Snail mail often seems like a thing of the past, but some companies still rely on traditional mail every single day.

In this story, a homeowner in an HOA neighborhood is in debt and hasn’t paid her HOA dues in quite awhile. She knows this is a problem and that she messed up.

However, she wishes there were an easier, quicker and more accurate way to pay her dues, like by paying them online.

Maybe she’s just making excuses to avoid paying her dues, or maybe she makes a very good point.

Keep reading for all the details.

AITA for insisting I’ll pay my HOA debt through certified mail or online payment?

I’m a 30-odd y.o. woman with low-support-need/high-functioning autism.

I’m in a small HOA (<10 units), & we had an older lady bookkeeper (let’s call her OLB).

About 1x a year stuff went wrong (her losing checks & asking to issue new ones) or odd (depositing checks 6+ weeks after I sent it in, after I had mistakenly assumed it was cashed, which up my budget (& sometimes overdrafting)) w/my dues.

I’m not the best budgeter myself, so I didn’t make a fuss.

OP is struggling financially.

Lately work’s slow & I’m behind on bills. I send in dues less frequently, but add extra $ when I did.

Still, I’m in debt, to the tune of about a year’s worth of HOA dues (yes, I suck).

The HOA prez said they want to get a lawyer to get the dues from me.

At the same time, OLB hands off her duties to an in-law (let’s call them OLBIL).

OP was curious about the option of paying the HOA dues online.

A neighbor tells me one of their HOA checks got lost & had to reissue a new one (w/in last 6 months), that they asked about paying online, & they heard a diff neighbor set up payments via their bank.

I also get a statement of my past-due balance from OLBIL, but awkwardly had them to re-do their work since my partial payments weren’t really accounted for (once applied, my past-due balance shrunk by 5% – not a lot, I know, & I don’t know if they got each payment, but it’s close enough)

Early in Sept I got a big payday, & wanted to directly pay off some of my HOA debt. I asked OLBIL how my one neighbor paid their dues online, & was told I could set it up through Zelle.

There was some email tag about why it wasn’t working, & we all found out that e-payments weren’t set up at all (the one neighbor instead had a service that sent out paper checks each month, no transfers).

This is an interesting turn of events!

Now it’s Oct, & we’re all cranky.

OLBIL says adding e-payments of any kind now needs an HOA meeting w/majority vote, & I’m to keep paying dues by mail.

Okay. So, I asked for the name of the bank we use so I can do my own research & submit a proposal to the HOA, & I got a cashier’s check for 2 months worth of dues + 10% of remaining debt, & sent it certified mail.

I know it’s in their hands & out of my account, & I’ve got a solid paper trail just in case.

Everyone seems pretty frustrated.

OLBIL then sent 2 angry emails, said dealing w/me is more trouble than it’s worth (maybe true?), I’m the only one who wants e-payments (def not true, but now I want to ask around), & mocking my concern for their slight history of losing checks.

The HOA prez also sent an angry email telling me to “stop making excuses” & send a regular check like everyone else.

On one hand, I see e-payments or cashier-check-w/certified-mail as the best ways to minimize my risk, & feel them bringing up lawyers is enough to justify my push to pay in these ways.

On the other hand, I get that I shouldn’t be in debt in the first place, it’s a sensitive time right now, & sending out checks seem like it would soothe things over with everyone. Theoretically, there are ways of handling lost or late checks if I’m responsible enough.

So… AITA?

Online payments would be nice, but if sending a check is the only way, then send a check.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a homeowner who responded to an HOA violation letter by investigating the bylaws and having the whole board removed.

Let’s see what Reddit suggests.

This person offers some advice.

But another person thinks paying the dues is the best thing to do.

Here’s some more advice.

Another person thinks OP is the problem.

Reddit was clearly split. Some people thought OP simply needed to stop stalling and pay the dues, but others ranted about HOAs and gave suggestions about how to change this HOA.

In the end, the real problem is that OP needs to get caught up on paying the HOA dues. Perhaps paying online would be a good solution, but OP can suggest that again later once she gets caught up on the payments.

Right now, it really does look like she’s just making excuses not to pay.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a family who is resisting pressure from the HOA to remove their tree and lights.