Printable Format16a-2-502. (UCCC) Late fees. (1) The parties to a consumer credit transaction may contract for a late fee on any installment not paid in full within 10 calendar days after its scheduled or deferred due date in an amount not exceeding 5% of the unpaid amount of the installment or $25, whichever is less.
(2) As an alternative to the late fee set forth in subsection (1), the parties to a consumer credit transaction may contract for a late fee not to exceed $10 on any installment not paid in full within 10 calendar days after its scheduled or deferred due date, except that if the scheduled payment amount is $25 or less, the maximum late fee shall be $5.
(3) A late fee may be collected only once on an installment however long it remains in default. A late fee may be collected at the time it is assessed or at any time thereafter.
(4) No late fee may be assessed when such a fee or charge is attributable solely to failure of the consumer to pay a late fee on an earlier installment and the payment is otherwise a periodic payment received on the due date, or within 10 calendar days after its scheduled or deferred installment due date.
(5) Notwithstanding subsections (1), (2) and (4), the parties to a lender credit card agreement may contract for a late fee in an amount agreed to by the consumer and may impose such charge on any installment not paid in full on the next business day following the scheduled due date of the late payment.
(6) Notwithstanding subsections (1), (2) and (4), no late fee may be collected on a lender credit card installment which is paid in full on the next business day following the scheduled or deferred due date even though an earlier maturing installment or a late fee on an earlier installment may not have been paid in full.
History: L. 1973, ch. 85, § 30; L. 1975, ch. 127, § 3; L. 1988, ch. 85, § 7; L. 1988, ch. 86, § 4; L. 1988, ch. 87, § 4; L. 1992, ch. 46, § 1; L. 1993, ch. 200, § 8; L. 1994, ch. 39, § 1; L. 1996, ch. 166, § 4; L. 1999, ch. 107, § 19; L. 2024, ch. 6, § 54; January 1, 2025.
KANSAS COMMENT, 2010
1. This section permits creditors to impose delinquency charges for late installments, as set forth therein. In order for a delinquency charge to be imposed, however, it must be provided for by the underlying consumer credit contract. Subsection (1) follows the model of the uniform act and sets the maximum delinquency charge by reference to a percentage of the unpaid amount of an installment with a specific dollar cap — 5% of the unpaid amount of the installment, but not more than $25.00. Note that the 5% limit is only applied to the unpaid amount of the installment, not to the entire installment. Thus, if the consumer makes $950 of a $1,000 installment on time, the maximum delinquency charge under subsection (1) is $2.50 ($50 x 5% = $2.50). Thus, only if the unpaid amount of the installment is $500 or more does the $25 cap come into play. In the alternative, per subsection (2), the creditor may contract for a flat delinquency charge of up to $5 for installments of $25 and less and a delinquency charge of up to $10 on installments in excess of $25.
2. Subsections (3), (4) and (5) are aimed at the abusive practice known as "pyramiding," or the imposition of multiple delinquency charges stemming from a single delayed payment. If a consumer missed the installment due in January, for example, but then paid the installment due in February on time, the creditor might try to apply the February payment to the missed January installment. This would create a delinquency for February as well as for January, and indeed for all remaining installments under the contract if the debtor continued to make subsequent payments on time but did not make up the January payment. Subsection (3) is intended to limit the creditor to a single delinquency charge (for the missed January payment), and attempts to prevent the creditor from "pyramiding," or collecting delinquency charges for the later months. The F.T.C. Credit Practices Rule, 16 C.F.R. § 444.4, contains a similar rule.
Subsection (4) addresses a different sort of pyramiding. Under the law of some states, if the consumer's payments were due on the first of the month and the January payment of $100 was not made until the 15th, the creditor could assess a late payment of $5, and then allocate the $100 payment received on February 1st as follows: $5 to the delinquency charge for January, and $95 to the February payment. This would cause the February payment to be delinquent as well, and the creditor could then impose another delinquency charge and allocate the March payment in a similar fashion. Following this pattern, if the consumer made each of the remaining $100 payments on time for the balance of the contract, the consumer would incur a delinquency charge for each month because the creditor could allocate current payments to unpaid delinquency charges in past periods. Subsection (4) meets this problem by compelling the creditor to apply the full $100 payment received on February 1 to the payment due that month, and so on for the remaining payments. Hence, the creditor could collect the delinquency charge only for January if all other payments were made on time. Subsection (5) codifies the long-standing position of the administrator previously set forth in the administrative regulations.
3. Subsections (6) and (7) were added by legislation adopted in 1999 and provide special rules for lender credit cards. Under these special rules, the normal 10-day grace period and the normal limits on delinquency charges do not apply. Thus, a creditor under a lender credit card may contract for a delinquency charge of any amount and may impose it if an installment is not paid in full on the first business day following the scheduled due date. In 2009, TILA, 15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq. was amended to include the "Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights Act of 2009." The Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights Act of 2009 states that a payment received by the creditor by 5 p.m. on the due date, shall be considered timely payment.
Law Review and Bar Journal References:
"The U.C.C.C. and Real Estate Financing: A Square Peg in a Round Hole," Thomas L. Griswold, 28 K.L.R. 601, 609 (1980).
"Interest on Legal Fees," Calvin J. Karlin, 58 J.K.B.A. No. 5, 23, 24 (1989).