A Banking Error Caused Our HOA Dues to Not Go Through, Now We Are Facing Foreclosure, What Are Our Rights?


Note: The DearEsq free 'ask a lawyer' site is offered as a free informational service to the public and is not intended as legal advice. Laws vary from state-to-state, and in addition every situation is unique, and relevant facts may not be known. The answer to the question posed below may not apply to in your state or to your situation. For legal advice in your state and your situation you should consult with an attorney in your state who is familiar with the rules and laws in your state.

“Our HOA dues are paid quarterly and, the last quarter of last year, a banking error caused the last payment of the quarter to erroneously not transmit through our electric bill pay. We did not realize that the payment did not go out and submitted our next quarterly payment as scheduled. Our HOA returned our payment stating that we were delinquent and now owed over $400 dollars in fees and costs plus our missed payment. We never received any type of notice nor collection attempts from the attorneys who were now attempting to collect fees. We submitted the missed payment, plus the current payment due and asked for a breakdown on “collection fees” when we had received no notices, letters, phone calls or any actions that would constitute collection activities. We didnt realize a payment had been missed and the HOA never contacted us to let us know one had been. Again, the HOA refused to accept our HOA dues without the addition of attorneys fees. We tried to contact the HOA board and the attorney on file to attempt to fix the simple mistake, but they refused to call us back. Every payment we sent in has been returned for the entire year and we are now being sued for Foreclosure and Lien on our home for “unpaid HOA fees”, is this possible? We attempted payment, and they were refused for lack of inclusion of attorneys fees. No one from the HOA nor the Attorney representing them even bothered to attempt an amicable resolution to such an easily resolved problem, and we are now going to court. We are representing ourselves, as we do not have an attorney, what are our rights?”

Get an attorney. Now.

Stop focusing on what happened or didn’t happen in the past, and on what the HOA should or should not have done. Focus on the fact that, if they are successful in their foreclosure, you will lose your home.

Should the HOA have acted differently? Perhaps. Perhaps also, if it was truly a banking error, your bank should have made good on the costs of their error. Getting the answers to those kind of questions would require reviewing your HOA documents, and the applicable law of your state.

But, as you’ve experienced, you aren’t going to get satisfaction on those points without some help. And depending on what state you’re in, you may find that the “trial” is so abbreviated that you will barely get a word in edgewise before you find yourself foreclosed. Hopefully, the judge will listen to your (very reasonable) story, but do you want to take that risk?

Your best chance of defusing this situation is to get an attorney helping you, and if you don’t want to be looking for a new place to live, it’s probably worth the cost.