The Tallahassee Housing Authority and Regions Bank have partnered together to perform the collection of all returned checks presented for payment to the Tallahassee Housing Authority.

If such an event would occur for you, DO NOT pay the Tallahassee Housing Authority. Regions Bank will be contacting you and will perform the collection services. This is an advantage to you, the client, because the amount will not be added back to your account. If Regions Bank has exhausted all efforts of collection and the check remains outstanding, the Tallahassee Housing Authority will add it to your account and follow up with our collection process followed by eviction or termination of lease, if necessary.

If payment is made to Regions Bank promptly, the only note made to your account is not to accept checks from you in the future.

The Tallahassee Housing Authority pursues amounts owed to the agency from current clients who have signed a repayment agreement (Section 8 program) and/or previous clients who left owing the agency. In this electronic age we are able to locate most individuals. At first letters are sent to you as a courtesy. If payment is made in full, your account is marked accordingly. If continual monthly payments are made you may receive a follow-up letter listing the current amount outstanding. If little or no effort is made on your part, you will lose your housing assistance (if you are a current participant) and/or be turned over to the Credit Bureau.

If turned over to the Credit Bureau, the amount owed to the Tallahassee Housing Authority will be listed along with any other debt that you may have. The debt is removed only when payment is made in full.

Also, a note of interest, if it is determined that an applicant has an outstanding debt with the Housing Authority, that debt must be paid in full for the application to be processed.

Several years ago, THA initiated the policy that all payments to landlords would be made electronically. This effort has been operating with great success. All landlords receive their payment on the first banking day of the month directly into their bank account of choice. A follow-up letter is sent verifying the amount for each client on the program with each landlord.

On the tenant side of this policy, all utility assistance checks are processed through the individual's utility company. This process allows the tenant/client to pay just the difference to the utility company instead of waiting for the utility assistance check to come in the mail to pay the utility bill.