Curious what to expect in the Zibo signup process? Keep reading to learn how Zibo benefits landlords, and get step-by-step instructions on how to create your Zibo account.
What is Zibo?
Zibo is an all-in-one financial services platform built for independent landlords. Our online rent collection, banking, and expense management solutions help you save time, stay organized, and grow your rental business. With Zibo, landlords can receive online rent payments, deposit paper checks, and manage all of their property bank accounts in one platform — for free.
Zibo also offers the only bank account designed for landlords, as well as competitive loans, transparent insurance offerings, and property performance insights to help you increase your cash flow.
Is Zibo really free for landlords?
Yes, Zibo really is free for landlords. Rather than charging fees like traditional banks and technology platforms, Zibo makes money in other ways in order to provide our tools at no cost to landlords. Learn more about the Zibo business model.
How do landlords sign up for Zibo?
Step 1: Create your free Zibo account
To create a Zibo account, visit the Zibo homepage and click “Get started for free” or “Sign up.”
That takes you to the Zibo signup page, where you’ll choose “Landlord” and complete the form with your name and phone number.
Note: The phone number you enter must be able to receive text messages.
Next, enter your email address and create a password. Click “Create your free account” to continue.
Once you create your account, we’ll verify your email address by sending you a verification code. After you verify your email, you’ll be redirected to sign in to your new Zibo account.
Step 2: Choose your Zibo services
Once you sign in, you’ll see a page featuring all of the Zibo services available to landlords. Select all that apply to enjoy a customized onboarding experience.
You can always skip this step for now and set up additional services from your Zibo dashboard at a later time.
In this guide, we’ll focus on “Automate rent.” Click that tile to set up online rent collection.
Step 3: Set up online rent collection
Once you choose “Automate rent,” you’ll be directed to a new page with the three steps required to set up online rent collection.
Click “Add property” to add your rental property to Zibo.
First, enter your rental property address. If the address doesn’t auto-fill, you can enter the address manually.
Next, add the rest of the details about your property. Choose a property type from the dropdown list, enter the number of units and the apartment, suite, or unit number, if applicable.
You can then assign the property to an existing portfolio or create a new one. Zibo users can create multiple portfolios if you’d like to assign different property types into different groups.
You can add additional properties from the Properties page on your Zibo dashboard at any time.
Step 4: Add a bank account
Next, add the bank account you use for your rental property. You can either open a Zibo bank account or link your existing bank account.
A Zibo bank account offers landlords many benefits, including a high-yield checking account (3.75x the national average), a 1% cash back business debit card, no monthly fees or minimum balances, and the ability to send payments.
If you don’t want to open a Zibo bank account, you still can access Zibo’s tools for rent collection, expense management, and security deposit management.
Option 1: Open a Zibo bank account
To open a Zibo bank account, enter your personal details (name, address, birth date), as well as your SSN, EIN or Tax ID, which is required to verify your identity. Zibo encrypts this information and will never sell or share it.
You will also need to specify an initial deposit amount of at least $100 as part of the Zibo bank account application. The funds will be pulled from your external bank account within 24 hours of your application approval.
Once you submit your Zibo bank application, our team must validate your account to prevent fraud. This process typically takes less than 48 hours. If we require additional information from you, the Zibo support team will reach out via email.
Option 2: Link an existing bank account
To securely link your existing bank to your Zibo account, first answer a few questions about how you use this bank account for your rental business.
Next, go through the guided setup to link your bank account. We partner with Plaid — the secure payments platform used by companies like Amazon, DocuSign, and Lyft — to protect your information.
Through Plaid, you’ll be able to choose your bank and enter your bank credentials to securely link the account. Rest assured that this information will never be shared or sold.
If you don’t see your bank listed, you can manually enter your account and routing numbers to start the verification process. Within a few business days, you should receive two small deposits (less than $0.99) in your bank account. Once you receive the deposits, log into Zibo, go to the Bank Accounts tab, and click “Verify” next to your bank account. Enter the amount of the two deposits to complete the verification.
Step 5: Invite your tenant(s)
Once you’ve added a bank account, the final step is to add your tenants.
First, add the lease payment terms — including your lease’s start and end dates, rent amount, rent due date, and any recurring fees (pet fees, late fees, etc.) or one-time payments (security deposit, pro-rated rent, etc.).
Note: For the lease start date, use the date you started using Zibo.
Next, add your tenant’s name and contact information, including their mobile phone number, email address, or both.
Next, preview your tenant’s invitation to confirm all the information is correct and hit send.
Once you’ve sent the tenant invite through Zibo, you can follow up with your tenant using their custom Zibo sign-up link. Note that the custom link will only work for that specific unit — you cannot send the same invite link to all of your tenants.
If you have multiple rental units, repeat the same process to invite additional tenants to join Zibo.
If your tenant doesn’t accept your invite, you can resend the invitation. Go to the “Properties” tab on the Zibo dashboard, choose the unit, and click "Resend invite." If they still don’t respond, confirm you have the correct tenant contact information.
You can send tenants our blog post How Do Renters Sign Up for Zibo? for step-by-step instructions on the Zibo sign-up process for renters.
Step 6: Verify your account
As a final step, verify your Zibo account in order to receive payments. Log into Zibo and click your name on the bottom left corner to go to your profile settings. In the identity verification box, click "Verify now" and have a government-issued ID ready to complete this step.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully set up your Zibo account and can now start collecting rent online. You can also check your Zibo dashboard to track rent payment status, understand your financial performance, and tag expenses to simplify tax prep.
Want to know what the Zibo experience looks like for your tenants? Read our blog post How Do Renters Sign Up for Zibo? for step-by-step instructions on the Zibo renter sign-up process.