ATC Collection Overview

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What are assessments?

Assessments are a funding mechanism for common expenses associated with the operation of a Community Association. Assessments are based on the adopted budget and must be paid at least annually. Assessments are used to pay for such items as repair and maintenance of common areas, insurance, reserve funding, operating expenses and professional management.

Are collection policies important?

Collection of Assessments is crucial to the financial success of the Association. By adopting a collection policy, you will not only ensure a fair and equitable process, but set a standard of practice that the homeowners will understand. A collection policy is easy to adopt and ANGIUS & TERRY Collections LLC (“ATC”) can help you through the process.

Why use ATC?

No Fees or Costs: ATC’s program is a “No Fees • No Costs • No Risk" program^®. It costs the Association nothing. No start-up fees. No retainers. No turnover fees.

Highly Competitive Rates: ATC’s rates are highly competitive with those charged by other assessment collection companies.

Experienced and Knowledgeable Staff: Each of ATC’s collection officers has extensive experience in the assessment collection and non-judicial foreclosure industries.

Comprehensive Reporting System: ATC’s monthly reports are specifically designed to be responsive to the informational needs of our Association clients and their managing agents.

Judicial Foreclosure: Judicial foreclosure is included in ATC’s “No Fees • No Costs • No Risk" program^® at no additional cost to the Association.

Legal Support: ATC has experienced attorneys at Angius & Terry LLP to advise its Association clients, at no additional cost to the Association, as to how to proceed with respect to non-judicial foreclosure, judicial foreclosure and/or any other collection alternatives so as to eliminate the risk that the Association and/or their managing agents may be sued in the future for alleged irregularities in the collection process.

Indemnity: ATC will, unlike its competitors, indemnify and defend and hold its Association clients and their managing agents harmless for any errors or omissions committed by ATC during the assessment collection process.

Accelerated Payment to Association: ATC shares any partial payments on a 50/50 basis with the Association instead of collecting all our fees and costs first. Therefore, the Association begins receiving payments sooner than under programs where all of the fees and costs must be paid before any money is distributed to the Association.

Bankruptcy Monitoring: Bankruptcy monitoring is included in the “No Fees • No Costs • No Risk" program^® at no additional cost to the Association.

Insurance: ATC has both errors and omissions insurance coverage and comprehensive liability insurance coverage to protect the Association from any prospective claims as to fault on the part of ATC.

How do I start?

ATC can start your delinquent assessment collection in just a few short steps.

Below is an outline of our new file procedures:

File Submission Form

The File Submission Form provides us with valuable information regarding the delinquent account and homeowner. This form should be used for each new delinquent homeowner and can be faxed, mailed or e-mailed to ATC.

Excel Version This form will perform calculations; It can be saved on your hard drive and re-used for each new submission.

Printable Version This form can be printed, filled out by hand, then faxed or mailed to ATC.

Updated Accounting Ledger

An updated accounting ledger will aid in the process of determining the current delinquent balance.

Notice of Intent to Lien

If a Notice of Intent to Lien (“Pre-Lien”) has previously been mailed to the delinquent homeowner by certified and regular mail, please attach a copy along with any signed domestic return receipt, if available, to the updated ledger.

Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions (“CC&R’s”)

Please provide a copy of the CC&R’s and any amendments to the CC&R’s. These documents are valuable to ATC as they are reviewed to ensure that the Association is in compliance with its collection procedures.

Collection Policy

Please provide a copy of the collection policy, if one has been adopted by the Association. To see a model collection policy, click here.

Delinquent Assessment Collection Agreement

Each new Association must sign a Delinquent Assessment Collection Agreement. The agreement describes our “No Fees • No Costs • No Risk" program^®, the fee schedule for the delinquent homeowner and our cancellation policy.

How does the
collection procesS work?

Below is an outline of our basic steps in collecting delinquent assessments.

Step 1 – Notice of Intent to Lien

ATC notifies the delinquent homeowner that the Association is attempting to collect the delinquent assessments owed. This letter will include a copy of an itemized statement of the amounts claimed owed, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Notice and the Association’s collection policy, if one has been adopted. The homeowner then has thirty (30) days to respond or a Notice of Delinquent Assessment (“Lien”) will be filed against the property.

Step 2 – Notice of Delinquent Assessment

Once the thirty (30) day waiting period has passed and the homeowner has failed to pay the delinquent assessments, ATC will prepare and send the homeowner a copy of the Lien by regular and certified mail and record the Lien in the appropriate county. The homeowner then has thirty-five (35) days to pay or arrange for a payment plan with respect to the delinquent assessments.

Step 3 – Notice of Default and Election to Sell

ATC will prepare the Notice of Default and record the notice within the appropriate county. Once recorded, a copy of the Notice of Default is sent to the homeowner. This gives notice to the homeowner that the Association is foreclosing on his or her property by way of non-judicial foreclosure. ATC also orders a Trustee’s Sale Guarantee (TSG) Policy and sends copies of the notice to all parties as required by state law.

Step 4 – Non-Judicial Foreclosure, Judicial Foreclosure, or Personal Judgement

ATC will review the file with an Angius & Terry LLP attorney to determine the best course of action for the Association to take with respect to the collection of the delinquent assessments. ATC will then advise the Association of the recommendation made by Angius & Terry LLP whether to continue the nonjudicial foreclosure, convert the non-judicial foreclosure to a judicial foreclosure, or pursue a personal judgment. The amount of equity in the property will be the basis for this recommendation so as to eliminate potential risk for the Association. 5 ATC In judicial foreclosure, a judge orders the sheriff to sell the property. In nonjudicial foreclosure, a private trustee sells the property without the protection afforded by a court order. Although non-judicial foreclosure has an important place in ordinary mortgage foreclosures, in many cases it presents an unwarranted and unnecessary risk in the collection of delinquent assessments.

Non-Judicial Foreclosure

If the Association chooses to continue with non-judicial foreclosure, there is a statutory ninety (90) day waiting period from the recording date of the Notice of Default. Once the ninety (90) day waiting period has expired, and ATC has written authorization from the Association, ATC will prepare a Notice of Trustee’s Sale and will mail a copy of such notice by regular and certified mail to the appropriate parties. ATC will record the Notice of Trustee’s Sale, publish a copy in an adjudicated paper and post such notice as required by state law. The sale date will be scheduled approximately four to six weeks from the preparation date of the Notice of Trustee’s Sale. The homeowner is encouraged to contact ATC at any time during this process to cure the debt or make payment arrangements.

If the property is sold to a third party bidder, ATC will prepare and deliver a Trustee’s Deed Upon Sale to the third party bidder. At this time, the Association’s assessment account is brought current through the proceeds of the sale. The third party bidder will now be responsible for the payment of current and ongoing assessments.

If there is no third party bidder at the trustee’s sale, the Association takes title to the property in lieu of assessment payments. ATC will prepare and deliver a Trustee’s Deed Upon Sale to the Association. The Association may then rent or sell the property to recover the delinquent assessments.

Judicial Foreclosure

If the Association chooses judicial foreclosure, Angius & Terry LLP will file a summons and complaint in Superior Court. The homeowner has twenty (20) or thirty (30) days (depending upon the jurisdiction) from the date of service to file a response with the Court. As the complaint is hand-served on the homeowner by a process server, ATC can guarantee that the homeowner has received notice. By virtue of the Superior Court overseeing this process, any alleged irregularities at earlier stages of the assessment collection process are waived – thereby giving rise to no risk to the Association.

In the case of the homeowners who simply cannot pay their bills, typically no response to the complaint is filed, and a default judgment is promptly issued. The property is then sold by the sheriff in roughly the same time frame it takes to perform a non-judicial foreclosure.

In either the case of the homeowner who did not believe that his or her home could be sold for failure to pay assessments or the case where an error has been made in the assessment process, service of the complaint for judicial foreclosure provides one last opportunity for the homeowners to cure the debt and prevent the sale of their property.

Personal Judgment

If the Association chooses to pursue a personal judgment, Angius & Terry LLP will begin the process in the appropriate Court. A complaint is filed and the homeowner has twenty (20) or thirty (30) days (depending on the jurisdiction) to respond to the court. Once the Association is awarded a judgment, steps are taken with respect to collection of the judgment. Such steps include, among other things, bank levies, wage garnishments and asset seizures.

Step 5 – Payment

If the homeowner has the money (or sufficient equity in the property) but did not take the collection process seriously, the homeowner pays the delinquent assessments, late charges, accrued interest and collection costs, and the collection process ends. Any necessary documents will then be recorded/filed within the appropriate County/Court.

The delinquent assessment collection process can become complicated and that is why having an Attorney Supervised program is so important.

Fee Schedule