HOA charges late fees but my payments were not late. (loan, earnest)

[Frihed89]

Fighting an HOA is like herding worms.

[cully]

You can scare them though. Some boards don't like lawsuits. Because then the residents find out the board's secrets. And a manager's secrets are allowed by the board so, either way, the board's found out.

[dontaskwhy]

Originally Posted by Frihed89

Fighting an HOA is like herding worms.

Sure, I have heard of worms.

[DMenscha]

Originally Posted by cully

The complaint and lawsuit should be for You to sue Them for incompetence.

Just guessing that the courts would be log-jammed with lawsuits if incomptence was a valid criteria.
My worms are free-range.

[cully]

Originally Posted by DMenscha

Just guessing that the courts would be log-jammed with lawsuits if incomptence was a valid criteria.
My worms are free-range.

Actually mismanagement of funds is an issue. But often a threat will suffice.

[ansible90]

Originally Posted by adams_aj

Write two checks from now on, with separate accounts on each to avoid the bureaucratic foul-ups.

People who do clerical work are often non-thinking and/or not too bright.

[mjd07]

Originally Posted by ansible90

People who do clerical work are often non-thinking and/or not too bright.

I was assigned to the student loan department when I worked for the State of Illinois. We received millions of checks and had to input them at a certain rate. Letters and all non-check contents went into a bin to get shredded. They weren't even read. This is usually why there is a different mailing address/PO Box for correspondence and payments for larger companies/organizations.

I would assume your HOA is not dealing with that volume of checks, though, so they probably should take the time to review all contents and do the research necessary to apply the payments appropriately.

[no kudzu]

This would tick me off. I think if you went to a HOA meeting and brought it up (after getting some support from some neighbors) they would be embarrassed enough to waive the late fees.
Go with all your supporting paperwork and with a "friendly" attitude, ie. not loaded for bear. Especially since you are new to their system and if you say in the future you will put both account numbers on the checks or send separate checks they should act like human beings.

[rational1]

Occasionally a payment of mine has gone astray. The "late" fee was cheerfully withdrawn when I called it to the management company's attention.

I cannot understand why a mistake would NOT be corrected. You and your neighbors need to straighten them out. And since they work for you, you can.

[dontaskwhy]

At my HOA, we had a similar situation as the OP last year. When the facts were made clear at the monthly BOD meeting, the late pmt fees were waived by the board in full. I feel that the OP clearly did nothing wrong.