Companies that are currently under siege are those who charged an extra fee for their clients to pay their mortgage repayments online or by phone. While there are numerous merchants out there who are legally allowed to charge “convenience fees”, the terms laid out in most mortgage agreements prohibit these fees from existing. Standard form mortgage agreements allow loan servicers to pass along only the actual costs of processing payments (as noted above, and usually no more than a few cents).

By tacking on excessive amounts, these companies are not only violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Rosenthal Act but also their own contractual agreements.