Bank Fees for payng HOA assessments, fines, etc.

I was looking at some updated billing payments for our HOA members, and what jumped out at me was a new $19.95 charge for every payment made using a credit card or debit card. This appears to have been slipped into the fine print recently. Before I jump and down about it, I thought I'd ask to see if this is now a common practice? I'm also wondering if our mgmt comapny is getting a piece of this action? Any comments?
dennis g7

Ah, banks - they come up with all sorts of fees, don't they? It could the association's bank is charging the fee and as banks and other businesses do, they pass on this expense to the homeowners. Unfortunately, some of this is likely due yo aa the fraud schemes affecting credit cards, debit cards, P2P services, etc. Not to mention the debit cards that get denied because the bank account attached to it is overdrawn.

Ask your property manager if they accept ACH payments (the money comes from your account directly). You can get that through your own bank and dictate when the money's sent and how much. That's one way you could reduce or avoid convenience charges, service charges or whatever they want to call it.



See if

A $19.95 fee for making an HOA payment via credit card/debit card is a deterrent to get you to set up automatic draft.

Georgia and many other states have limits on how much credit card and debit card surcharges can be, ya know. See for example:

https://www.lawpay.com/about/blog/credit-card-surcharge-rules/

https://www.getflexpoint.com/credit-card-surcharging-us-states/georgia

https://consumered.georgia.gov/ask-ed/2021-03-03/credit-card-surcharges

What Dean said. Credit card fees and interest rates are always expensive - and what's expensive to you may not be an issue with someone else. In this case, your bank has its fee and the association bank probably has another fee, and this is how you wind up with $19.95. It may not be the property manager at all, although they, like many businesses, can come up with all sorts of creative fees (ain't capitalism great?)

Anyway, the credit card/debit card fees should be disclosed in your credit card agreement (the fine print that nearly everyone skips reading) or you can call your credit card company for more information. As for the ACH transactions, some banks may waive that depending on how much you keep in your account or if you have a checking and savings accounts, an IRA and maybe a CD - talk to YOUR bank and see if that's a better option.