Business Meeting
Approve the February minutes: 1st Russ, 2nd Ron
Treasurer’s report:
- The current balance in our account is $1,038.09.
- We have paid for the Elks through the end of 2026.
- Anyone who has not paid their 2026 dues has been cut off from the rental requests list and online account access.
- Anyone who has not paid dues for 2+ years has been moved to the inactive list and has stopped receiving meeting notices.
- Please pay your 2026 dues! Just $35. Mail a check (PO Box 221, Findlay, OH 45839), bring cash/check to a meeting, or use PayPal.
Old Business:
None.
New Business:
Tom Miller has presented to the Arlington High School seniors, and he’s presenting to Liberty Benton at the end of the month. This is to give them wisdom as they potentially enter the rental market.
Motion to adjourn the business meeting: 1st Jaime, 2nd Katie
Featured Speakers
Alison Frye – SVP Treasury Management, 419-720-3477, alison.frye@waterfordbankna.com
Sean Harold – AVP Commercial Lending, 419-720-3498, sean.harold@waterfordbankna.com
Waterford Bank is headquartered in Toledo, OH. The most important thing is to have a relationship with your bank, so you know the people who are calling you. About 90% of what they do is work with commercial banking.
Payments are largely becoming electronic, both for speed and for the cost of cash/paper money. There’s a trend toward ACH and real-time payments. The average cost of a paper check is around $5. ACH is usually $0.20-0.30. There’s also a risk in writing checks.
The upcoming generation really doesn’t know how to write checks. They don’t want to mail a check. But we need to make sure we have the right kinds of fraud protection in mind.
Many of our landlords offer electronic payments such as Zelle and PayPal. Most banks are able to receive real-time payments. You can set up ACH to get rent out of a tenant’s bank account, but you need a signed paper to give you permission to do that on a certain date each month. You don’t need to give a lot of notice, but you can schedule that in advance if needed. This works well for tenants with bank accounts.
Remote capture is another option, where you scan checks or mobile deposit with your banking app. This can save time and be a lot more convenient. Figure out the value of your time that you’re spending going to the bank, and any fees you may incur will probably be a better value.
If you have a high volume of tenants (maybe 100+), a lockbox situation may be ideal. The tenants would mail their check to a PO box, and the bank is your accounts receivable. This would also be helpful for out-of-town landlords. This gets your money in the bank quickly – the bank gets your money, and then you get the receipts. The digital file could be just check images, or it could be an Excel file that you can import into your accounting software. Your banker can help you with the best solution for your needs.
There are different tools for fraud prevention. Positive pay is where you get a daily file for any type of transaction that pulls from your account. It aims to help catch it if someone intercepts your check in the mail and changes the information (check washing). Recently, the post office had a flurry of check washing. It’s an old scheme, but it’s starting to hit home here in Findlay.
Q: Do the anti-washing pens really work?
A: They probably work better than a ballpoint pen, but someone could probably still manipulate the info.
If you write checks, keep an eye on your accounts. The faster you identify fraud, the quicker your bank can help you recover the funds. After certain time periods, it’s hard for banks to get that money back.
Every time you write a check, you’re sending out your routing and account numbers. People have been known to steal from mail carriers.
Do you need positive pay? It depends on what level of risk you want to accept. Many business owners have experienced check fraud.
Most of the fraud we see is from handwritten checks, not electronic payments.
You tell the bank what checks you’ve written, and they check that against your account. They notify you daily if there’s an issue, and then you log into your account and approve or reject the transactions. Not every service offers a payee match; some just offer the amount and account numbers.
Some do reverse positive pay, then every day they have to go in and approve or reject each transaction.
Waterford is not a large bank, but its services stopped over $2M in fraud last year.
Banks can take up to 270 days to return money from fraudulent transactions.
Set up any kind of alerts you can for transactions so that you’re aware of what’s going on in your bank account.
Q: How would a new customer set up positive pay?
A: You can manually tell the bank what checks you write within the online banking system, or you can import files from accounting software. When the checks clear, if there’s a mismatch, the bank will let you know. If you write a lot of checks, reverse positive pay may be a better option – the bank assumes everything is an exception, and you have to approve them daily. You can get email and text notifications, and you get a few hours before they notify you again. You give them a default decision of “pay” or “return” in case they don’t hear from you.
Q: Do most banks offer positive pay, or only certain banks?
A: Most banks offer it today. Check whether they also offer payee verification.
A: The City of Findlay requires positive pay, checking the amount, payee, and account info.
Reverse positive pay stops the problem before it ever happens. Waterford charges $40/month for this service, but if you’ve experienced fraud, it’s worthwhile. This amount is about the same as what they charge the vendor for it; they aren’t making money on it.
If any of your vendors change their payment information, always make sure you verify that they are who they say they are to verify it’s not a scam.
Pay attention to your accounts!
Q: Do you have cautions against Zelle, PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, etc.?
A: They are good with customer service, but beware of lesser-known payment apps. The concern is that for a lot of those, you don’t have to go through the same process to open an account as with a regulated bank. We don’t have any inherent worries about any of them.
As a lender, when they’re asked to finance a property, they care about how well you have control over your income and how you manage it. Know that your process of collecting rent and paying vendors matters to your lender. It’s good to have strong processes in place. Cash flow is a key factor for paying the loan back; they don’t like to rely on collateral. They care about how you are as an owner and a person because we’re entering into a partnership.
Q: What’s your maximum loan term?
A: We commonly see 5 years term but kick out amortization to 20 or maybe 25 years. Every 5 years, we look at interest rates and reevaluate. They look at the asset as well to evaluate the loan terms.
Q: What about signature credit lines?
A: As a relationship bank, we want to give you flexible options. We’ll look at the loan-to-value (LTV) of the building, your rental portfolio, etc. to potentially get you an equity line. We are still a bank that gets together weekly to discuss deals. It’s very hard to find that anymore.
Most banks will loan 80% of the property’s value. The lower LTV a bank can loan into, the more pricing flexibility they have because their risk is reduced.
Q: Do you do CDs and other regular banking services?
A: Yes. We’re a small commercial bank, and we don’t have a lot of branches. But they have several people who are in Findlay throughout the week. Most of their bankers are all in the same building in Toledo, so they can collaborate on any concerns you may have.
Q: Share a bit about private banking and how that works.
A: Lisa Amstutz is their primary private banker here in Findlay. We don’t want to sell investments, but we offer those very personal options. There are a lot of ways that busy people can get their banking done besides during regular banking hours. It’s the VIP checking and money market program; you get higher rates and a person assigned to you. This is just for personal banking, not investments. They’re setting up a courier service to pick up and deliver cash in Findlay.
In a private bank, you can get more creative financing and loan solutions than with a standard bank. It’s another resource you have to give you more options, especially if you have a lot of equity in properties.
Q: Share about that personal touch and how valuable that is.
A: If you took a PPP loan back in 2020, your information is out there on a lot of lists. You can get a lot of fraudulent calls because of that. If you’re working with a bank that you don’t know the people, you’ll know when you get a phishing call. When we see fraud, it’s not because they’ve hacked in, but because you’ve unknowingly given your credentials to them. Having a relationship with the people at your bank is huge in preventing fraud. Scammers know what to do or say to get your information.
Q: If you’re loaning against a brokerage account, are you constantly monitoring the value of the account?
A: Typically, the loan agent will work with your broker to build a relationship. The loan agent will often also get your monthly statements so they can monitor the value. They may only loan up to 65% of the value or some other collateral threshold. The bank may ask you for a payment if the value drops below a certain level.
Q: How does it work for people to copy your checks?
A: They can get your information and get check stock, where they print your information on new checks that they can then use.
Use a cashier’s check to return a security deposit rather than a personal check with your real account information.