update the landlord of the renter’s payment status.

“We continue to follow up with the Renter to attempt to recover the rent owed and get them back on track with their payments” says Carswell. “If the renter defaults, the landlord will continue to be paid on the first of the month – for up to four months of consecutive non-payment”.

“There are other products in the market that attempt to protect landlords   in the event of non-payment of rent by their tenant, but our belief is that they simply aren’t effective enough. They add more tasks and processes on top of what the landlord is already going through and they do not solve the main issue of being out of pocket for the rent owed. It’s clearly a win-win for both landlords and renters, and with the backing of RBC Ventures, Get Digs has the tools necessary to ensure it has a long-term impact in the Canadian market.

“Get Digs is a part of RBC Ventures, a subsidiary of RBC, which is focused on going beyond banking to create meaningful solutions that touch every Canadian,” says Rachael Carswell, Co-Founder and Product lead at Get Digs. “We want to offer Canadians services and products that make their lives better, and this is what RBC Ventures is set up to do.”

As well as providing financial backing and industry know-how, just having the RBC name attached to the Get Digs project provides some crucial benefits. It provides a legitimacy and peace of mind that other products may struggle to replicate. The RBC brand represents trust and stability, two attributes that are crucial for Canadian landlords.