I am having problems with my former HOA. A few years ago my wife and I had switched from her paying the bills, to me paying the bills. Unfortunately, the HOA dues were overlooked in the transition. In the midst of overlooking this bill, 2 quarters of assessments were missed, yet I never received anything from the HOA. My first notice was from a law office stating they had taken a lien on the property and that I owed them $1087. $580 from HOA dues and $507 in attorney fees. We were in the process of losing the house, so I didn't do anything at first. 1 quarter of dues, fees later I received a summons. At that point I contacted the attorney for a breakdown of the account. They sent it along with a settlement agreement. I agreed to pay $100.33 for past dues and $86.67 for current dues, or a $187/month. After 8 months and paying $1496 we had lost the house and moved out so I stopped paying thinking... we had payed what was owed to the HOA plus what was owed to the attorneys.

After moving out in April, 2011 and thinking we were done with this and sometime in September of 2011, we receive a writ of garnishment and that we now owed $1,900. From what? They are fee'ing us to death and make it so you could never catch up on it. There is also very little communication on the matter. At this point I had just lost my job due to a buyout so I explained that to them and that my wife was the only one working to support a family of 5 and that her salary supporting a family of 5 meets federal poverty guideline. And I asked what I could do to settle this and offered them several scenarios, none of which were accepted. I really tried here but I could see they were not going to work with us and you can't squeeze blood from a turnip. We went back and forth on the matter via email from October to December 23, 2011. At that point when they would not accept any of my offers, the matter went cold and I didn't hear anything from them until this past Monday when we received via my wife's employer a writ of garnishment and $322 was taken out of her paycheck and now somehow they say we owe $3,081.

I'm not sure what to do but we are being price gouged and this firm is not communicating with us within a reasonable, timely matter, fully knowing the longer they wait the more bogus fees they can collect.

I still have a few days to request a hearing but wanted to know what I should do? I just called the law firm and asked for another breakdown of the account to figure out where all this additional monies owed is coming from. This is the same firm that collected $8,000 from a homeowner over a $66 bill. Something is very shady here, especially when one of the attorney's representing had 2 censures against him in two states.

Optional Information:
Country relating to Question: United States
State (if USA): Arizona

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