Collecting fees by pre-authorized debit

Pre-authorized debit lets your property collect what a resident owes directly from their bank account on the day it is due. The resident signs an agreement once; after that, URBI sends each collection to the bank on your behalf and the money arrives in the property's account.

It differs from a card payment in one important way. A card is accepted or declined on the spot. A bank debit is taken from the resident's account on the due date, and one that cannot be honoured comes back a few business days later as a return. This article explains what to expect at each step.

How a resident is enrolled

A resident enrols through the Portal: they provide their banking details, review the pre-authorized debit agreement, and sign it. The signed agreement is kept on file as a PDF and is the property's evidence that the debits were authorised. The resident receives a confirmation by email. A resident who owns more than one unit can apply one agreement to each of them.

Staff can also start an enrolment on a resident's behalf by entering their banking details. The resident then receives an email asking them to verify the details and sign. Nothing is collected until they do, and a request that is not signed before it expires lapses without collecting anything.

Before any collection can run, the property's collection account has to be set up with the bank, connected in URBI's accounting settings, and tested. Until then the settings screen shows the connection as not configured or pending test, and no debits are sent.

What happens on a collection day

Each weekday afternoon, URBI prepares the collections that fall due on the next business day. Weekends and Canadian bank holidays are skipped, so a charge due on a Saturday or a holiday is collected on the next business day.

The sequence is:

1. URBI finds every unpaid invoice that is due, belongs to a resident with an active enrolment, and is not already being paid another way. A resident's due charges are combined into one debit.
2. Each debit is recorded as a pending payment against the resident's invoices and posted to your ledger.
3. URBI builds the collection file and sends it to the bank, which acknowledges it as accepted or rejected.
4. When the bank accepts the file, the invoices are marked paid. If it rejects the file, nothing is marked paid; URBI rebuilds and resends it once, and tells staff if that does not succeed.
5. The debit is taken from the resident's account on the due date. The property is credited for the full amount of the file, usually within one to two business days of the due date.

A debit above the property's per-collection limit is left out of the file and recorded, so a resident with an unusually large balance is not silently skipped.

When a charge differs from the amount the resident agreed to, URBI notifies the resident in advance, using the notice period recorded on their signed agreement. A charge that needed a notice and did not get one is not collected until it has.

When a debit is returned

A returned debit means the resident's bank sent the money back, or never released it. Returns usually arrive within one to two business days of the due date, occasionally up to five. A resident disputing a debit through their own bank can arrive much later than that.

The common reasons, in plain language:

• The resident did not have enough money in the account.
• The account has been closed.
• The account details are wrong, or no account matches them.
• The resident asked their bank to stop this payment.
• The resident disputed the debit with their bank.
• The bank refused the debit for another reason, such as an account that cannot be debited or a question about the authorisation itself.

When a return arrives, URBI does the following automatically:

• Records the return against the original payment, with the reason.
• Reverses the payment in your ledger with an offsetting entry. The original entry stays, so the history shows both the collection and the return.
• Puts the invoice back to unpaid, or overdue if its due date has passed, and restores the amount to the resident's balance.
• For insufficient funds only, adds a returned-payment fee to the resident's account, at the amount set in your property's accounting settings. If no amount is set, no fee is charged.
• Emails the resident when the reason is insufficient funds, a closed account, or wrong account details. For a stop payment, a dispute, or any other reason, the resident is not emailed; staff are alerted instead.

Once the invoice is outstanding again it is treated like any other unpaid invoice. For a closed account or wrong details, the resident needs to update their banking information before another collection can succeed.

What staff see in URBI

On a unit's accounting tab, the pre-authorized debit section shows the resident's enrolment status, the upcoming debits for the next 30 days, and recent debits with their outcome, including the reason for any return.

Under accounting transactions, the PAD batches tab lists each day's collection file. Opening one shows its progress from generated, to transmitted, to acknowledged by the bank, to delivered, and then the return window, along with the number of debits, the total, and any returns received. The accounting dashboard has a matching widget. If a file could not be confirmed as delivered, the batch says the bank may still hold it and offers the choice to resubmit or abandon it, so that money is never sent twice on a guess.

Things that need a person

A resident changes bank accounts. The resident updates their details through the Portal, or staff can enter the new details and the resident confirms them by email. Future debits use the new account.

A stop payment. The resident asked their bank to refuse one debit. URBI records it as a return and alerts staff, but it does not cancel the resident's authorisation. Talk to the resident to find out whether they meant to stop one payment or to end the arrangement.

A resident cancels. A cancellation is recorded with the date it takes effect. Debits due on or before that date are still collected; after it, nothing more is taken. Staff can also pause, resume or cancel a single enrolment from the unit's accounting tab.

A dispute. When a resident disputes a debit through their bank, URBI reverses the payment and opens a dispute record. The signed agreement on file is the property's evidence of authorisation.

Questions property managers ask

Is the resident told before every debit? Not when the amount is the one they agreed to. When it differs, they are notified in advance, using the notice period recorded on their agreement.

Can I see who will be debited tomorrow? Yes. The unit's accounting tab shows upcoming debits for the next 30 days.

Can pre-authorized debit collect an old balance? No. Only invoices falling due after the property began collecting by debit are included.

Does the resident pay anything for a return? Only for insufficient funds, and only if your property has set a returned-payment fee. Other return reasons carry no fee in URBI.

Why does a return show up after the money already arrived? The bank credits the property for the whole file first and takes each returned amount back afterwards, as a separate withdrawal on your statement. URBI reverses the payment when the return is reported, so your ledger and your statement end up matching. Your bank may also charge its own fee for a returned item; that appears on your statement, not on the resident's account.