4 Necessary Revisions to Your Collection Policy
Times are tough and collecting delinquent assessments has become even more difficult in many situations. As countless homeowners struggle to pay assessments, we are seeing more and more judges looking for ways to give owners “breaks” and looking at association policies with much greater scrutiny.
Over the past year we’ve recommended that these revisions be made to collection policies to better protect associations:
- Indicate owners are responsible for payment of tracking fees, processing fees or other fees charged to the association by management companies, if any;
- Make sure your interest and late fees do not equal more than 45% per annum as this is considered usury in Colorado;
- Provide that if an owner communicates via email, text, fax, phone or any other method, the owner authorizes the association and its agents to communicate via the same method in the future;
- Provide that owner consents to credit reports being pulled in the event the owner’s account is turned over for collection by the association to an attorney or agency.
If you’d like specific language for any of these additions or our assistance in modifying your collection policy, please contact one of our attorneys at 303-432-9999 or send us an email to hoalaw@hindmansanchez.com.