This article outlines how to set up a late fee or interest rule that will drive the automatic applications of late fee or interest charges on homeowner accounts.

Contents:

• Set Up Rules
  • Minimum Balance Type
  • Balance Includes
  • Charge Amount
    • Using Percentages
  • FAQ

Set Up Rules

To set up a rule:

1. Navigate to the Association > Assessments screen. 
   Note: All charges applied to homeowner accounts are established and managed from this screen, including charges that are not technically assessments.
2. If you do not already have a late fee or interest charge created create one. For information about creating a new charge, see the "How to Set Up a New Charge or Assessment" article.
   OR
   If your charge is already created, click the caret to the left of the charge to display the Rules tab.
3. Click New Rule. 
   The Edit Fee Rules screen opens.
   
   
    
4. Provide the following information:
   • Charge Owners: Select the frequency and timing to determine when late fees apply based on the association's governing documents. Options include:
     • Monthly: The system scans in the early morning hours of the day after the specified Day of the Month to see if an owner meets the criteria to apply a late charge once per month. Once applied to owner accounts, they are backdated to the original charge date.
     • One Time Per Charge: Applies the late fee on the night of the specified Day of the Month only once per applicable charge that has been posted to an owner's ledger.
   • Fee Active Within: Select the date you want this rule to be active when the association has Late Fees turned on. You can also enter an end date for the rule if you want to add a new late fee rule but keep the history of the generations.
     Note: It is best practice to not enter an End Date for an ongoing rule. If the End Date passes without a new rule in place, then nothing will be charged as there are no active rules.
   • Minimum Balance Type: See the following Minimum Balance Type section.
   • Account for Current Month Payment: Select to factor in any current month payment. For example, if a payment is made during the current month that would satisfy this month's charges, no fee will be generated even if there is unpaid previous balance. 
   • Balance Includes: See the Balance Includes section.
   • Charge Amount: See the Charge Amount section.
5. Click Update.

Note: To create a late fee or interest rule, you must set the Type of Charge to Fee.

Minimum Balance Type

The Minimum Balance Type field includes the following options:

•  
  • Fixed Amount: When you select Fixed amount, the amount entered in the Minimum Balance of field dictates that if the outstanding balance is $0.01 greater than or higher than that amount, then the system generates the late fee during the night of the Day of the Month selected at the top of the screen if the minimum balance on the owner account was at least X Day(s) Old.
    
    
    
    For example, in the previous image, if the outstanding balance is $25 or higher and at least 17 days old, the system will generate a late fee on the Day of the Month selected (during the night).
• Number of Charges: When you select this option, the screen dynamically displays the Number of Charges and Assessment Type fields.
  
  
  
  Depending on the number entered in the Number of Charges field, the system checks to see if there is a full charge count at least X Days Old for the Assessment Type selected. 
  
  For example, in the previous image, if the number of charges is 2 and at least 17 days old, the system would only apply a late fee if there were 2 full Special Assessment charges.

Balance Includes

Select the charges that you would like to apply late fees against. Click within the Balance Includes field to open a list of your available charges and select the ones you want to add.



 

The rule you configure here will total the balance due in each of the charge groups you have listed, and then compare that total against the Minimum Balance threshold and age of balance threshold you defined to determine the application of the Charge Amount and/ or Percentage Amount. Note: Late fees require at least one charge to be selected in the Balance Includes field. If no charges are selected, late fees cannot generate because there are no charges to assess them against.

Charge Amount

The Charge Amount can be a fixed amount (enter the dollar amount) and/or a percentage amount. If using only one option, leave the other at zero (0.00). Otherwise, specify if you wish to use the Lesser amount, Greater amount, or Both.



 

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FAQ
 

Q: Why was an owner charged a late fee when their payment was made on time?

A: This occurs when there's a delay between when the bank posts a payment and when it appears in Vantaca. Common causes include:

• Delayed lockbox commitment in Vantaca
• Mailing delays for check payments

Understanding payment dates:

Vantaca displays the date the bank posted the payment, but late fees are triggered based on when the payment enters Vantaca. To see when a payment actually came into Vantaca, check the Created column on (Homeowners > Homeowner Profile > Ledger > Audit tab.

Example:

• Late fee charged: 11th of the month
• Payment date shown in Vantaca: 7th (bank posting date)
• Created date: 13th (when it entered Vantaca)

Even though the bank posted the payment on the 7th, the delay in entering Vantaca until the 13th triggered the late fee.

Solution: Use auto waivers to automatically remove late fees in these situations. For more information, review our Auto Fee Waivers in Vantaca article.
 

Q: Why is my late fee not appearing on coupons when generated?

A: Late fees won't appear on generated coupons if the Is Primary Charge box isn't checked on the late fee charge. The primary charge designation tells the system which fee rules to apply during coupon generation, including the late date and fee amount.

To fix this:

1. Go to Association > Assessments
2. Locate your late fee charge
3. Click Edit
4. Check the Is Primary Charge box
5. Click Update

For more details, review our When setting up late fees, what does the primary charge checkbox do? article.

Q: Today is the 15th and my association is charged a late fee, but I don't see any late fee charges on eligible accounts. Why?

A: Late fees are processed in the early morning hours on the day after the charge date set in your late fee Rules. Once applied to owner accounts, they are backdated to the original charge date.

Example: If late fees are set to charge on the 15th, they won't actually process until the early morning hours of the 16th. When they appear on eligible owner accounts, they will show a charge date of the 15th.


Q: Can I charge a late fee or interest charge to just one specific owner?

A: No, Fee charge types cannot utilize charge tags.

Workaround:

1. Create a new charge with the charge type of Assessment and apply charge tags with its Rules to apply to specific owner(s)
2. Create a new charge with the charge type of Fee
3. In the newly created fee's Rules, set the Balance Includes field to only include the assessment you just created

This ensures the fee only applies to owners with that tagged assessment.
 

Q: An owner did not receive a late fee despite having a balance on their account. Why?

A: This can occur when the owner has a balance in a charge that is not included in the late fee's Balance Includes field. The late fee will only assess on charges listed in this field.

To fix this:

1. Navigate to Association > Assessments
2. Locate the Late Fee charge
3. Click the caret to the left of the charge name to view the Rules tab
4. Click Rules
5. In the Edit Fee Rules window, click into the Balance Includes field
6. Select the appropriate charge(s) from the dropdown
7. Click Update

Eligible owners will now be charged the late fee based on balances in the selected charges.

Q: Each month's coupons show a Late Date in the following month instead of the current month. Why?

A: This occurs when the Day(s) Old setting matches the Day of the Month setting in the late fee rules. When these values are identical, the system pushes the Late Date to the following month.

Solution: Set the Day(s) Old to be one day less than the Day of the Month.

Example: January's coupon shows a Late Date of 2/15 instead of 1/15. The late fee rules show both Day(s) Old and Day of the Month set to 15. Because these values match, the Late Date pushes to February. Changing Day(s) Old to 14 while keeping Day of the Month at 15 will correctly display the Late Date as 1/15 on January's coupon.

Q: How does the Auto-Waive Balance setting affect late fee waivers?

A: The Auto-Waive Balance setting determines what Vantaca evaluates when deciding whether to automatically waive a late fee. This setting is configured at Association > Settings > Accounting (Auto-Waive Fees).

• Total Balance (Default): Vantaca looks at the entire account balance.
• Late Fee Rule: Vantaca only looks at the charges included in the Balance Includes field of the late fee rule that generated the fee being evaluated.

The Late Fee Rule option provides more precise auto-waiver logic when homeowners have other outstanding balances unrelated to the current late fee. For more information, see the "Auto Fee Waivers in Vantaca" article.

Q: How can I see who made a change to a late fee Rule and when?

A: To view the history of changes made to a late fee Rule:

1. Go to Association > Activity Notes
2. Expand the date range at the top of the screen (it defaults to Last 90 Days) to ensure you capture all relevant changes
3. Filter your results:
   • In the Activity column, search for "Assessment Rule"
   • In the Comment/Note column, search for "Late Fee"

This will show you when changes were made and who made them.