Procedures for collecting back dues

George, I do not like your procedures. Legally allowed procedures may vary from state to state. We have posted our procedures on this subject several times on this board; they includes, but is not limited, to:
1. When an owner is delinquent beyond the due date + any allowed grace period (such as 10 days) send a letter with the amount they are delinquent and a copy of the HOA's Rules and Regs on delinquent accounts. The total amount due should include a late charge plus interest, if applicable and the due date. Definitely do not wait 3 months and we find it wise not to involve an attorney until you need to go to court.
2. When an owner is delinquent over a month + any allowed grace period send a second letter which includes the updated amount of total delinquency.
3. If an owner is delinquent over two months + any allowed grace period send a third letter which includes the updated amount of total delinquency. Notify the owner that a lien will be filed if not received within 30 days (or whatever is required by your state's statutes). Advise on total amount to date which will be filed if a lien is required. The filing fee needs to be sufficient to encourage paying or signing an agreement to pay installments.
4. If nothing is paid by the due date then file a lien.
5. Now 3+ month have passed. Send the owner a copy of the filed lien and advise them if not paid within 30 days their account will be turned over to an attorney to either garnish wages and bank accounts of the owner or to foreclose on the property.
6. By 5 months it is time to involve an attorney for the purpose of using the court system to collect.

I'm curious as to why one would have to explain "why" they have not yet paid?

Do you hold a hearing to determine if someone's reason is "valid" enough?

How do you know when someone is not being truthful?

(We have one homeowner who has contacted us (unsolicited) every year for the last 4 years after she receives the final notice of our intent to file a lien. She then proceeds to go into a long drawn-out explanation that she and her husband "just discovered" that he has a brain tumor and that it has thrown them off their bill paying schedule. So, basically, he's gotten a "new brain tumor" every year for the last 4 years. The first year we gave her another month's grace period. The second year, we gave her a week's additional grace period, the 3rd and 4th (this year), we expressed our regrets but told her we needed the payment by the deadline indicated on the letter. We got it the next day.)

I'm just wondering why you would actively seek out people to explain their delinquency?

At any rate, we give them 3 notices then send the intent to file lien notice (so 4 notices in total). They end up, generally, with about 5 months total notice time from the date of the first invoice to the deadline of the intent to file lien.

We have yet to have to file for foreclosure, but we have about 3 residents reaching the threshold the board determined to be the lien foreclosure trigger amount, over $1,500.

Basically, this year our attorney advised us to set a small claims threshold (it is currently at $500) and a lien foreclosure threshold ($1,500).

Both are new actions for us, so we will see how effective they are. We currently have 18 people out of 300 in arrears.