Received the email indicating that Stessa will be migrating to a new cash management partner by 11/30/23. I’m a big fan of Stessa and supportive of any attempt to improve service. Some of the benefits of the move, such as the ability to write checks, are greatly appreciated. However, the initial feel I get from the initial communication and the associated FAQ is that this change is being rushed a bit.
Stessa, please take this slow so you get it right. Our cash management accounts are the hubs of our business. If this migration doesn’t go correctly, you will put a lot of landlords in a bad place since we rely on these accounts for all of our income and expense processing.
Couldn’t agree more. Very nervous about this. I too, am all for moving toward the best experience possible, and hopefully it will be. Like always, more communication would probably be better.
Nervous?! Oh, God! In the last several months I’ve been setting up my Stessa cash accounts, using the rental applications/credit check, and getting tenants set up with rent collection, and had to report issues with the features each step of the way. But I persevered because I had already used Stessa for my bookkeeping for a year and I wanted to simplify the management of my two properties, despite my partner and a stubborn tenant thinking Stessa actually made all these things difficult. This abrupt announcement and implementation of changing financial institutions within 30 days is jolting, as I am mid-way between funding accounts and reassigning payment accounts for my mortgages/ HOA payments-I actually have no idea if I should simply juggle payments through my personal accounts so I know payments won’t be late or will they tell us things are all changed in the next few days to give us ample time to rearrange our finances by the end of the month. I mean, for the initial opening deposit to come from a tenant’s bank to deposit into the current Stessa cash management account takes 1 week to 1 and a half weeks depending on where the weekend and holiday falls, so I wonder if setting up payments to go out of the new, pending accounts will take as long, and in that case we could all very well be late in making payments for December. We have coined this adventure “Stressa”. Sorry, Stessa, but you are all bots anyway, right?! In the end, I hope some people’s desire for paper checks, which seems awfully archaic while using a web-based platform, will not make this experience more quirky. I personally am happy to be rid of such things. Currently I am using a Fidelity cash management account, and I remember the checks offered with the account being curiously awkward at first, as if the checks didn’t quite sync with the rest of the features of the account. We shall see how all of this rearranging bodes for us, I hope there will be some benefits more than checks.
Not a bad idea. I went ahead and prepayed most of my December expenses. The lack of communication from Stessa on this change is telling. I don’t think they appreciate the impact of this change. Hope I’m wrong.
Has anyone received any further communication? I just reached out to support but I’m not sure how quickly I’ll get a response. I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt this was a jarring surprise. As someone who does comms planning and strategy as part of my day job, something like this should be rolled out with MUCH more advanced notice and clear dates on when things are happening.
Nope. Have not received any additional information. I hope Stessa realizes how much work goes into updating each individual property’s ACH info with all of its creditors, property managers, etc.
I too am concerned especially given the initial communication should we would hear more in the next week and its been almost 3 weeks. I have had my issues in the past and I am attempting to give them another chance to get it together, but this seems like its going to be a mess. Emptying the accounts does sound like a good idea. I will follow suit just in case.
I just got the notice in my Cash Management module to start the upgrade. Just as a heads up to everyone else - maybe log in and check to see if you can start yours! Hopefully I planned accordingly and don’t have any withdrawals happening in the next couple days.
sounds good. i have a couple more inbound ACH i’m waiting on then will likely pull the trigger tomorrow. We can keep the convo going and hopefully in 2 business days this will be behind us (though for some reason, i doubt that). Fingers crossed.
I’m also concerned with the limited communication and overall poor description of why they’re doing it. Ambiguous statements like “other frequently requested features not available with your existing accounts”… If they are bringing out Zelle and Billpay I’m all for this and want it to happen asap. If not, then please tell us what we’re in for.
I second Zelle big time. I’ll jump to the front of the line if that’s part of “other”. But yeah, agree, all I really care about is transparency and open communication.
Well, my migration actually took less than 24 hours (with money in my accounts). I haven’t started digging into anything but so far pretty smooth and quicker than expected. I’ll update if anything seems wonky but now I need to go re-link my income channels and mortgage payments and all that. Hopefully it goes smooth for others too.
Migration was quick. Less than one day. Updated all my bills with new account info. Requested new debit cards. So far no change in features from the previous account. No check writing, Zelle, or anything special.
One thing I’m just now realizing that I’m worried about… I had Airbnb payouts from my rental cabin that were in the middle of being processed that I think are going to dead-end to a closed account now. But there was no way to avoid it as I didn’t know the new bank routing and account information until after migrating. Would’ve had to have enough time to set up a new business banking account for the interim.
