Decision 01
Make the deposit status visible.
The dashboard brings deposit balance, escrow status and tenancy information together so tenants can understand the deposit's state after payment.
Product Prototype / B
Rental Deposit Escrow Prototype
Product Design / Service Design / FinTech / Prototype
Designing a more transparent rental-deposit journey from payment to dispute resolution.
01 · Context & Product Question
Rental deposits involve more than payment. Tenants need to understand where the money is, why deductions happen, what evidence exists and what happens when they disagree.
Core question: How might a rental-deposit product make the full journey easier to understand and verify?
02 · Service Journey
The service follows the full tenancy lifecycle, connecting post-payment tracking with move-out review and disagreement.
Deposit lifecycle · Concept journey
- Find Property
- Review Tenancy
- Pay Deposit
- Track Escrow
- Review Deductions
- Dispute
- Settlement
Open interactive prototype
03 · Key Product Decisions
Decision 02
Make deductions reviewable.
Itemised cleaning, damage and missing-key deductions help tenants understand the basis of a proposed refund rather than seeing only a final number.
Decision 03
Treat disputes as a normal product state.
Explicit Accept, Negotiate and Dispute choices lead into visible evidence and case progress, so disagreement becomes a supported part of the journey.
04 · Outcome & Reflection
Seven interface states connect property discovery, tenancy and payment, deposit confirmation, the dashboard, deductions, dispute review and payout. Accept and Negotiate use demo alerts; disputes and settlement are simulated states.
The main lesson was that financial-product UX must explain the state of money, the basis for deductions and what happens next. The next step is to validate the underlying service model, not add more interface features.
This is a concept prototype, not a live regulated financial service. Amounts, evidence and transactions are illustrative.
