Hi advisors, is it legal to charge a late fee upon a late fee.
Yes, late fees are legal in order to cover the expense of obtaining the original invoice payment.
Let's say you don't pay the $100 invoice and get slapped with a 5% late fee at the end of the month, the next month passes without payment and the 105% total now gets slapped with another 5% late fee. Is this legal ?
Isnt this like asking when interest is no longer charged when the full amount is not paid by the invoice/statement date?
It just keeps accumulating…yes?
I would suggest that a late fee would hence apply at the end of each month until the invoice amount is paid.
It should be explained in thier Ts & Cs so dont ask us OP
Read your Ts and Cs !
Its unrealistic of Op to expect a once off late fee and never pay the invoice.
Thats not how things work in the real world OP.
legally speaking you are oblidged to pay any invoice by the due date dear OP, so you are already out of order.
PS Debt collection follows shortly after, dear OP, which is a much more expense process.
Is this with a business or a financial institution?
financial institutions are businesses.
Is this legal ?
Yes.
A Russian court has ruled that Google must compensate for its block on Russian state media channels on YouTube with a fine so large it outranks the world's GDP.
Google have been fined 2 undecillion roubles, or $US20 decillion.If Google has still not paid in 219 weeks the fine will increase to $1 googol, which is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.
Russian court can follow their ship
Depends
is it legal to charge a late fee upon a late fee.
Only illegal if there is a law to prohibit it.
For starters, what does the fine print of the institution charging the fee say on this? Share that and then that can be compared with the law.
that can be compared with the law.
Which law?
There's laws that determine the rate of interest and whether the amount will be collectible?
These are late fees to recover costs, not interest.
@jv: It will depend on the wording of the agreement, like I said.
A 5% late fee sounds like an interest charge in disguise
@jv: Because interest is calculated via %?
These are very simple concepts, jv. You sure there's not a better way to pad out your post count that asking me questions covered in high school?
@jv: Yes, they can… And then it's time to look at the agreement and compare it with the law and see what the answer is?
If the fine print says the % is charged on the "outstanding invoice" then they're only allowed to do calculations on that amount, it's arguably a fee (and they can't do a 5% charge on $105 the next month)
If the fine print says the % is charged on the "outstanding amount", then they're allowed to charge 5% on the $105 the next month, but now it's arguably an interest charge
(and they can't do a 5% charge on $105 the next month)
of course they can… just like credit card fees. They can be a percentage. As long as they are 'reasonable' and justified.
@jv: Lack of attention to detail has let you down.
If their TaC say they're allowed to charge 5% fees on an outstanding invoice, they'll need to have an outstanding invoice for $105 to be allowed to do that.
But they only have an outstanding invoice of $100
they'll need to have an outstanding invoice for $105
They will the following month if it's not paid…
@jv: You can't just go and add additional charges onto existing invoices, you silly sausage
You're confused between the difference between outstanding invoice and outstanding amount, which is why you have been using the terms interchangeably.
The people in this circumstance who matter don't however, and rely on the wording of the Terms and Conditions?
You can't just go and add additional charges onto existing invoices, you silly sausage
You create a new invoice with the updated amount owing…you silly sausage
@jv: Only a silly sausage would do something like that, because obviously issuing a new invoice would have the usual terms of trade on it (invoices aren't necessarily late on the spot, the timeline on when they are due is part of the Terms and Conditions as well).
So you've reset the clock on, at the very least, the $5 late fee, which will require a different calculation for due date and when it gets charged its late fee?
(In all likelihood you've reset the entire debt, because you've got a brand new issue date on your spanking new invoice, and you've cancelled the prior invoice)
It's the wrong answer, but at least you're a few more meaningless steps towards that 200,000
@jv: I know you didn't want to read the bits about invoice issue dates and due dates, but it's an important part of the discussion.
Also lol at adding the word "updated" in bold twice as though that affects things. ("But your Honour, not only was the invoice new, it was updated as well")
The moral of the story is read the actual terms and conditions and don't take Year 8 economics questions from forum members
@jv: I suppose a noticing a JV comment is the perfect analogy for OP's situation
It's definitely a penalty and by its nature shouldn't have any interest
Let's say you don't pay the $100 invoice and get slapped with a 5% late fee at the end of the month, the next month passes without payment and the 105% total now gets slapped with another 5% late fee. Is this legal ?
Its what happens with speeding fines and parking fines from gov bodies if you don't pay them. So guessing stacking late fees must be semi legal.
Sure is.
Easiest way to avoid late fees?
at which point are late feels capped according the max interest rates
https://asic.gov.au/for-consumers/loans-and-credit-cards/