A W9 form for the HOA?

[joeea]

I'm the treasurer of our over-55 HOA.

I recently got a request from Wells Fargo to fill out a W9 form.

It says "We are updating our records to reflect the current information for any
Homeowners Association that collects the HOA fees for property located at
[the address of one of our units]."

I'm new to this position, but I haven't found notes indicating that this form has been requested in the past.

Any idea what is going on here? I'm only familiar with W9s in the context of independent contractors, not mortgage holders.

I do know that the tenants of this unit have had some financial hardship recently.

 

[Big_Hitter]

do the HOA fees get paid out of an escrow account?

 

[pb4uski]

I think I would ignore it.

 

[euro]

I think I would ignore it.

I tend to agree The only reason why they would need this information is if your account is interest-bearing and they have to report that interest to the IRS. Usually, they collect that info when you open your account, so I'm pretty sure they already have it on file and I don't know why they would need to "update" it.

 

[joeea]

do the HOA fees get paid out of an escrow account?

For this individual homeowner? They haven't been so far.
Perhaps that will be changing?

 

[joeea]

I tend to agree The only reason why they would need this information is if your account is interest-bearing and they have to report that interest to the IRS. Usually, they collect that info when you open your account, so I'm pretty sure they already have it on file and I don't know why they would need to "update" it.

The HOA has absolutely no connection with Wells Fargo (the bank that is requesting the W9). It's only this one homeowner who appears to be associated with them.

Our money is kept in several interest-bearing accounts at other banks.

 

[ocean view]

do the HOA fees get paid out of an escrow account?

I had the same thought. Before proceeding, perhaps a chat with this homeowner would clear it up.

It’s been a long time since my involvement with an HOA, but ours was tax-exempt. If yours is also, just complete the form, making sure to chose the correct exemption code to indicate this and send it back. Not really a big deal.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

They just want to have your TIN on file. No big deal.

We own two LLCs, every bank wants a copy of our W9s.

 

[Gotadimple]

If you have no business relationship with this bank, I would call them and ask why they need info from the association. The association doesn't own the unit the homeowner (and any lender does). I wouldn't release the HOA TIN without a good reason.

 

[joeea]

I had the same thought. Before proceeding, perhaps a chat with this homeowner would clear it up.

It’s been a long time since my involvement with an HOA, but ours was tax-exempt. If yours is also, just complete the form, making sure to chose the correct exemption code to indicate this and send it back. Not really a big deal.

The homeowners pay their monthly dues by check. No escrow.

 

[Chuckanut]

IIRC, my HOA had to pay a small income tax on interest accumulated on money in savings accounts.

 

[joeea]

IIRC, my HOA had to pay a small income tax on interest accumulated on money in savings accounts.

We do as well. But we haven't encountered a bank asking for our TIN before.

 

[joeea]

So I just heard back from the homeowner.

She called Wells Fargo. She said that Wells Fargo indicates that they didn't make this request and wouldn't make this type of request. Should they ever require any information they would send her a letter directly, and they haven't done so.

The email has been forwarded to Wells Fargo's fraud department.

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[audreyh1]

Whoa, email fraud! Glad you didn’t release any sensitive info!

Are emails of HOA treasurers listed somewhere? How did the fraudster know to target you? Or was it sent to the HOA email address?

 

[joeea]

Whoa, email fraud! Glad you didn’t release any sensitive info!

Are emails of HOA treasurers listed somewhere? How did the fraudster know to target you? Or was it sent to the HOA email address?

It was sent to a generic address used by the HOA. I got it because I have all the emails from that address routed to me.

Whoever sent it mentioned the homeowner's address specifically and apparently either knew or guessed that their mortgage is held by Wells Fargo.

Very strange. Very puzzling. But according to the homeowner, not real.

Having worked in software and having done a fair bit of software security work, I'm always suspicious of unsolicited emails. This one wasn't obviously a scam (it didn't have odd return email addresses, didn't have an attachment, etc). It seemed legit, but served no legitimate purpose that I could discern. That's why I posed my question here.