A new partnership between Equifax and Sperlonga Data & Analytics will HOA and Condo Association late payments as well as account status data. Sperlonga is the 1st company to offer this non-standard credit data source to a leading credit monitoring company. Testing will begin in August 2016 will a planned full roll out in October. Now property owners who are late or delinquent with HOA payments could see a negative impact on their credit scores, just as they would with a late mortgage payment.
In April 2011, Sperlonga created the first solution for mortgage servicers and investors to deliver reliable, easily retrievable, and standardized data on existing accounts in homeowner and condominium associations to help manage and reduce delinquent association account risk. Sperlonga now brings a new technology and solution to the HOA and property management industry to better manage the risk associated with HOA budgets and collection of timely payments.
The company has developed a proprietary technology that links to associations property management & accounting systems to pull the data automatically. The company has been focusing heavily on establishing partnerships with large property management companies which represent hundreds of associations. Self-managed Homeowner and Condo Associations can also partner with Sperlonga, for less than $1 per unit per month, after initial setup fees.
“Until now, HOA payments have gone largely unreported to the national credit reporting agencies. Our service will help elevate association payments to the same level of importance as the consumer’s other financial obligations like residential mortgages, auto loans and credit card payments,” said Matt Martin, chairman and founder of Sperlonga. “Property owners that pay HOA fees on time should begin to see the similar impact to their credit reports as they would with other payment obligations traditionally found in a credit report, while associations and property management companies should begin to see reduced delinquencies and improved cash flow. Our goal is to empower homeowner associations and management companies with the same credit reporting tool that banks and lenders already use to manage consumer debt and credit-related payments.”
This won’t be the first company to offer such information. Starting in June 2016, credit monitoring services will begin reporting historical credit history back two and one-half years. The addition of this enhanced data is to help lenders reduce their risk. Consumers need to be more vigilant in paying bills on time, and keeping an watch on your credit report to dispute any inaccuracies.