Find Billing Policies in Financial Dashboard ➡ Billing & Collections ➡ Billing Policies card.
Items Addressed on this Billing Policies page:
Late fees per charge type
Interest per charge type
Any early payment discounts (by charge type)
Grace period per charge type (days before charges incur)
Maximum policies on Interest or Late fees per configurable period (your ByLaws may cap)
Global Maximum on Late Fees or Interest regardless of charge type
Collections Policies such as turning off payment methods for accounts in collections, hiding account balances etc (often required by attorneys or collections agencies)
Upload a Collections Policy Document
Here is a larger view of the top part of the page
You can select any charge type and edit it to enable specific settings for that charge type. (Learn more about Charge Types and customizing)
👉 Open the Editor for a Charge Type - Dues example below
⭐️ Adjust the policy to fit the needs of your organization, and then save the policy. Each policy is applied to a charge of the specific charge type at the time the charge is posted. This is important to note because charges that have already posted will respect the specific policies that were snapshotted to that charge at the time it was posted. There are exceptions. For example, if you come back and edit the policy after a charge is posted (in order to cap the interest or late fees for that charge type by limiting total late fees per period), the new cap will take place on existing charges
How late fees, interest, and billing policy changes work
Use this when your board changes a late-fee amount, an interest rate, or a monthly maximum, and you need to know what happens to charges that are already on the books.
Where: Financials → Billing & Collections → Billing Policies
The short version
Late-fee amount, grace period, how often it repeats, and interest are copied onto each charge when that charge is posted. Changing the policy later does not automatically change those older unpaid charges.
Maximums (a per-charge-type late-fee limit, or organization-wide Maximum Charges) apply to the next assessment, including charges posted months ago. You do not need to “apply” a maximum to old charges.
If you do want a new late-fee amount or interest rate to apply to unpaid older charges going forward, use Open charges on older terms on the same page. Fees already on the ledger stay as they are.
👉 What gets locked onto a charge
When you post a charge (Create Charges, a recurring schedule, a fine, and so on), Vlge saves the late-fee and interest terms that are live at that moment onto that charge.
🔐 Those locked terms include:
Late-fee amount (or percentage)
Grace period
Whether the late fee repeats, and how many days between fees
Interest rate and when interest starts
Each automated late fee is its own line on the ledger, tied back to the original charge. If May dues stay unpaid, you will typically see a May late fee, then June, July, August, and so on - not one late-fee line that grows.
Nightly processing looks at the terms saved on the original charge, not at whatever the policy says today.
Example. Dues of $100 are posted May 1, due May 10, with a $25 late fee that repeats every 30 days. If the owner never pays:
May 11: $25 late fee
Then another $25 about every 30 days while it stays unpaid
On September 6 they have four more days before the next $25
If you later raise the policy to $30, that May charge keeps assessing $25 until you apply the current policy (below). New dues posted after you save $30 will use $30 from the start.
What already applies immediately: Maximums
Maximums are different. They are not locked onto the old charge. Saving a maximum affects the next late fee or interest assessment for everyone, including older unpaid charges.
There are two places:
On a charge-type policy (for example Regular Assessment) - “Limit total late fees per period.” This only counts late fees whose parent is that charge type (dues late fees, not fine late fees).
Maximum Charges at the bottom of Billing Policies - organization-wide cap on all late fees in a calendar month or year, and a separate cap for interest.
If both exist, the tighter limit wins.
A fee that would go over the cap is reduced to the remaining room, or blocked entirely. Those events show up in the Capped Charges report.
Example. You set Maximum Charges so late fees cannot exceed $25 in a calendar month.
September 11: the unpaid May dues get a $25 late fee (that uses the month’s $25 room).
September 12: the same owner gets a $50 fine due September 22.
September 23: they would normally get a $25 late fee on the fine. Because September already has $25 of late fees, that fine late fee is blocked. You do not need to update the May charge for this to work.
Late fees and interest have separate maximums. A $25 late-fee max does not also limit interest, and the reverse is also true.
Applying a new late-fee or interest amount to unpaid older charges
When unpaid charges still have older locked terms, Billing Policies shows Open charges on older terms.
You will see:
How many unpaid charges of that type still use the old terms
On these charges vs Current policy (for example $25 repeating every 30 days vs $30)
An expandable list: property, charge name, due date, amount still owed, last late fee, and the next late fee date and amount if you apply the current policy
How to apply
Save the new late-fee or interest terms on the charge type.
Open Open charges on older terms.
Review the list. Uncheck any charges you want to leave on the old terms.
Click Apply current policy and confirm.
Or click Leave as-is if you only want the new terms on charges posted from now on.
What apply does
Updates the locked terms on the unpaid original charges you selected
The next scheduled late fee or interest uses the new terms
The existing repeat schedule stays in place (if the last late fee was August 12 and it repeats every 30 days, September 11 still fires - at the new amount)
What apply does not do
It does not change late fees or interest already on the ledger (May–August $25 fees stay $25)
It does not void, rewrite, or delete old fee lines
It does not apply to paid, voided, or waived charges
It does not apply to the late-fee or interest lines themselves (those never get their own late fees)
You do not use this for maximums - save Maximum Charges instead
If a charge has never had an automated late fee and you apply a policy that turns late fees on, the next eligible run can post the first fee as soon as the charge is past due and past any grace period. The confirm dialog calls that out.
Example. Same May $100 dues, still unpaid. You change Regular Assessment late fees from $25 to $30, then apply the current policy to that unpaid May charge. May–August $25 lines stay. On September 11 the next late fee is $30.
🔍 Which tool should I use?
What was changed | What to do |
Late-fee dollar amount or percent | Save the policy. New charges use it automatically. To have unpaid older charges use it on the next fee, apply current policy. |
Grace period or how often the fee repeats | Same as above. |
Interest rate or when interest starts | Same as above. |
“No more than $X of late fees this month/year” | Save the per-type limit and/or Maximum Charges. It applies to the next assessment with no extra step. |
Turn late fees off for the future | Save the policy with late fees off. Older unpaid charges keep accruing until you apply the current (empty) policy to them. Existing late-fee lines stay. |