Few love change, but this one is part of an effort to keep costs low and reduce the burden on those that volunteer and spend countless hours on tasks like this.  Some of the alternatives were to increase dues to cover the cost of a credit card or cost to hire someone to do the work required to handle all of the paperwork.

Asking members to take a few extra minutes to set this up one time seems so far like the most appropriate and certainly most cost effective option.

Some of the benefits of the new system include…

  • Security is paramount and NO financial data at all is ever stored on the site.  In fact the data is only stored on the same systems and the same standards as your other banking informing INSIDE your bank or an entity owned by them (Zelle).
  • Being literally owned and trusted by largest banks in the US including Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and several others was a key factor in the decision process.
  • Cost is a big factor with credit cards being very costly to the HOA and other options requiring sensitive information to be used we chose the option were we never see your information, your information is never outside of your bank and you have complete control over when money is sent.
  • Easy of use was also important, yes a credit card is just a number, but once you setup the first time repeat efforts will be extremely easy.

One item of note is that with the Zelle system we are using from the big banks it is not fully tied directly into our site for added security and that is why we ask you to enter your bank transaction code so we can verify the payment properly.