Quick Answer: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau confirmed that debt collector “convenience fees” for online or phone payments are often illegal under federal law. Most legitimate debt collectors don’t charge these pay-to-pay fees, and consumers can challenge collectors who impose unauthorized charges not permitted by the original loan agreement.
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an advisory opinion affirming that federal law often prohibits debt collectors from charging “pay-to-pay” fees. These charges, commonly described by debt collectors as “convenience fees,” are imposed on consumers who want to make a payment in a particular way, such as online or by phone.
“Federal law generally forbids debt collectors from imposing extra fees not authorized by the original loan,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “Today’s advisory opinion shows that these fees are often illegal, and provides a roadmap on the fees that a debt collector can lawfully collect.”
Debt collectors play a critical role in the consumer finance ecosystem, and the CFPB wants to ensure that law-abiding debt collectors are not disadvantaged by their competitors that impose unlawful fees.
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While most debt collectors allow consumers to make payments by phone or online without charging additional fees, some debt collectors impose additional fees for those types of payments.
These debt collectors do so even if it is cheaper and less time-consuming for them to process phone and online payments than it is to process the paper-check payments delivered by mail or in person that debt collectors typically process for free.
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These types of fees are often illegal, and today’s advisory opinion and accompanying analysis seek to stop these violations of law and assist consumers who are seeking to hold debt collectors accountable for illegal practices.
The advisory opinion interprets the language in Section 808 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which prohibits debt collectors from collecting any amount that is not expressly authorized by the underlying agreement or permitted by law.
The FDCPA was passed in 1977 in response to widespread abuses in the debt collection industry, which Congress acknowledged was not subject to appropriate regulation under existing laws at the time. In 2010, the Consumer Financial Protection Act transferred primary responsibility for the FDCPA, including issuing regulations and ensuring compliance, to the CFPB.
The advisory opinion covers the following on debt collection practices:
- Identifies scope of illegal fees: The collection of any fee is prohibited unless the fee amount is in the consumer’s contract or affirmatively permitted by law.
- Affirms that silence in the law is not an authorization: A debt collector may only collect a fee when it is authorized by the agreement creating the debt or is “permitted by law.” Where no law expressly authorizes a fee, it is not “permitted by law,” even if no law expressly prohibits it.
Clarifies role of payment processors: Debt collectors violate the FDCPA when using payment processors who charge unauthorized fees at a minimum if the debt collector receives a kickback from the payment processor.
You can read the full CFPB advisory opinion here.
Know Your Rights: If a debt collector is contacting you, you have legal protections. See the complete list of FDCPA violations collectors commit most often. Use the free Debt Validation Letter Generator to demand proof of the debt, or check this collector’s complaint history with the Scam-O-Meter.
Dealing With Debt? Before you pay a collector, understand all your debt relief options — including ones the collector won’t tell you about. If the debt feels unmanageable, take the 2-minute bankruptcy quiz to see if the math favors a fresh start. Federal Reserve research shows filers recover faster than those who don’t file.
