FDCPA Bars Debt Collectors From Charging Convenience Fees, Borrowers Argue

Mealey's (October 19, 2021, 2:37 PM EDT) -- SAN FRANCISCO — A federal district court erred in dismissing claims in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) class action brought by borrowers against a mortgage servicer over its charging of “pay-to-pay” convenience fees for making mortgage payments online or over the telephone because provisions of the FDCPA bar debt collectors from collecting such fees “when their own contract provides the only basis for doing so,” the borrowers argue in an Oct. 14 appellant brief filed in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals....