Our HOA contracts with a large management company to handle many of the administrative details.

I pay our HOA quarterly dues through the bank / credit union online bill pay. This payment method works just fine for every bill that I pay, except for the HOA dues.

This is an ACH / Electronic Transfer to the management company's bank in Atlanta. They always receive the funds on the due date, but the receiving bank does not get around to posting the payment to our account for several days.

More than once, this has resulted in late fees and interest charges. I have always been successful in getting these charges removed from my account, but it is a Royal Pain In The Ass.

I have communicated with the management company several times, requesting contact information for their bank; my requests have been ignored by the arrogant representative at the management company.

The whole point of making electronic payments is the knowledge that they will be made on time. Every other payment that I make, utility companies, mortgage (no longer, it was paid off last year), credit cards . . . everything, is posted on time. The HOA's bank is the only problem, and it is a consistent problem.

If the amounts were not so small, I would sue in small claims court, with the objective of getting their attention. Not worth it, so I just deal with the aggravation of getting the rep off of her ass to refund the charges. Grrrrrr

One solution to the problem would be to set the payment date several days prior to the due date, assuming their incompetence and inaction will continue. I realize the amount is probably not small, but it might avoid having to deal with them.

I am sure you have done this in the past, paying for the problem to go away.

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I also have my bank’s bill payment mechanism set to make a monthly payment to my HOA a few days prior to the due date. Even though the HOA allows a ten-day grace period.

A polite registered letter to one of the management co. officers may help.
There are a number of mgmt. co. in your area. Maybe a request to have the one you have replaced needs to be on the next association meeting agenda, or the threat of this may help your troubles.

quote:

This is an ACH / Electronic Transfer to the management company's bank in Atlanta. They always receive the funds on the due date, but the receiving bank does not get around to posting the payment to our account for several days.

Probably the same bank that handles our HOA dues. That Atlanta bank is popular with Management Companies because the bank gives kickbacks directly to the management company depending on the balance. This was discovered along with many other schemes by a internal review of our HOA management company.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
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I also have my bank’s bill payment mechanism set to make a monthly payment to my HOA a few days prior to the due date. Even though the HOA allows a ten-day grace period.

Yup. When payment were posted as late, my online bill place would hound them.

Eventually they figured it out.

quote:

Originally posted by Anush:

quote:

This is an ACH / Electronic Transfer to the management company's bank in Atlanta. They always receive the funds on the due date, but the receiving bank does not get around to posting the payment to our account for several days.

Probably the same bank that handles our HOA dues. That Atlanta bank is popular with Management Companies because the bank gives kickbacks directly to the management company depending on the balance. This was discovered along with many other schemes by a internal review of our HOA management company.

I would appreciate any specifics that you can give me, that I could use as ammunition in my dealings with the HOA and / or the management company.

My email address is in my profile.

My HOA gets an annual payment of 120 bucks. The first time I mailed a check, it didn't ever clear the bank. I called them and asked, they said they never got it. The next day, they texted me a pic of the mangled check and envelope, and asked for a new check. Said it was the first time EVER some told them the check was in the mail and it was true.

Online bill pay is not always ACH/electronic. Many times the bank still prints, cuts and mails a check. Sometimes the payment is received and credited as much as 2 weeks late.

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:

Online bill pay is not always ACH/electronic. Many times the bank still prints, cuts and mails a check. Sometimes the payment is received and credited as much as 2 weeks late.

You are correct, online bill pay is not always ACH / Electronic.

My bank indicates, for each bill that I pay, whether it is ACH or will be paid by paper check.

The HOA payments are ACH. The transaction acknowledgement that I receive at the time that I schedule payment says "Electronic." The detailed information on the website, when payment has been made, says "ACH."

I pay my quarterly dues a month in advance in case of issues. There was an instance where the check never hit my bank so I had time to send them another. I think the easiest thing is to just pay them a week early.

Email message that I sent today, to the property manager for our HOA at Sentry Management:

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Would you be good enough to explain to me, why your website shows an outstanding balance of $136.30, on May 31, 2019, when this amount was paid via ACH / Electronic Direct Deposit, received at your Atlanta bank on May 29, 2019?

Why, more than 48 hours after payment was received, has it still not been credited?

I HAVE REQUESTED, NUMEROUS TIMES, CONTACT INFORMATION FOR YOUR BANK, SO THAT I CAN TRY TO GET THESE PROBLEMS STRAIGHTENED OUT, BUT YOU HAVE STEADFASTLY IGNORED MY REQUESTS. PLEASE RESPOND.

Much like the old Jew who went to the Western Wall in Jerusalem to pray three times a day for world peace and an end to hunger, I feel like I'm talking to a fucking wall.

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Much like the old Jew who went to the Western Wall in Jerusalem to pray three times a day for world peace and an end to hunger, I feel like I'm talking to a fucking wall.

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Would you like to make a deposit sir?

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

Much like the old Jew who went to the Western Wall in Jerusalem to pray three times a day for world peace and an end to hunger, I feel like I'm talking to a fucking wall.

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Would you like to make a deposit sir?

No, and I don't want any fucken fries with that, either.

YOU need to go eat a pound of Bacon.

This thread reminds me of reason #1,897 of the reasons I will NEVER purchase a home that requires an HOA.

quote:

Originally posted by Yellow Jacket:

This thread reminds me of reason #1,897 of the reasons I will NEVER purchase a home that requires an HOA.

Yes, I agree with you. But at the time we bought, everything in the area that did not have an HOA was either complete trash, or way out of our budget. Everything that was sort of in the middle price range, where we needed to be, had an HOA.

The HOA itself is not terrible. The worst aspect is the company that they have contracted with, to do the management. We used to have a fairly responsive guy who was our property manager. We now have a woman who is just not doing the job.

Example: My next-door neighbor, a decent guy, also owns a home in North Carolina. He bought a motor home here, it was in his driveway for a few days while he was setting up the interior to his liking, then on March 16 he drove it up to his NC home, where it has been ever since then. March 16. He just received a letter from the management company's incompetent property manager, telling him that the motor home needs to be moved. The letter was dated May 10, two months after it was gone.

He tried to respond by telephone, but her voicemail greeting stated that she was away and would return on April 15. That was what he found when he tried to call her yesterday, May 31.

Total incompetence.

Yeah, I know. Here in Georgia our wonderful legislators passed a law that requires EVERY new development since the law went into effect, must have an HOA.

I'm probably self-condemned into staying where I am for the rest of my life.

At least, I don't have to pay the school taxes anymore.

Vtail

Have you tried to correspond with the board directly, you have a web page or facebook page?

The management company should be responding, and if they are not, then go to the HOA and explain the situation, you may not be the only one, and you don't like paying on time and getting late notices.

Same for the neighbor that got a notice of violation 30 days later, after it was already remedied.

The only way the mgt company knew of the violation was the HOA submitted it to them, he should be giving the HOA board crap in writing not just the company for sending it in without contacting him first.

Nonetheless, send it in a few days early to be sure, if you do that and it's still being posted late and you are getting fined I'd be on the board.

HOA’s suck, but I didn’t want to purchase an older house just because I didn’t want to deal with the headaches and repairs that normally come with buying an older house. It’s nearly impossible to find a newer neighborhood without an HOA unless you’re spending big coin on them.

My last letter from my HOA was about the weeds in my front yard after a rain storm. So I responded with a picture of the front of our neighborhood overran with weeds from the same storm that they are supposed to take care of. Obviously that message fell on deaf ears, but it made me feel better. They have a do as I say not as I do mentality.