How autopay works

How a tenant turns on autopay, when rent is pulled, and what happens if a payment fails.

Autopay lets rent be pulled from a tenant's bank account automatically each time it is due, so there is nothing to remember on the 1st. It runs on a bank account the tenant links once with Plaid — no card details to re-enter every month.

Autopay is a tenant-side setting. As the landlord you can turn on rent collection and enable the feature, but the tenant links their own bank and authorizes the recurring pull.

Autopay is optional. If it is off, the tenant can still pay each period on demand through the in-app payment flow (card or US bank account, processed by Stripe). Autopay just removes the monthly step for people who would rather not think about it.

Autopay can be turned off at any time from the same Bank accounts screen.

Whether or not autopay is on, reminders can go out before the due date and continue while a balance remains unpaid. Follow-ups are rate-limited, respect quiet hours, and stop after the configured attempts so an overdue balance does not create an endless message loop.

If a tenant pays only part of the amount due, Aptoria records that payment against the lease period and keeps the remaining balance visible. The partial payment is not treated as a complete payment, and it does not erase the open balance or the need to review any jurisdiction-specific acceptance consequences.

A returned automatic pull is not retried indefinitely. The workflow follows its configured retry schedule, then stops and routes the unresolved balance for review rather than repeatedly pulling from the same account.

The payment record should distinguish the original attempt, the return, each supported retry, and any later manual payment. That sequence is important when reconciling the tenant ledger and payout activity.

Bank payments can be returned — insufficient funds, a closed account, a decline. When that happens Aptoria marks the payment late, notifies the tenant that the auto-pay did not go through, and follows up over the next several days so they can pay manually. Follow-ups escalate in tone but are rate-limited and respect quiet hours; after a few attempts the automatic follow-ups stop, so a struggling tenant is not chased endlessly.

A returned bank payment can also lead to an NSF (returned-payment) fee. Aptoria does not apply that fee on its own — it surfaces it to the landlord to approve or dismiss in the approval queue. And a hard reversal, like a chargeback or an ACH return, deactivates the standing autopay authorization so nothing keeps re-pulling against a closed or disputed account.