Publishing Delinquent HO names in HOA treasurer reports

Started by MarieL • 2 replies • 1168 views

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MarieL (Illinois)
Posts: 82

Posted:

Every month our HOA pulishes and circulates a treasurer's report,listing all the HO's by name. . It shows if the HO is current or delinquent in their assessments.Can the BOD publish and circulate this information or is in conflict with The Federal Act 804 (2). The Fair Debts Collection Act?

Need to mention, I am not one of the delinquents. For 37 years my assessments have always been paid on time. Never delinquent or even 1 day late!

LawrenceC1 (Georgia)
Posts: 480

Posted:

Marie,

The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices act applies to debt collectors, hired by a creditor, and not to the creditor themselves. So your collection attorney will be subject to its provisions, but not the Treasurer of the Association.

In most cases, letting members of the association know who is current and who is not is allowed. In fact, most governing documents or state laws give association members the right to know this information.

The thing you need to be very careful about is public disclosure of private facts. If, for example, you posted this information at the pool where non-members could see it, you could be liable for a violation of a person's privacy rights.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Marie,

This forum has discussed releasing names several times.

As Lawrence posted, the laws and governing documents typically allow the membership to inspect these records. Some States have started limiting this access and some have not. However, even in States that do limit this access, the decision to withhold those records are left up to the board.

The real debate is does it do any good. Based on past discussions, it does have some benefits (if a member is worried about the neighbor knowing) and some disadvantages (membership turmoil for those that don't think it should be released). During these discussions there has been no real consensus one way or the other.

If you believe that the Board should not release these names, I would recommend that you discuss this with your board or run for the board and change the practice.

For my Association, as Treasurer, I report how many lots are 30,60,90 or 90+ days behind. I do not mention the actual lot numbers or names. This report is attached to the minutes which are available to members on our website. We do not list this information in the newsletters.

Hope this helps,

Tim

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