Dues & Payments — Fourplex Help

When does autopay charge dues?

On communities using HOA-local billing, your board picks a dues autopay date from the 1st to the 28th. This is also the bill's due date. Your dues bill is issued and emailed 14 days earlier. For example, with autopay on the 15th, November dues are issued November 1 and autopay starts at 8:00 a.m. on November 15 in the community's time zone. With autopay on the 1st, November dues are issued October 18 and autopay starts at 8:00 a.m. on November 1. You can pay the bill manually any time from when it is issued until the due date. Card payments usually clear the same day. Bank (ACH) payments take 4 to 7 business days on average and show as Processing until they clear. If a bill is issued late, its due date moves so you still get 14 days; later months keep the usual date. Paying after 8:00 a.m. on the due date is not late only because autopay would have started then. Enrollment after the current month's collection time starts with a future month. Older balances stay available as a separate manual payment. An existing bill from before the change keeps its original date.

What if my portal shows a locked dues card?

Online dues stay locked until your HOA can accept online payments and your board has set a monthly amount. There's nothing to pay online until both are done. The card names whichever piece is still missing:

Online payments aren't enabled yet (amount shown, bank not linked) — your board has set a monthly amount, but they haven't linked a bank account yet.
Online payments aren't enabled yet (amount shown, setup already submitted) — your board has submitted payment setup, but online payments aren't enabled yet. The card names the monthly amount and does not say the bank was never linked. This covers Stripe still reviewing the account, payouts paused, or the connection turned off. If you already have an open balance, the card still shows that amount. Pay Now stays off until online payments are enabled again.
HOA dues aren't set up yet (amount only) — online payments are enabled, but they haven't set a monthly amount.
HOA dues aren't set up yet (both) — they haven't linked a bank account or set a monthly amount.

If you have questions, click Contact board on the locked card to send your board a message.

How do I pay my dues?

Go to Portal → Payments.
You'll see your current balance and any amount due.
Click Pay Now.
Select your payment method — ACH bank transfer or credit/debit card.
Confirm the payment.

The payment processes immediately. Your balance updates once the payment clears (ACH may take 1–3 business days; card payments are faster).

Paying once does not enroll you in autopay. If checkout offers Save this method for future payments, that only controls whether the card or bank account is kept on file. Recurring dues, trash, and other supported services each require a separate autopay confirmation.

How do I set up autopay?

Go to Portal → Payments.
Click Set Up Autopay.
Compare the ACH and card fee estimates, then continue to Stripe.
Add your preferred payment method (bank account for ACH, or a card).
Review the dues amount and fee, then click Confirm autopay. Your payment method is only saved when you complete this final confirmation.

After that, autopay will automatically charge your saved payment method on your HOA's autopay date each month, 14 days after the bill is issued.

You can disable autopay at any time from the same page. Disabling autopay does not cancel any payment that has already been initiated for the current month.

Where can I see my payment history?

Go to Portal → Payments. The page shows:

Current balance — what you owe or any credit if you've overpaid
Pending charges — payments that have been initiated but not yet cleared
Past payments — a history of all completed payments with dates and amounts

Each payment row shows a status badge and, for dues payments, a Download Invoice button. Clicking it opens a Stripe-hosted PDF receipt for that payment.

What do the payment status labels mean?

Status	What it means
Paid	The payment has fully settled. Card payments show this immediately. ACH bank transfers show this once the transfer clears (typically 3–5 business days).
Issued	Your bill for the month has been sent and no payment has started yet. Pay it any time through the due date, or let autopay collect it on your autopay date.
Processing	The payment was authorized and is on its way, but the bank transfer hasn't settled yet. This is normal for ACH payments. Your board can see the payment is coming.
Failed	The payment was not completed. You'll see a failed notice on your Payments page. Use Pay now to retry or update your payment method.

ACH bank transfers briefly show Processing after each monthly autopay charge and then automatically update to Paid once the bank confirms the transfer. Payment confirmations can reach Fourplex at different times, and the payment status updates automatically. No action is needed during the Processing window; do not submit the same bank payment again while it is processing.

Can the board record a payment made by check or cash?

Yes. Board members (President or Treasurer) can record manual payments on behalf of any unit.

Go to Dues in the sidebar.
Click the unit's cell in the dues ledger.
Click Record Manual Payment.
Enter the amount, payment date, and method (check, cash, etc.).

The board can record a manual payment with today's date on the same day it is received, and it can also apply that payment to an upcoming dues month when a resident prepays. The payment will appear in that unit's payment history and adjust their balance accordingly.

Recording a check or cash payment records money already received; it does not debit the resident's saved method. When the full balance is recorded, the unpaid online invoice is retired. If invoice cleanup reports a warning, the received payment remains recorded. Do not record the same payment again to retry cleanup.

How does the board track which units are delinquent?

Board members can see a delinquency report in Dues. This shows all units that are past their due date (including any grace period). The report includes how many days overdue each unit is and the outstanding amount.

Regular members cannot see other units' payment status — they only see their own balance and history.

Can the board set different dues amounts for specific units?

Yes. The board can override the default dues amount for individual units. This is useful when units have different square footage or other factors that justify a different amount.

To set a per-unit override: go to Dues → Settings (the Settings tab on the Dues page), expand Adjust per unit, find the unit, and set a custom unit dues amount. That unit will be charged their custom amount instead of the default going forward. The change applies to bills that have not been issued yet. It does not change an issued bill and does not add a credit or extra charge line.

What payment methods are accepted?

Members can pay using:

ACH bank transfer — connects directly to a checking or savings account; lower processing fees
Credit or debit card — higher processing fees but convenient if you don't want to share bank account details

ACH is recommended for regular monthly dues because of the lower fees. The HOA's bank account receives the full dues amount — the processing fee shown at checkout covers payment-processing costs and is not deducted from the HOA's deposit.

What happens if a payment fails?

If an ACH payment is returned (for example, due to insufficient funds) or a card charge is declined, the payment is marked as failed. The member will see a failed payment notice on their Payments page and can use Pay Now to retry the invoice with a valid payment method. Autopay will also attempt to notify the member of the failure.

The failure email includes a "Why this happened" section explaining the specific reason — for example, "Insufficient funds in the account" or "Your card has expired." This is intended to help you fix the underlying issue quickly. See What to Do When a Payment Fails for details and next steps.

Can I download a receipt or invoice for a dues payment?

Yes. Paid dues entries in your payment history always have a receipt.

Stripe-backed payments open the Stripe invoice or receipt document in a new tab.
Board-recorded manual payments open a Fourplex-generated receipt built from the payment record.

If an older payment does not have a Stripe invoice artifact, Fourplex shows the generated receipt instead.

Bill notices and the payment window

On a community using the new monthly schedule, dues are issued 14 days before your board's autopay date, and each month has one dues bill. With the usual autopay date of the 15th, November dues are issued November 1. If your board picked a date from the 1st to the 14th, the bill is issued late in the previous month: with autopay on November 1, November dues are issued October 18. Monthly water and trash bills are issued on the 1st and cover the previous service period: the bill issued December 1 is for November. You receive a notice showing the billing period, principal, applicable usage/allocation, processing fee, total and payment schedule. Your bill is due at least 14 calendar days after it is issued: a November 1 bill is due November 15; a delayed November 5 bill is due November 19. A water or trash charge or credit added after a bill is issued appears on the next bill as its own line. Your issued bill shows its actual date. Other community schedules and previously issued bills keep their dates.

Authorized autopay starts at 8 a.m. in your community's time zone on that date. This is when payment is initiated; bank processing can take several days. A bank payment stays Processing until confirmation. We send a payment-received email after the processor confirms success. If required advance notice is delayed, collection may be deferred without a late-fee penalty caused by that delay.

You may pay the same issued bill manually through its due date. A paid or processing manual payment prevents a second scheduled autopay for that balance. If you have not chosen a method, your notice shows principal and explains that the processing fee depends on your checkout method.

Future schedule changes are shown separately in settings. Current bills keep the payment date shown on the issued bill.