Setting Up Autopay

Autopay automatically charges the recurring services you choose, such as dues, trash, or water. Each service is a separate charge on the same saved card or bank account. During setup you choose the payment method and review the fee before anything is confirmed.

Any owner or co-owner of a unit can set up autopay, change the saved method, turn autopay off, or pay a bill for that unit.

Choosing services

Open Manage Autopay to see the recurring services your HOA has enabled. Each row shows whether it is on or off, its schedule, and its next charge date. You may pay any published HOA-local dues invoice early from Payments, including a next-month bill with autopay enabled. An issued HOA-local dues invoice keeps its finalized processing fee. Changing the HOA’s fee settings does not reprice that invoice, and checkout shows the existing invoice total. If you change your autopay method after a dues bill is issued, you review the bill's total for the new method and authorize it before the change is saved.

Turning on dues does not turn on trash or water. For HOA-local billing, enabling a service covers future bills. To include an already issued bill before its scheduled deadline, review its amount, fees, method, and local date, then explicitly select the unchecked current-bill confirmation. Without that confirmation, the current bill stays manual.

How to set up autopay

Setting up autopay takes three short screens. You can go back and change your payment method before you confirm.

Step 1 — Compare fees

1. Go to Portal → Payments.
2. Click Set Up Autopay on your unit.
3. Review the ACH and card fee comparison.
4. Click Continue to Stripe.

Step 2 — Choose or add a payment method

Stripe's secure payment form loads next.

1. Choose the bank account or card you want to save for autopay.
2. Click Continue.

No charge is made at this point.

Step 3 — Review fees and confirm

Before anything is charged, you'll see a summary showing:

• Your dues amount
• The processing fee for your specific payment method
• The total you'll be charged each month
• The date of your first charge
• The payment method autopay will use

For HOA-local billing, the first authorized charge begins at 8am on the next HOA autopay date in the HOA’s timezone, after required written notice. Dues are issued 14 days before your HOA's autopay date. Utility bills such as trash are issued at least 14 days before they are collected. Either way, you see the bill before it is charged. For a legacy bill, its existing schedule remains in effect. The first charge happens on the next HOA due date and is the full dues amount plus any processing fee your HOA passes through. Fourplex does not make an immediate partial charge, create a stub invoice, or prorate autopay when you enroll between due dates.

Review everything, then click Confirm autopay to activate it. You'll receive a confirmation email immediately after.

Going back during setup

If you go back from the review step to the payment method step, your payment method is released and you'll need to re-enter it. This is intentional — it keeps the fee preview accurate to the method you actually confirm with.

What fees are charged?

The fee depends on your payment method.

Payment method	Processing fee
Credit or debit card (US-issued)	3.5% + $0.50
ACH bank transfer	1.2%, capped at $50.00
International credit or debit card	5.2% + $0.50

For most dues amounts, ACH is the least expensive option. The first setup screen shows the estimated ACH and card totals side by side, and the final review screen shows the exact amount for the specific method you entered.

If your HOA has chosen to absorb processing fees, you'll see a $0.00 fee line and will only be charged the billed amount for the selected service, including dues, trash, or water.

When will my first charge happen?

Your board picks a dues autopay date from the 1st to the 28th. This is also the bill's due date. The dues bill is issued and emailed 14 days earlier, so for a date from the 1st to the 14th it is issued late in the previous month (with autopay on the 1st, November's bill is issued October 18). Your first autopay charge happens on the next autopay date after you activate autopay. It charges the full dues amount plus any processing fee your HOA passes through.

Example: Your HOA's autopay date is the 15th, so dues bills are issued on the 1st. You activate autopay on the 20th. Your first autopay charge will be on the 15th of next month, for that month's bill issued on the 1st. Fourplex will not collect a prorated amount for the rest of the current month. If the current month's bill is still unpaid, pay it manually from Payments.

Water and trash bills are issued on the 1st for the service period that just ended: the previous month for monthly billing, or the previous quarter for quarterly trash. Autopay runs at least 14 days later, normally the 15th.

Changing your autopay payment method

To change your card or bank account, go to Portal → Payments, open your active autopay details, and click Change. You can choose an existing saved card or bank account, or add a new payment method inline. New methods are saved for future autopay charges.

Before the change is applied, you'll review the billing date, next charge, payment method type, dues amount, processing fee, and total. Click Confirm change to update autopay. Cancelling and re-enrolling is not required.

If you switch from a card to ACH (or vice versa), the fee preview reflects the new method's rate. Switching from a US card to a card issued outside the United States adds a 1.7% international surcharge.

If a dues bill is already scheduled

If a dues bill has already been issued and is waiting for its autopay date, changing your method (from Change in Manage Autopay or Make default in your saved methods) shows that bill first: its new total and processing fee for the new method, the old total, and the date it will be deducted. Tick the box to authorize charging the new method that amount on that date and on your due dates going forward, then confirm. If you cancel, your method stays the same.

If you changed your default some other way, autopay holds that bill until you review it. Open Manage Autopay and use Authorize scheduled autopay to approve the new amount, or pay the bill from Payments.

Recovering after a failed Trash payment

Open the link in your failure email and sign in as an owner or co-owner of that unit. For HOA-local billing, Manage Autopay keeps Change available to owners and co-owners beside the saved method even when autopay is off. Choose another saved method or add one, review it, and click Save payment method. Saving a replacement does not turn autopay back on.

Go to Payments to pay the unpaid bill with your replacement. Then return to Manage Autopay, turn on Trash, review the service change, and apply it for future bills. Existing authorization, notice, and billing deadlines still apply.

Turning off autopay

To stop automatic dues payments, open your active autopay details and click the muted grey Turn off autopay action. You'll see a confirmation step before autopay is cancelled.

Common questions

My card form didn't load. What should I do?

The payment form is served by Stripe and requires a stable internet connection. Try refreshing the page. If the form still doesn't appear, try a different browser or clear your browser cache. If the problem persists, contact your board so they can verify the HOA's Stripe setup is active.

I can't continue past Step 1. The button is greyed out.

The Continue button stays disabled until Stripe confirms your payment details are valid. Make sure all required fields are filled in (card number, expiry, CVC, billing zip). If you're entering a bank account, verify the routing and account numbers.

Will autopay charge me if my dues are already paid for the month?

No. Autopay only collects open dues invoices. If you already paid manually before the HOA autopay date, autopay will skip that month and resume the following month.

Can I have autopay on more than one unit?

Yes. If you're associated with multiple units in the same HOA, you can enroll each unit in autopay separately, with different payment methods if you prefer. Each unit's autopay still follows the HOA's dues autopay date.

Autopay is set up but I don't see a charge date. Is something wrong?

The first charge date appears on your Payments page after activation. If you don't see it within a few minutes of confirming, try refreshing. If it still isn't there, contact your board.

Issued bills and notice delays

Water and trash normally issue on the 1st for the previous month and become due on the 15th. Dues issue 14 days before your HOA's autopay date, which can be late in the previous month. You can pay an issued bill immediately. If a dues bill is issued late, its due date moves so you still get 14 days. Delayed utility issuance gives you at least fourteen local calendar days, and additions made after issuance appear on the next bill.

An autopay notice identifies the bill, principal, processing fees, total, saved method, and local collection date at 8am. Bank-debit notice requirements can postpone the automatic attempt; that delay preserves the original due date and prevents a late-fee penalty caused by the notice delay. Fourplex uses a conservative ten-day bank-debit notice window, including timing changes that require at least seven days. Once a notice is sent, autopay collects the total shown on that notice as long as your saved method has not changed, even if the HOA's processing-fee settings change afterward. New fee rates apply starting with the next notice. If your saved method changes, autopay does not charge the new method until you review and authorize the bill's new total.

If your saved card or bank account was removed from your account before a dues bill is issued, the bill is still issued. It has no saved method, so autopay does not collect it: pay it from your Payments page and choose a new saved method for future bills.

After a bill’s scheduled deadline, enabling autopay applies to future bills. Pay the existing bill manually. A bank payment marked Processing is already in progress; do not submit another payment while it settles.

Published processing rates can differ for an HOA with agreed terms or an absorption policy. Review the fee shown before confirming; finalized invoices and past receipts retain their original terms. See processing fees.