Is there a maximum late fee that can be charged on bills?

[jme5343]

Let me first say that I'm not late w/ my bills.

I'm sitting here paying bills and I look at my city bill, which includes sewer, trash and water.
If I pay by the 10th, it's only $67.49. After the 10th it's $87.74.

That seems ridiculous. 23% increase for being late. Even one day.

I looked around for some other bills to see if the late fee is proportional to the toal amount due, but I can't find any old ones.

The electric company charges like $3.00 if you're late. The cable / internet company charges about $1.50. Gas company is a couple bucks. It just seems outrageous.

I know, I know, pay your bills on time. Honestly though, there are families that struggle with paying bills, and fees like that are NOT going to help them?


Comments?

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

It's not a penalty for paying late, it's a discount for paying early.

 

[acemcmac]

pay your bills ontime ftw?

 

[j00fek]

worthless late fees, but thats how they make their bread and butter from morons not paying on time

 

[FoBoT]

nobody is forcing anyone to use those services, what is wrong with them setting whatever late fee they want to?
you want a commie govt. agency to regulate this?

 

[jme5343]

DP

 

[jme5343]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
nobody is forcing anyone to use those services, what is wrong with them setting whatever late fee they want to?
you want a commie govt. agency to regulate this?

Umm, okay. Yeah, you *could* get your water from the old pump, and poop in the outhouse, and leave your trash piled in the yard, I guess...

 

[jme5343]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
pay your bills ontime ftw?

Yup, novel idea.

Originally posted by: jmebonner
Let me first say that I'm not late w/ my bills.

I know, I know, pay your bills on time.
Comments?

 

[FoBoT]

you can't fight city hall
people stiff the city all the time, that is probably why they make it so high

 

[marvdmartian]

Back to answering the original question:

Is there a maximum late fee that can be charged on bills?

Yes. Whatever you agreed to, when you signed up for that service. It's in that fine print that no one reads, when you signed up for that service to be done by the city. Lawyers intentionally make it long-winded, since that ensures that if you tried to actually read it, you'd suffer an aneurism in your brain! :roll:

While I agree it's ridiculous, it's no worse than the telephone or cable companies charging their atrocious reconnect fees when you get behind and get disconnected. It's never happened to me, but I have friends that are better at paying their bills late than on time, and I find it shocking that for them to send out a tech who's not doing anything more than flipping a switch, they'll charge $50 or more! :shocked:

 

[jme5343]

You bring up a good point marv, but the rate was hiked after we'd lived here for a few months, it used to be a couple bucks. There probably was a provision that "late fees are subject to change".

I usually shut cable off during the summer, it encourages everyone to get outside more instead of vegging out. It's always back on for Football season, though. Sure enough they charged $30.00 for the guy to come hook it back up, lol. So I had it off for 4 months, saves $160, but after the reconnect, it only saves $130