QUESTION: Is it lawful to report delinquent owners to credit monitoring agencies? The threat of their credit being harmed might give some impetus to them to pay what is owed.

ANSWER: The only people who can report to credit bureaus are those who have been approved by the bureaus to do so, such as creditors, lenders, debt collection agencies and public records offices. Credit bureaus will not accept homeowner association reports of delinquent assessments.

Public Records. Even though assessment liens are public records, they do not automatically show up in a credit report. They have to be reported to the credit bureaus through an approved source. The only liens that get automatically reported are State and Federal liens. These type of liens are reported by court runners that have authority to report to the credit bureaus.