Summary: I paid my annual HOA to Rossmar & Graham, but they still sent me to collections after receiving my payment. Rossmar & Graham never contacted me before sending me to collections. Rossmar & Graham, and Rod Rock Financial together are charging me a penalty charge of 195% for my late payment which I believe is predatory.
On May 20, 2013 I called into the office of Rossmar & Graham to verify that they received my annual HOA payment which was sent on April 1, 2013. They advised me that even though they did receive the payment, that they also sent me to collections. My payment was late, but it was paid in full and I never received a late notice from Rossmar. Rossmar advised me that I needed to call the collection agency Red Rock Financial to get details regarding the collection. I called Red Rock Financial who advised that they did receive my payment of $172.00 which was the total amount owed for my HOA. They further advised that they were charging a total of $336.00 ($135.00 for Rossmar's late fee + $201.00 for Red Rock's late fee) in late fees. I advised them that I felt that the 195% late fee was predatory and that I never received a notice from Rossmar that I was late or that they were sending me to collections. Red Rock advised me that they sent me a late notice on April 8th, (after I already paid my HOA). I advised the representative of Red Rock that I did not feel that I should be required to pay a late fee since I was never advised that a late fee would apply; I never contracted with Red Rock for any service, and furthermore that I paid my HOA in full before Red Rock is even claiming to have sent me a letter. As a gesture of good faith I decided to pay the $135.00 fee owed to Rossmar on May 21. I believe the $135.00 fee to be a fair fee. And since I did pay late I expect that I should owe an extra charge. However I feel that the $201.00 Red Rock fee is unjust and predatory. I never contracted with this company and since I paid my HOA in full before they are even saying that they sent a notice I do not feel that I owe them any money.
When I called Red Rock they told me that I owed the money and that Rossmar & Graham could still potentially foreclose on my property even though I paid Rossmar and Graham every penny I owed. I believe Red Rock's business practices of charging a fee even though I never contracted with them and they did not send me any notice until after I already paid is unfair and predatory. If at all possible, I request that your office review this matter.
Your time and attention to this matter is greatly appreciated.
I have created 2 youtube videos explaining the matter. Here they are if you are interested in viewing them: