Online HOA Dues Processing

Started by FrankR10 • 7 replies • 917 views

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FrankR10 (Washington)
Posts: 2

Posted:

Does anyone have any experience or recommendations with online HOA dues payment processing systems? There are various processors, none of which I have personal experience with, especially around the specifics of an HOA (such as late fees, etc)? What about records keeping? Fees? Special assessments? Simplicity of setup?

Help appreciated

Paypal
Square
Dues payment
Google pay
etc etc

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

We have a online system set up by our property manager - it's part of a national company so everyone's using the same thing. As far as I can see it works pretty well, although I've never used it. Using it requires a convenience charge and I've never been crazy about paying extra money to a creditor (yes, I know it's supposed to cover set up charges and whatever fees the banks come up with).

We also have an automatic withdrawal system (which bugs me even more - I prefer to have total control over my accounts and dictate exactly when money goes out and to whom!). that said, I would think you'd want to offer that option to homeowners as well.

Does your HOA have a property manager? If so, he or she should be doing this research for you. If it's self managed, you might want to start with considering what you want the program to do. Talking to the association banker might also be a good way to gather information - if necessary, ask if he or she can refer you to a colleague who's worked with HOAs on this issue.

Once you know what you want it to do, then you can contact each of these organizations and ask your questions. From there, set up a matrix where you can compare and contrast each features. You should also ask them for referrals to HOAs in your area and then talk to those folks about what they like and dislike.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

RichardP13 (California)
Posts: 3,868

Posted:

I am assuming you are a small self managed HOA. You might consider using a management company that handles only your financials, you run the other operations. They would have setup banking relationships with a bank that waives any potential fee for an individual HOA. They would be able to offer services that you would have to pay for because of your size, sorry size does matter.

For instance, all checks would go to a lockbox setup by the bank and the deposits are recorded electronically with the management software. They could offer your resident ACH services at no charge, online payments at no charge (except credit cards). 75% of our owners pay their HOA fees either online banking or ACH.

Management companies can also prepare monthly financials, prepare draft budgets and a variety of other services. The Board can then choose to focus on running their community, without the financial headache.

GenoS (Florida)
Posts: 4,276

Posted:

In our case, 5 banks. 4 for our reserve funds and 1 for the operating account.

BenA2 (Texas)
Posts: 1,273

Posted:

If you use Quickbooks and send your invoices by email, you can set it up so people can pay by clicking on a link in the email. If they pay with a bank account, it's free but there is a small fee if you choose to accept credit card payments. The payment will be automatically entered into Quickbooks the same as if you manually entered a payment by check.

It's possible other financial software will also do this.

BenA2 (Texas)
Posts: 1,273

Posted:

One more thing on Quickbooks. The best part is that the money goes directly from the owner's account to the HOA's. It does not go through a 3rd party.

FrankR10 (Washington)
Posts: 2

Posted:

Thanks for the answers. Yes we are self managed.

We are looking into using ACH or CC with Quickbooks (we do use Quickbooks)- I know there is no charge for ACH, and like 3% on CC (they take a cut). That's one option.

Another option we came up with is using Wild Apricot, which in addition to proving payment services, also does homeowner management, etc. Anyone have experience with Wild Apricot?

JeffF12 (Georgia)
Posts: 1

Posted:

We are a 60 home neighborhood. We have set up a paypal account for residents to pay their dues. Not many use it, and the HOA gets hit with the fee. We just started this so we will have to work out a solution for the paypal fee.

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