Late Fees and Interest

Wanted to poll those on here and see what are your late fees for dues and do you charge any interest on the balance due? Please explain if you collect quarterly, twice a year, or once a year and when you consider someone late. We are exploring redoing our billing practices in an effort to decrease being late. Thanks.

Julie:

Thanks, ours is worded the same way with interest. I think one of big problems is with our dues of only $120 and us billing quarterly that people tend to ignore smaller bills. I think once a year would help our collection rate and make things easier.

Our assessments are due monthly in the amount of $30/month or $360/year.
They are due on the 1st of the month and considered late if received after the 10th of the month.

Late fees are $20.

Between the 10th-15th, our mgmt company sends out notices by certified mail
(paid by homeowner) reminding them of the late payment and additional late fee.

In total, 3 notices are sent over the course of 2 months (after the initial non-payment)

If not paid after those notices, the deliquent account is turned over to a collection agency or attorney for collections.

Any amounts not paid within 60 days begin to accrue interest at the rate of 18% APR.

Once the total principal balance exceeds $500, a Notice of a Lien is sent. After 30 days since the Notice of Lien, the lien is placed against a homeowner's lot.

We are currently looking at switching to semi-annual or annual assessments to save on the complexity of monthly billing.

Our Association charges 18% when 90 days late it goes for lien. Our fee's are $1670.00 if paid annually and quarterly payers add 10% ADM fee each quarter.