On 11/5/2024 12:19 AM, micky wrote:
My HOA has changed which management company we use to collect dues.
Unlike the previous management company, this one uses a cooperating
bank, which requires its own userid and password. Isn't this uncommon?
I suppose doing it this way was cheaper than writing enough webpage code
to take payments directly. ????
When I went to schedule an automatic payement every 3 months, I found
this statement
"As the 2024 budgets are being finalized, it's important to adjust
your payment accordingly to align with any budget changes, if any. You
will have until December 20th to make these adjustments. If you fail to update your payment by this deadline, please note that the management
company will step in to modify it, ensuring it meets the requirements of
the new fee structure."
This last sentence is alarming. I can't believe they mean it. Doesn't
it say that if I set it up to pay 280** dollars a quarter, the bank is
going to change it to 380, because the current budget*** says owners
sohould pay 380? ***which the membership did not vote
on, let alone every member.
Even with this warning, would this even be legal??? Even if it's legal, wouldn't this annoy you a lot??? Whether it applied to you or not?
**(This is not a condo or co-op. The HOA provides few services, mows
only a small amount of the grass, so dues are lower than many other
places. But becauss of a lot of plumbing repairs, 2, 3, 4 a year, that
cost about $100/home every time, and because of enforcement of a law requiring a large reserve, and because for 45 years, the dues have only
been raised twice iirc, because it's so hard to raise them, we finally
found out it was legal to have special assessments merely based on a BOD vote, and we have one now that is about $600 payable over the coming 18 months. In the same way some people refuse to accept how elections work,
or whether it's legal for an ex-president to take secret documents with
him when he leaves, I can imagine some neighbors saying special
assessments are not legal, or at least suitable to be ignored.)
Yes, they should pay the money, but can the bank just change the payment schedule because the HOA wants it to?
BTW, I live below my means and can afford all this no trouble, but not
all my neighbors can, I'm sure.
Not sure what the problem here is. You knew when you when you moved
there that you were obligated to pay HOA fees and that there could and
probably would change over time (side note: only two changes in 45 years doesn't strike me as all that egregious). Giving you a way to set up
automatic payments like this with the provision that the payments will
be adjusted whenever the fees changes sounds more like a convenience
than an annoyance. Even so, most HOAs will still allow you to make
manual payments by check if you want or you can usually set up an auto
payment through your bank's bill pay, which is what I do.
FWIW, my HOA also allows you to set up automatic payments and I'm pretty
sure these also adjust when the fees change, and I think most people
here seem to appreciate that convenience. In my case, I still prefer to
use my own bank to make auto payments and I manually change the amount
when there is a fee increase, but I don't see any problem with the auto
payment and auto adjustment concept for those who want that. And I
would think using an outside bank for the actual mechanics of the charge
would be more common than not.
Now if you are saying that the amount taken out for fees is
automatically adjusted even before the fees are formally approved by
your HOA board, then I would agree that's a bit sketch. If that's the
case, then I would opt to make manual payments or auto payments from my
own bank's bill pay.
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