Simplify Dues and Fees with HOA Payment Software

HOAs depend on resident dues to fund many aspects of community upkeep and enhancement. That’s why it’s critical to ensure that you receive timely payment of all the fees your residents owe. But depending on how your homeowners association manages its invoicing, you may be stuck with outdated methods that get in the way of financial progress. Modern HOA payment software can turn a time-consuming pain in the neck into an easy-to-manage online process that benefits your HOA and your residents at the same time.

Show me the money

If you still hear “The check’s in the mail” from residents whose payments you haven’t received, your clock must have stopped a few decades ago. Sure, every community has a few members who still refuse to pay via anything other than a check or money order, but that should be the exception, not the rule.

Not only does that manual process delay your receipt of these funds, but it also forces you to run to the bank when they arrive, or go through the tedious process of making one online deposit after another. The solution is simple—implement online payments—but how and from whom you obtain these services can be a complex decision that requires considerable research.

Pay that where?

Most HOA residents happily use online payments for everything from grocery deliveries to holiday shopping. Whether they’re buying on their phones or banking on their laptops, they’re accustomed to the idea that online transactions can be as safe as they are convenient. If you still ask for dues payments in tangible form, that’s probably because you’ve had trouble finding a reputable, secure payment process that you could integrate into a web portal or DIY website.

Some of the best-known mainstream online processors use a two-step process that shuttles the payor to their site and then returns them to yours to complete the process. That’s far from a trouble-free and seamless procedure. For full functionality, it can force your residents to sign up for a payment—and prompt a whole bunch of questions about the hows and whys of the entire process.

You can skip the controversy and the tedious quest for a reliable processor with reasonable fees—if you use HOA software with a fully integrated payment process. No complicated steps, no resident accounts, just easy, secure payments with credit or debit cards, or directly from checking accounts via ACH debits.

Name your terms

Once you narrow down your HOA payment software choices on the basis of online payments, look for a package that enables you to set up dues and fees to match your invoicing schedule and terms.

Do you accept partial payments? You need the ability to include or exclude them as appropriate. Do you want to pass service fees on to your residents—and determine what percentage or amount to add to the face value of each individual invoice? These should be customizable as well. Do you need to send out invoices with varying payment terms? Expect to be able to set anything from Net 15 to Net 60, and make your invoices go out monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. A truly versatile HOA payment software package always enables you create your dues to match your specific requirements.

Make it count

It’s still not enough to be able to accept secure online payments for invoices you set up any way you want. You also need your HOA payment software to give you access to the overall data that result from transactions so you can analyze it in a spreadsheet program and look for patterns of activity. Otherwise, you have no idea whether, or how often, your residents pay their dues faithfully or fall behind. The data you download should make it clear whether a resident paid an invoice late—or not at all—and if they paid in multiple installments, you should be able to determine how many payments were involved.

Are residents routinely paying a specific recurring invoice late? Downloadable data make this easy to spot. If a friendly nudge toward better compliance doesn’t do the trick, maybe it’s time to add a late fee to this specific item. In the case of annual dues, perhaps you’ll want to activate partial payments and see if that improves the results.

Looking for HOA payment software that turns the hassles into ease with flexible online collection? Sign up with HOA Start and start billing online for secure payment online. Schedule a demo today and see what the best HOA payment software can do for your community.