Things we refused to copy from the guarantor industry

When we started Panda, we looked hard at how lease guarantees have always worked. Some of it was fine. But a lot of it was built for the insurance company, not for the landlord or the renter. The two complaints we hear most about other guarantor products are slow claim payments and poor customer communication. Most of what follows comes back to those two problems. 

We don’t hide that it’s insurance. 

A PandaGuarantee is an insurance policy, which means it’s backed by institutional capital and government regulations. Your guarantee is strong with PandaGuarantee. 

We don’t overcharge. 

When I was a student, I paid more than a month’s rent for a guarantor policy so a landlord would accept my application (with my college roommates). Renters save about 20% with Panda compared to other guarantor services. Sometimes renters they can save even more, amounting to hundreds or even thousands of dollars in savings depending on the lease amount. 

We don’t make landlords wait to get paid. 

A claim comes down to two simple questions. Did the tenant pay rent? If not, how much is owed? Send the ledger, the lease and your notices to the tenant. We pay in 3 business days. Our fastest claim was paid the next day. The longest one took two weeks, because the property manager asked us to hold off until the tenant moved out. 

We don’t make small owners wait either. 

You can claim the full loss once it’s known, or claim monthly and get a month of rent for every month the tenant is in default. If you own a few units, a missed payment hits your cashflow right away. Monthly Panda claims fix that. 

We don’t treat missing U.S. credit as a no. 

A student from Seoul or São Paulo with no U.S. credit file isn’t automatically a bad risk. We built our own system to evaluate international applicants instead of turning them away. And we can save them lots of money on lease guarantor fees. 

We don’t hide behind phone trees. 

Call us and a person picks up. Email or text us during business hours and you’ll hear back within an hour. That goes for renters, landlords and property managers.

A renter recently left us this review: “This was one of the smoothest and most seamless experiences I could have asked for…I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. 10/10 would recommend.” That’s the standard we hold ourselves to.

What’s next 

We’re building an integration with Yardi which is one of the largest property management software platforms, so property managers can work with Panda inside the software they already use for processing tenant applications. We’re also building security deposit management solutions for landlords, and on-time rent reporting to the credit bureaus, so renters who pay on time can build credit from it. 

None of this is complicated. It’s what happens when you build for real people using the latest tech. What our values mean in practice: care for renters and landlords, have the courage to do things differently even if it’s hard, and keep communication clear and simple.

If you’re a landlord or property manager and want to see how it works, reach us at support@pandaguarantee.com or 332-290-1800.