Late Fee Begets Late Fee

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Question:

If a customer makes a payment from his scheduled payment book, but it arrives late, the bank charges a late fee. The bank now deducts a late fee from the next scheduled payment, and this continues to roll every time the customer is late, which forces the account to go delinquent each month. This customer went through a bankruptcy 4 years earlier, so the bank has not communicated with them in the form of an annual statement of account, annual terms and agreements, or privacy notice, even though the customer did not include this loan in the bankruptcy and never missed a payment. Now their account is reporting 7-8 months of 30 days late. Has a violation occurred?

Answer:

Yes. 227.15 (Reg. AA) prevents the pyramiding of late fees in this manner and considers this to be an unfair or deceptive practice.

"It is an unfair act or practice for a bank to levy or collect any delinquency charge on a payment, when the only delinquency is attributable to late fees or delinquency charges assessed on earlier installments, and the payment is otherwise a full payment for the applicable period and is paid on its due date or within an applicable grace period."

First published on BankersOnline.com 10/4/04