Late fees and military personnel

Yes and no. There is no excuse for not paying dues period. They know dues are owed whether they get it in the mail or not. As for late fees, there can be a federal law preventing one from losing their home while on duty or paying late dues. However, most military people set up an automatic wjthdraw account when away. That is something that should have been arranged.

The rub here is you can still charge the dues but the late fees nay be waived. They are still on the line for the dues. Just can not add up the late fees but can when they retun. No excuse then.

Penney,

There is a federal law that limits collection actions against members of the armed forces on active duty. I used to know it fairly well but that was so far in the past I cannot even remember the title of the act.

Your situation is complicated by having granny acting as a power-of-attorney. Generally, I suggest dealing with anyone who is a poa but keep in mind that, unlike a court-appointed representative, all their actions are discretionary. That is, you cannot force the poa to act if they choose not to do so.

The dyslexic wife is another complication and I have no advice on how to handle that.

Given all the details you have provided, it would well be worth a few bucks to consult with an attorney to explore all your options.

Sorry but I disagree with waiving the dues for someone on active duty. I respect and honor them, but obligations are obligations.

You can waive late fees but dues are owed. Now can a foreclosure take place? Most likely not in this case. However, there is still the lien option. It will just be on longer.

We had a military people in our HOA. They still must pay the dues but late fees waived. They arreanged auto pay. The only way they were in danger is if that account set up defaulted.

They have to pay the dues. Period.

I'm not entirely sure they are having financial trouble. They just stopped paying about 2 years ago. They never informed anyone why. Ignored every statement sent out until this week.

Now they want to make issue of it after we started charging late fees again and sent out a delinquency letter stating that anyone that did not come into the office and pay off their balance or agree to a payment plan would be getting liens filed next month.

I wonder how they are paying their utilities then and if they aren't opening the mail then how did they know the HOA was charging late fees? Read the act make sure you're following it and file the lien.

I highly doubt the law would be applicable to the HOA fees. And the dyslexic wife sounds like a lie. So when the soldier is away the wife just let's the mail pile up and granny sits around doing nothing? I would offer up a vote but I would still vote to keep the fines.

As I understand it (and this is from briefings given by the Military):

Interest on any late payments are capped at 6% per annum providing the house was purchased prior to entering or being recalled to active duty service. The interest rate on any contracts entered into while serving on active duty are not covered by this law. Therefore, if applicable, any interest above 6% is forgiven.

Legal action may be filed but must be postponed by the courts for at least 90 days so the service member has a chance to be notified and respond. Sometimes the postponement can be until the service member is actually available. Therefore, the Association can (and should) file a lien but may not foreclose on it.

NOTE: The Association is entitled to a copy of the orders to prove that the service member is on active duty.

It is a fine line on this situation. That is why I always say BEFORE you foreclose LOOK at the situation. This is one of those situations where you don't foreclose and just keep the lien on. We had a policy of 6 months we liened, after a year look into foreclosure OPTIONS. We would not pursue the foreclosure if the home was already in bank foreclosure status of course. However, as you can see there are other unique situations where one would not foreclose. This military situation being one of them.

They are extremely rare this even happens. I live in a military town and did have a military board member at one time. This is how I was aware of the no late dues (but interest) and can't foreclose. She had made arrangements for the year she was gone with the bank. However, considering her deployment was a year, she could have been in trouble with our policy. That is why you have to look at every foreclosure situation before you go and jump into it.

I've seen where some HOA's have tried to foreclose on a military person before. The results were very very unpleasant. The outrage was pretty bad. The HOA was in the wrong too. Which did not help matters any. People do come up with different outrageous reasons why the HOA foreclosure is out of line and mean. Some I agree are. However, what stop a foreclosure every time is paying the money owed. It's just may be harder for a military person to do so. Which is why they should not suffer the late fees nor the foreclosure while in service.

Ok Folks, I apologize ahead of time for any one I may offend with this response. Being a retired member of the the military with most of that time in the Reserves, I have to say: Shame, Shame, shame on any and all of you for taking or even considering taking a harsh line on any Reserve of Guard member called up to serve during the last 12 years.

You may not understand it, but the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act was created to save peoples homes. A little history and some reality here: Most people in the Guard and Reserve base their house purchase on their CIVILIAN Job and Income. The Reserve and Guard pay for weekend drills and the two week annual training, for most reserves members does not even cover costs of getting to/from drills or doing the many hours of work between drill weekends to maintain Military readiness. Try living on Active duty pay. Just about all the Enlisted pay grades under 12 years are poverty level in most regions of the US. Same with the O-1 thru O-3 pay grades.

For the three times I was called up (Since 9-11), my salary was reduced by approx 70% (from my Civilian job salary). My standard of living and purchase of my house was based on that civilian salary. Using the Act, we were able to freeze many interest bearing accounts, including suspending the mortgage during the deployments. (can tell you horror stories of dealing with bankers and finance people... their level of ignorance is beyond compare)

For those of you "LUCKY" enough to have a service member in your HOA community, who gets called up, you should thank your lucky stars that such people are among you. Don't you think it is a hardship enough that this person has to be away from Family and loved ones for the duration of their call up? Not to mention the many who are in a true "danger" zone where they may be wounded or killed and you are going to make them worry about F*#King dues and late charges and taking Fu*king liens out on their homes? Seriously? Shame on you!

Yes, it's a contract. Yes, the person in the service has every intention of honoring that contract. (matter of fact, bad credit can kill a military career these days) But do you really think being an a-hole over dues is really the best thing to do?
The service member has a lot more important things to worry about, like defending YOUR FREEDOM. Is taking liens out against him what they're fighting for?

My, immediate neighbors and friends, upon realizing the salary reduction I was facing, they got together and paid my dues for me (for the last two of my deployments). These honorable people refused repayment when I returned because they said us deployed soldiers were giving enough and for these 6-8 folks, giving $20 a month a piece was a very minor sacrifice compared to what my family and I were giving. (It was less than a few cups of coffee at starbucks during the month)

In the OP's post, she said the member was deployed and the wife has dyslexia and can't manage the bills. How come no one in that HOA is stepping forward to pay the dues so this family, on reduced income, might have one less thing to worry about?? Whether the wife is dyslexic or not, it is just the right thing to do for this family to ease their burden while risking it all for you!!!

It pains me to have to read about this situation. On the bright side, I thank you all for being willing to understand the laws that are "supposed" to help service members when they are called up.

TimB4,

I agree with everything you stated. I had forgotten the OP said the family was behind three years of dues.

In this case, I would agree with all four of your steps and recommendations.

I hated being on the pointy tip of the spear, but that was my job. Maybe it might matter, what this persons military role is, as a point to consider when contacting him. If he was EOD or any of the combat arms, maybe just wait it out. If he is a in a safe area and not doing a combat related job, then he would have time/bandwidth to deal with the situation at home to set up the auto bill pay and make every attempt to sort out the issues.

One thing working against him in this case is: If his wife does have a medical condition or in this case, dyslexia then he would have had to create a "Care" plan and have it in place prior to deployment. Even though my wife was at home with my kids, I still had to have a plan in place, in case something happened to my wife.

If the deployed person is a Reserve or Guard member, then the HOA can and should contact this persons local base (where he goes for weekend drill duty). This is because all deployed Reserve, guard units have people who stay behind for one reason or another.

They can assist in getting in touch with the deployed member and the unit will have advisors that they can use (in-house) or bring in from the Military legal services to help sort out the situation.

Even if the person is active duty and joined up since moving to the HOA, the Relief Act still applies for up to 5 years, if I remember correctly.

Thanks for your service Tim!

I was Army for my mostly reserve career. Still got called up and went more places more often than my active duty friends. Funny how that works out.